Love & Sex - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0689856687 ISBN 13: 9780689856686

Publisher: S&S Books for Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

Lust, Desire, Fantasy, Obsession, Love
In one outstanding volume, ten of today's finest authors of adult and young-adult literature lend teir talent and their vioces to take a hard, clear look at love and sexuality. From balancing abstinence and desire, to learning the difference between love and lust, to fulfilling a childhood obsession, each of these stories depicts characters exploring a world of new feelings and sensations that is opening up before them. At times magical, funny, sad, and angry -- but always heartbraakingly honest -- these stories reveal the pressures and complications -- and sometimes joy -- of love and sex.

Laurie Halse Anderson "Snake"
Joan Bauer "Extra Virgin"
Emma Donoghue "The Welcome"
Louise Hawes "Fine and Dandy"
Angela Johnson "Watcher"
Michael Lowenthal "The Acuteness of Desire"
Chris Lynch "The Cure of Curtis"
GarhtNix "Lightning Bringer"
Sonya Sones "Secret Shelf"
Shelley Steohr "Troll Bumps"

About this title

Review:

A collection of little romances with happy endings? No way. These "ten stories of truth" take a hard, clear look at those first overwhelming feelings of passion, the yearning, aching, sweaty miseries and ecstasies of young love. Distinguished young adult critic and author Michael Cart has brought together 10 brilliant, original stories that examine the many facets of adolescent amour. They range from Joan Bauer's warm, funny tale about the dedicated chastity struggles of an "Extra Virgin" to Michael Lowenthal's achingly erotic story of a young gay male's first disastrous experience with "The Acuteness of Desire." Cart's cast of writers includes some of the freshest talent in young adult literature. Fantasy writer Garth Nix brings his magic touch to "Lightning Bringer"; Sonya Sones shares a set of evocative poems about love in "Secret Shelf"; Laurie Halse Anderson uses the setting of wacky, tacky Venice Beach to tell of a reluctant date that catches fire after meeting a "Snake"; and Emma Donoghue touches on transgender in a story of a young lesbian virgin's crush in "The Welcome." In Louise Hawes's story, a girl makes the hard decision for abortion rather than marrying the boring young man who would have made everything "Fine and Dandy." Chris Lynch relays an almost-funny anecdote of confused sexual identity, and Shelley Stoehr and Angela Johnson explore the nature of sexual obsession in two very different stories to round out this delectable and provocative collection. A portion of the money generated from the sale of this book will be donated to the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). (Ages 14 and older) --Patty Campbell

About the Author:

A past president of the Young Adult Library Services Association, Michael Cart is well known as an author, critic, and lecturer. His history of young adult literature, From Romance to Realism, is used as a text in many college classes. Both his young adult novel, My Father's Scar, and his short-story anthology, Tomorrowland: Ten Stories About the Future, were selected as American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults. Mr. Cart's column, "Carte Blanche," appears monthly in Booklist magazine, and his award-winning cable television interview program, In Print, is syndicated nationally.

The winner of the 2000 Grolier Foundation Award for his contribution to the stimulation and guidance of reading by children and young adults, Michael Cart lives in northern California.

About this edition

• Publisher: S&S Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0689856687
• ISBN 13: 9780689856686
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240
• Editor: Cart Michael