Sunday, October 18, 2009

YA genre that gets overlooked and a random thought...


I've looked through lists and lists of YA suggestions and very seldom do I find short story collections for YA. I've read some really good ones recently, and I plan on booktalking them - two I've read and LOVED were Geektastic and Up all Night. There are some pretty heavy-hitting YA writers on them, and their individual voices stand up to their novels.


(photo I took of my fortune today!)

So, here's my random thought I had today. After church, we went out to eat at a local Chinese restaurant. And after we got our ticket, my family, of course, always read out our fortunes we got. And then it hit me - wouldn't it be SO COOL if some writes got together, broke open a fortune cookie, and wrote a story around their fortune? I think that would be awesome because you never know what you'll get and the stories you could come up with! When I read mine this afternoon, I was thinking about what it would be about. I should just write it down.... : )


Anyway....




Here's a compiled list of YA short story collections I've read and enjoyed:




Up All Night: Six Sunsets, Six Stories


Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd


666: The Number of the Beast


Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Stories about Falling Out of Love by Four Incredible Authors


Every Man for Himself: Ten Short Stories About Being a Guy


Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales


Twice Told: Original Stories


Trapped!: Cages of Mind and Body


Who Am I Without Him: Short Stories about Girls and the Boys in their Lives


Magic in the Mirrorstone: Tales of Fantasy


5 comments:

Lawral the Librarian said...

You have some great story compilations there, but you've left off one of my favorites! If you haven't read it yet, you should check out Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link. I read it for a YA Lit class in grad school and loved it.

Janice Robertson said...

Hi Naomi,
You're SO right. The anthologies do seem to get neglected. Thanks for your post. I have Up All Night sitting in my TBR pile, and now I've decided to move it to the top.
I think one of the reasons for the oversights, is that often there are a couple great stories, some that are okay, and then a few that are really bad, and that always stops me from recommending the entire book, which really isn't fair, but that's what seems to happen.

shelleystoehr said...

love your list. i also love Love and Sex, edited by Michael Cart. I'm a contributor, though my story is the weakest in the collection! Love the fortune cookie idea. Looking forward to wending my way through your other posts. I too love to read YA! check out my blog (it's fiction shorts) @ www.outsidergirlswrite.blogspot.com
Peace!

Cynthia Leitich Smith said...

Two companion anthologies to Gothic!, also edited by Deborah Noyes, have been published: The Restless Dead and Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists, and Other Matters Odd and Magical (all Candlewick).

Naomi said...

I've read Restless Dead, How They Met and Other Stories, and Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances.

I need to get the third of Noyes' short story collections and read Love is Hell...had that one on my desk but didn't get to it : (