Kissing Tennessee: And Other Stories from the Stardust Dance

by Kathi Appelt

Mason and Carrie Marie can't get up the courage to ask each other to dance. Russ's girlfriend has died, and now he's just trying to live without her. Peggy Lee has grown up with Tennessee--how can she ever think of him as more than a friend?

In these moving tales and others, Kathi Appelt captures the sometimes amusing, sometimes touching missteps of some unforgettable students, who come together one last time for the most memorable night of their young lives.

Genres: Young Adult, Short Stories, Middle Grade, Fiction, Romance, Teen, Realistic Fiction

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Lives in College Station, TX with husband Ken and four adorable cats.

Two sons, both musicians.

Serves on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program.

Reviews

[ALPHAreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s Friday May 31st. Between 8pm and 11pm the Dogwood Junior High cafeteria will be transformed with cardboard stars and sparkling moons hanging from wire, and the Rot Whilers belt out tunes for the eighth graders. This is the Stardust Dance – a night when boys can be daring, one lucky girl will be crowned Stardust Queen and magic might just happen. . .

First published in 2000, ‘Kissing Tennessee: and Other Stories from the Stardust Dance’ is a collection of young adult short stories by Kathi Appelt.

Sometimes I judge a book by its cover and decide to read based purely on the pretty. Very occasionally am I persuaded to a book because of the title alone – but that’s what happened with Appelt’s short story collection. I just love, love, loved that whimsically intriguing title: ‘Kissing Tennessee: and Other Stories from the Stardust Dance’ – it’s lush and lovely and gave me visions of soft blue lights, sweaty palms, best pinching shoes and hands-on-shoulders dancing, *sigh*. Sadly, I think I built the title up too much in my mind and came to this book with too high expectations because while it’s by no means bad, ‘Kissing Tennessee’ didn’t leave me with that butterflies-in-stomach, heart-in-mouth feeling I was desperately hoping for.

Some of the vignettes in Appelt’s book really worked for me and I loved them. But the stories I liked best were actually the violent/sad ones . . . which just so happened to be the stories that had the strongest connection to the Stardust Dance theme, and were (in my opinion) the hardest-hitting and best written. Take, for instance, ‘Just a Kiss, Annie P.’ in which a boy laments the death of his childhood crush, whose memory comes back to haunt him while he’s dancing with another girl. In ‘The Right Word’, Becca Scott sits in a toilet stall at Dogwood Junior High while the Stardust Dance carries on without her. As she starts crying and heaving, she reads a year’s worth of graffiti scribbled on the bathroom walls, and through a few choice words starts piecing her story together – telling how her boyfriend led her away from the dance, and into the woods. . .

Becca was there, in the dark woods. This very night. There, instead of at the Stardust Dance. She slipped out the bathroom window and let herself be led into the dark, dark woods, far away from the Dogwood Junior High cafeteria, with its dancers and drummer.

BONE OF TRUTH

- ‘The Right Word’

It’s hard to read those two really quite hard-hitting and beautifully written stories, and then switch back to vignettes in which the high-achiever and the slacker desperately want to be each other’s last dance.

Don’t get me wrong; some of those more relaxed and sweet short stories were okay, and offered some nice moments you’d expect from an eighth grade dance;

Flash! She opened her eyes just in time to see Sky Williams take their picture.
And that’s when the floating had started. The cafeteria floor just fell away beneath her feet. And even though Tennessee is holding her hand, she’s still way up off the ground, like one of those helium balloons, floating up there with the clouds and the comets and the birds.

- ‘Kissing Tennessee’

But then there were some short stories I felt were trying too hard for a flimsy connection to the Stardust Dance theme. Like ‘Rachel’s Sister’ a story about two girls abused by their bible-thumping father. I think Appelt could have made this story fit better into the school-dance theme, but instead most of the action in this short happened in the past and at the girl’s home (as opposed to being about their dad, maybe, embarrassing them at the dance by dragging them home?).

I was impressed that Appelt covered a variety of teen topics and ‘issues’ with these short stories, without ever making it feel like she was ticking boxes. For instance, the story ‘Starbears’, about a young boy trying to grapple with his strong feelings for his best friend, was subtle and all the more powerful for being so understated;

Then suddenly the message was clear, blazing in midair, like a comet.

- ‘Starbears’

The whole book comes to about 115-pages, and I think I wanted a little bit more. I would have liked to spend time in more stories than others, or just had more stories altogether (for such a whimsical title, I do think a surrealist story would have been a nice one to add to the mix? Or even a ghost story – just something out of left-field). I wasn’t blown away by this collection like I wanted to be, but I would recommend this to young readers because Appelt manages to cover some quite weighty topics in short, and bittersweet vignettes.

[Alexandria Jakupovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tawny, a young girl wants to feel special at eh Stardust dance. She has her high spirits and her pair of red rhinestone shoes. Mary Sarah who always went by the same routine now tries to look nice for the dance by tying a colored ribbon in her hair. If that wasn't exciting enough (sarcasm but still it's exciting to her) She also wears Lipstick. Peggy Lee is in an entranced state think about her child hood friend Tennessee and the kisses (as in the title). The Stardust Dance at Dogwood Junior High School is the backdrop for these and a few other stories that seemed a bit out there even for young adults. It's hard to connect to the characters who all seems to be complaining about something or an other, but that could just be kids being kids. I would recommend this book to any middle schoolers hoping that High School will actually be enchanting.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of short stories, centered around an 8th grade graduation dance, packs a powerful punch. The title, Kissing Tennessee, comes from one of the "easier" stories in this collection. While a handful of the stories do center on inexplicable crushes and wanting to dance with "the one," other issues that Appelt takes up are of a much "heavier" nature: family abuse,death of a first girlfriend, questioning of sexual orientation, rape, divorce and poverty.

As my 8th grade students are in the midst of a "Social Action Fiction" writing unit, this slim volume will provide some wonderful mentor texts for learning to improve their writing craft.

I highly recommend Kissing Tennessee for other 7th and 8th grade ELA teachers who want to expose their students to great writing that deals with real teen issues.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet book, and a fast read.

[Ethan Holtsclaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

I lost a game of rock paper scissors and because I lost, I had to read this. I didn't like it very much, and the writing was boring.

[Lissa Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Type A in me really enjoyed the short story format, with chapters subtly linked not only by setting (junior high dance), but also by expanding on characters who are mentioned only briefly in other stories. More than once, the narrative took a turn I was not expecting. The author was smart enough to anticipate what I thought was going to happen, and chose not to go with the obvious. I love when that happens! Readers mid-teen and older will relate to the kaleidoscope of personalities and school drama reflected in the various vignettes of the bittersweet transition into adulthood.

[Jess Krantz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book because my daughter had to read it for school. I didn't understand it one bit. A bunch of random stories that lead to nowhere. Am I missing something here? Part of it was about a dance at the end of the year but other stories had nothing to do with anything. I'm confused. My daughter is confused.

[Shelly Carman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the sweet nature of this collection of short stories about growing up.

[Yz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked some of the stories disliked others

[Heidi Zimmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free book picked up that intrigued me, pretty healthy topics for a YA book, but really good. Very detailed descriptions. I will remember some of the stories in this book for a long time

[Victoria Krupa · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The kiss-not-given was so strong it was blocking out every word in the universe—all sounds, all noises.”

[Shirley :] · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book Kissing Tennessee is filled of short stories that mainly catch the idea of how in your teen years everything is always changing. The stories are different and talk about how as a teen we face our different problems and ask ourselves questions. Whether it be if life, love or friends. In one of the stories I learned that most of the time as a teen you tend to exaggerate your situation and not think about others and their struggles. Not knowing that others may have it way worst than you. One of more important stories I liked was The Notes Between The Notes and Starbears because I noticed that most teens do not like sharing their problems but they need to know thats its normal and everyone has problems. Just to say what you want or need to say and being you feel is you and you really want to be may be hard for some people to accept as it is but it is you. The most important part of the book that I caught onto was that as children into our teenage years we are put into a box of what we should be. Like boys are grown into a box that you have you to be strong, you are forced to be manly and never cry. And girls are pushed into a box where we have to be classy, ladylike, and indoors. But do you choose to be that way for the better or because you are pushed into that box? And what we don't know is that that box we are put into as kids put up a facade of who we really are or want to grow to be. And what those people inside the box don't want to admit it to themselves that the best thing to do for them is step out the box and be yourself. This is always better. You are always changing and life is never easy but as long as your try to find a way to enjoy it and change things for the better it'll feel like life is better. One of the truest part I read was in Starbears. It was about how you begin separating from your parents and the bond you had with them slowly diminishes. And even if most of us teens hate to admit there is a time when we would like our parents to hug us instead of a pat on the back and bring the old times back. I liked this book because it had real stories of things that teens go through. I think this writer is very diverse and think outside the box because she includes these stories knowing that each can connect to another differently.I would recommend this book to teens because Kissing Tennessee has diverse stories and each had a different meaning and most of them were stories you could really connect to and not feel alone as a teen with the situation you are facing in the world.

My favorite quotes were:

"Mary Sarah of the shadows along the edges of sight."
pg. 15

"Hearts are like our logo. We draw them all the time."
pg 103

[Emily Huffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely charmed by this book. I picked it up to prepare for my upcoming stint at VCFA, where Appelt is a faculty member in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. It was close to my bedtime, and I meant to read only fifty pages before quitting, but then I told myself, "One more story..." and then I told myself, "Why not just finish the book?"

So yes. I read it in one sitting. It is definitely a one sitting-able book to read, as it is just over 100 pages.

I've been out of middle school for over ten years, but this book brought me right back to those magical dances in the cafeteria, the possibilities, the nerves, the doubts, the booming music. The book is less about the actual Stardust Dance than it is about each of the characters' lives and how they relate to their being at the dance, but Appelt's characters are so lovable that I found myself thinking about them after I had turned out the lights and gone to bed, and wondering what the future would hold for each one of them.

Also, I wasn't prepared for the heavy subject matter Appelt tackled within the various stories. Domestic abuse, rape, questioning sexuality, death...it's all there, along with many lighter stories about middle school love.

I'm sorry if I sound like I'm raving. I just loved this book so much. Highly recommended, if you can't already tell.

[Angela Fristoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because really who can resist a bunch of stories centered on a dance? Okay, so lots of people. I however am not one of them. I was lucky enough that my junior high had dances every month in addition to the lunch time sock-hops the last Friday of every month (No, I didn't grow up in the 50's!).

I loved the idea of this book, and some of the story blurbs were exactly what I was looking for. That said, it just didn't deliver. I wanted drama, romance, fun, and a few tears. What I got was vague emotions from the characters, little to no character development, and a tiny little book with a large number of stories. I really feel that Appelt should have just focused on a few of the short stories and built them up enough to get the reader to actually care about what is happening. I can understand not wanting to turn everything into a novel, but even short stories need to have some character depth.

This would be a book I'd recommend for a tween with a short attention span.

[AquaMoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

UPDATE 4/2/14: Just finished. This one wasn't nearly as awesome as the author's later novels (I think, at the time of writing, she still had yet to find her groove as a writer), which is not to say it wasn't enjoyable. Because it was. Despite it's short length, Kissing Tennessee has a lot of depth to it. Ten individual-but-related short stories follow several teens attending the annual Stardust Dance. Some are dealing with typical teen angst like self-doubt and insecurities about whether that special someone knows they're alive. Others face far more severe issues: Abuse, grief, fears about one's sexual orientation. Each teen comes to terms with their personal demons (or at least they do on the best way possible). Read the stories straight through, skip around, or pick and choose. A quick read.

Could it be: A Kathi Appelt novel I haven't yet read? Sign me up and color me all shades of excited!

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Kissing Tennessee" contains a series of short stories, each focusing on a different character, all centering around one event, an end-of-the-year dance at a junior high school. Each of the characters share their opinions of the dance, their fellow students, and other things that are going on in their lives that affect them at that moment. It is written in many different styles, with stories in first, second, and third person points of view.
I thought that it was an interesting and creative book. Each chapter felt new and fresh, as we jumped from the lives of character to character. It definitely made it interesting. It was not boring to read or hard to focus on. I enjoyed it.
"Kissing Tennessee" deals with issues and themes such as homosexuality, rape, and parental abuse. Some of the stories are a lot darker than others. There may have been some language.

[Maren S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kissing Tennessee is a short story about high schoolers who attend the Stardust Dance. Each character has a chapter explaining their experience at the dance.

Something that I liked about this book was that there were a lot of different characters that each had a chapter to tell their story. This interested me because I haven't read very many of these types of books.

One thing that I disliked about this book was that there was not much action throughout the story. It mainly explained the characters and their experiences, with not much action. It was an okay book, but I'd rather read books that have more action.

Readers who are into light romance and short stories would for sure enjoy this book.

[Sommer Ann McCullough · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books of all time! I do believe I've read this book quite a few times, and it always gets better! This novel is a collection of different people all on the same night, The Stardust Dance. You see many different persepctives and hear various stories from a girl who ran away from her strict Christian parents, to a boy questioning his sexuality, and a girl who's always had a crush on the same boy since grade school. It is endearing and touching, hearing so many naive and beautiful stories entertwined together. Each story is unique and is amazingly written, all given equal thought and time. The character's are the best part! Very highly reccommended!

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 sweet chocolate chip cookies.

Cover Love: It's alright. The color is what caught my eye. That and the author's name.

Why I Wanted to Read This:
I was doing inventory in my library and started with the short story books. When I saw this one was written by Kathi Appelt I immediately started reading. She is amazing.

Read the rest of my review here on my blog.

[Heidi Landry Phelps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appelt uses voice to create eight distinct chapters, eight different personalities, each told from his/her point of view. She uses one setting and gets into the head of each of the characters. The perspectives are shown through individual thoughts, dialogue and his/her actions. She ties them altogether at the end by including their presence in the last scene to create one cohesive story.

[Jenna Harte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short stories centered around an eighth grade dance and the students who will be in attendance. Each story is different and is told by someone from a different background: two sisters with an over-protective father, a girl who was raped at the dance, a boy who realizes he may be homosexual, and more. Short reads but interesting material. Many teens could relate to the stories.

[Mr. Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book got great reviews...I hated it! The premise was good...each chapter told of a different story taking place at an 8th grade dance. But I didn't like any of the stories. Maybe it's just me. Boo!

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting light, fluffy stories from the description of this book--basically a collection of short stories. Some of the stories, though, deal with VERY serious issues. I'm still thinking about some of the characters, several weeks later. Appelt uses beautiful language.

[Mk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several short stories all told from teens who are at a high school dance. Each story is distinct, but references may be made to characters in other stories. Stories are emotional and at times tragic. Extremely appealing and engaging.

[Kellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely group of stories. I liked knowing about all the different people at the dance, and what was going on with them. However, they all left you wondering: What happened with Becca? Did Carrie Marie and Mason get together? Who was the Stardust King and Queen?

[rosegold26 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant. It's everything a series of short stories should be, and it paints a brilliant picture of the worlds and lives of a handful of teenagers gathered together by circumstance for an end-of-the-year school dance. A beautiful, beautiful book.

[Max Ostrovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. Very cute. What I especially liked about these connected short stories were the very adult issues. This was a young adult short story collection that didn't talk down to teens and raised the issues that teenagers should be thinking about and considerate of, even if it feels uncomfortable.

[Kenesha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is just a lot of point of views at a eight grade dance. I don't think many people will like it, I didn't really like it that much.

[Kristin Aker Howell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this short story collection. It began my interest in related short stories. These are all stories of teens at the Stardust Dance. The stories don't come together at the end.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet short stories with lots of emotional impact. Note some very mild content may not be suitable for all readers.