"An anthology of twelve original short stories by top authors exploring real issues for real teens.
Through prose and comics alike, these heart-pounding short stories for young adults ask hard questions about a range of topics from sexuality and addiction to violence and immigration. Here is the perfect tool for starting tough discussions or simply as an introduction to realistic literary fiction. In turns funny, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking, I See Reality will resonate with today's teens long after the last page has been turned."- summary from Amazon
I really enjoyed this anthology- lots of wonderful stories from my favorite authors and some new ones I hadn't read from before. Such a wide array of different stories- funny, emotional, romantic, poignant, and so many other adjectives. I also really liked how each author's story connected with the photos on the front where their names were; I kept looking at the cover after each story to see what the connection was.
Some of the stories I was really drawn to were The Downside of Fabulous by Kristin Elizabeth Clark, which I really wanted to just keep reading. I loved the characters and wished to spend more time with them in a full-length novel. Three Imaginary Conversations by Heather Demetrios was another winner from such an amazing author- so raw, honest and poignant and just so well-done (I mean, it's told in second person, which you don't see often and is hard to pull off well). Untitled by Faith Erin Hicks was so funny, sweet, and romantic; it was also told in comic-style, which made for an interesting break from all the prose. Finally, The Night of the Living Creeper by Stephen Emond had some drawings in it, and I thought it was really funny, especially since it was told from a cat's point of view at a high school party.
Overall, such a great anthology filled with wonderful stories! If you're a fan of contemporary YA fiction, this is an anthology for you.
FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.
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Thanks so much for the shout out, and the wonderful review - I also loved the stories in this anthology, and had a lot of fun with the cover just as you did!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the characters in my short story resonated with you. Since you enjoyed them, I think you might also like the main characters in my forthcoming book, "Jess, Chunk and the Road Trip to Infinity", which pubs from FSG Macmillan on Nov 8th. :-)