Synopsis
In a companion volume to an award-winner, writers such as Jane Yolen, Joseph Bruchac, E. L. Konigsburg, and Kyoko Mori reflect on special childhood moments and demonstrate the similar, different, and life-changing experiences of children during various time periods.
Reviews
Grade 5-9-As in the first anthology (Candlewick, 1996), 10 acclaimed authors write short stories based on their own childhoods and share a moment or situation that made a difference in their lives. It is the immediacy of the emotional experiences that drive the stories and make this collection well worth reading aloud in the classroom and library. Karen Hesse's haunting "Waiting for Midnight" is about a mother who abuses her children while the neighbors turn a blind eye. Kyoko Mori's "Learning to Swim" tells of a daring ocean adventure, and Paul Fleischman's "Interview with a Shrimp" humorously examines what it was like to suffer from Chronic Stature Deficiency as a youth. Each semi-autobiographical story begins with a photo of the writer as a young person and is complemented by an endnote. The appended short biographies and Ehrlich's inviting foreword appeal to readers' desire to see that authors might just be "like us after all." A sensitively crafted volume suitable for any short-story collection.
Katie O'Dell Madison, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ehrlich offers more of a good thing in this second volume of memoirs of adolescence by renowned, contemporary YA authors. Here, readers can journey to their favorite writers' old stomping grounds, places where the seeds of imagination and keen powers of observation are planted. There is the unheated shed where Norma Fox Mazer presses her eye against the slats of the wall to watch and make up stories about Herbie, the landlord's son. Inside Jane Yolen's grandparents' home is a passage to discovery: a double-doored closet smelling "of cedar and mothballs, and something else, a heavier, homier smell that I realized years afterward had been my grandfather's sweat." And in Joseph Bruchac's "The Snapping Turtle" there is the "little piece of forest" where Bruchac's Abenaki Indian grandfather teaches him to read nature's "signs" and respect its gifts. Rita Williams-Garcia, Paul Fleischman, Howard Norman, E.L. Konigsburg, Michael J. Rosen, Kyoko Mori and Karen Hesse also weigh in. While the settings, themes and characters of these memoirs are as eclectic as their creators' individual writing styles, all express a poetic understanding and insight. Accompanied by brief commentaries from the authors, these works perceptively and succinctly encapsulate the joys, pains and quiet moments of realization that are a part of growing up. Ages 9-14.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ehrlich's second anthology of short childhood memoirs is as good as the first (1996). Once again, 10 fine writers for young people tell intimate stories about crucial childhood experiences and then add brief notes about how the episodes shaped their lives as writers. Norma Fox Mazer remembers herself as a nervy tomboy outside in the street (smoking butts from the gutter), but she's a crybaby at home, until a terrifying episode makes her stop crying. Paul Fleischman writes his story as an interview, in which he remembers how it felt to be the smallest boy in the class, a "shrimp" right through school; he doesn't downplay the pain of the teasing ("I would have traded another world war for six inches"), but he shows and tells how he developed the smart, vulnerable, witty persona that helped him make friends and become a writer. In Kyoko Mori's unforgettable story, metaphor grows right out of dramatic fact as she describes how her mother taught her to swim, saved her from drowning, but could not save herself from despair. Rita Williams-Garcia is a deadpan comic about family mealtimes when she and her siblings learned to deal with a strict mother who was "still refining her cooking skills." Jane Yolen's funny note following her suspenseful story is candid about the blurring of memory and fact--are storytellers the best liars? The other fine storytellers are Joseph Bruchac, Karen Hesse, E. L. Konigsburg, Howard Norman, and Michael J. Rosen. With a brief biography and a childhood photo of each writer, this will be a great readaloud to get YAs started on writing their own personal stories that speak to all of us. Hazel Rochman
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