The Savvy Reader thesavvyreader.ca

We’re all really excited for Why We Broke Up, the new book by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman. So in celebration of this winsome and wonderful book we very happy to present

Heartifacts

…relationship relics from Canada’s finest YA authors (and some of our staff).

• Hadley Dyer

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  Annotated album of our first trip to Europe, 1997. There was no second. -Hadley Dyer, Johnny Kellock Died Today

• Allan Stratton

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  This is why people break up. A 1907 piece of china from my belovèd great-gramma. —Allan Stratton, author of The Grave Robber’s Apprentice

• Susan Juby

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  The emails my husband and I exchanged when we were first dating. I checked for his messages every, oh, four minutes or so, and later learned that most of the poetry he sent had been suggested by his coworkers. It's nice to know that our relationship was a team effort. Now he sends his own raps. — Susan Juby, author of The Woefield Poultry Collective

• Jason Chabot

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  Fifth Anniversary trip to Egypt: a silver cartouche with “Jason” in hieroglyphics and two tickets to visit the Pyramids, all served on a bed of Sahara Desert sand. (Why did we break up?) —Jason Chabot, author of the upcoming Broken Sky Chronicles series

• Vikki Vansickle

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  I once dated an aspiring graphic artist who made me this birthday card using Microsoft Paint. I don't even play guitar. Now I'm the one working in marketing and he's an aspiring rock star. -- @VikkiVansickle

• Daniel Handler

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  These are practically the only books she let me keep. A shrewd reader might hazard a guess as to what some of her issues might have been. —Daniel Handler, author of Why We Broke Up

• Yvonne Prinz

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  Yes, a bottle of rain, as in "Who else is gonna bring you a bottle of rain? Don't know where that guy got to, but I've still got the rain. Circa 1987. —Yvonne Prinz, author of All You Get is Me

• Cory

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  My ex-girlfriend was so cheap we lived in a house riddled with mice. One night I killed 3 with a broom. They had somehow evolved to be too smart for mousetraps. I think she was breeding them. - @corybeatty

• Vicki Grant

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  My high school boyfriend's name was Theodore but I always thought of him as Theodorable. He gave me this watch for my 17th birthday with a card that read, “I love your eyes, your teeth, your mouth. Your wart I'm not so crazy about.” Who wouldn't be crazy about a guy like that? —Vicki Grant, author of Betsy Wickwire’s Dirty Secret

• Alice Kuipers

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  A nostalgic silver thumb ring (circa 2000), made by my boyfriend, who doubled up as my best friend. Now he's neither. But I still wear it. —Alice Kuipers, author of 40 Things I Want to Tell You

• Shannon

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  My high school boyfriend bought me William Hung’s Inspiration for my birthday. Not only did this gem of a CD feature covers by Hung, but half the tracks were actually just inspirational messages. To this day I’m still not sure if this gift was a joke or not. -@shanparsons

• Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman

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A little about Why We Broke Up

Written by Daniel Handler, illustrated by Maira Kalman

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.

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