Part of the problem were the times, and back in the mid 1970s the majority of youth-oriented fiction had not stayed abreast of things as far as I could see. The main problem I had with fiction that was geared for my age range was that none of it, no matter what the genre, had characters in it that I could either identify with or recognize as being human. Of course I don't really think those books are what you would call your normal Young Adult reading – they were just what was on offer in grade nine thirty very odd years ago. The closest I came would have been the obligatory books that were foisted on me in high school: Salinger's Catcher In The Rye and Golding's Lord Of The Flies. A biographical sketch and author's note follow each story.When I fit into the Young Adult demographic, which I assume to be from late pre-teen to mid- to late-teens, I doubt if I ever read anything that was considered written for that age group. Short-story collections for young adults are relatively plentiful, but rare is an anthology wherein every selection comes from authors who are already well respected most of them have taken this free-form assignment to truly reach toward new creative heights.
Diana Wynne Jones' selection, one of several stories written for a younger audience, is as much a haunting story of family dynamics and relationships as a tale of a threatening witch coven. Though straight out of a Twilight Zone concept, Alan Dean Foster's take on the trickiness of perceptions (humans pity aliens who pity humans) is effectively revamped with young adult characters.
Relative newcomer Alison Goodman offers one of the funniest stories, featuring a mismatched human/alien pair (and the inevitable cultural struggles that ensue) who work together around the common goal of increasing tolerance. Despite the absence of any specific theme, the collection is surprisingly cohesive, a compelling, mostly fantasy collection free of weak links.
Building on the success of her previous anthology, Firebirds (BCCB 1/04), November draws on the talents of established fantasy and science-fiction authors in this collection of sixteen short stories.
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