FROM THE PUBLISHER

Growing up is hard to do, as contributors such as Judy Blume, Robert Cormier, and Paul Zindel know. Full of humor and understanding, the stories and extracts in this collection share the hopes, dreams, and secret fears of both classic and contemporary young adult characters.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Heather Robertson

There is nothing that teens like to read about more than other teens. In literature they find people who think like they do, act like they do and have the same priorities that they do. This new anthology tries to collect some of the best stories about teens in one volume. The editor has chosen works by the top names in YA literature including Judy Blume, Paul Zindel and Katherine Mansfield. The collection has a variety of stories. Some are touching, some humorous and some serious. "Who's Afraid" is the story of a young man who learns not to fear his aged and blind great-grandmother while he is hiding from the fearsome Dicky Hutt. "Dear Bruce Springsteen" is a letter from a young man who runs away to meet his father only to realize that reality sometimes falls short of expectations. These are two of the better stories. Some of the other stories are older and young readers may find them hard to relate to. Others are excerpts from novels and lack some of the background information. While the book has entertaining illustrations, it is still not visually interesting. This alone will drive away many readers. Students who are already readers will enjoy this book, others may not find what they are looking for. 2004, Kingfisher, Ages 10 to 15.