Short Story Collections: Contemporary Children's & YA Authors

This exceptional and powerful anthology explores the joys, heartbreaks and triumphs of immigration, with stories by critically acclaimed and bestselling YA authors who are shaped by the journeys they and their families have taken from home--and to find home. (Gr. 8-12)

The New York Times bestselling author of Every Day, Someday, and Two Boys Kissing is back with a short story collection about love. Witty, romantic, and honest (gr. 9-12).

A collection of fifteen fantasy stories written in partnership with the organization, We Need Diverse Books. Inclusive and Wide Ranging, and will likely appeal to more than just Science Fiction Fans (Gr. 8-12)

A young adult anthology featuring fictional stories of everyday resistance. You might be the kind of person who stands up to online trolls. Or who marches to protest injustice. Perhaps you are #DisabledAndCute and dancing around your living room, alive and proud. Or perhaps you are the trans mentor that you wish you had when you were younger. This anthology features fictional stories--in poems, prose, and art--that reflect a slice of the varied and limitless ways that readers like you resist every day. Take the Mic's powerful collection of stories features work by literary luminaries and emerging talent alike Gr. 7-12)

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today--Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it's like to be young and Black in America (Gr. 9-12).

Thirteen of Poe's terrifying works are reimagined in new and unexpected ways for modern readers. Poe's own stories are included, so readers can compare.(Gr. 9-12)

This anthology explores disability in fictional tales told from the viewpoint of disabled characters, written by disabled creators. With stories in various genres about first loves, friendship, war, travel, and more, Unbroken will offer today's teen readers a glimpse into the lives of disabled people in the past, present, and future. (Gr. 8-12)

An anthology featuring award-winning diverse authors about diverse characters. Short stories, a graphic novel, and a one-act play explore such topics as gentrification, acceptance, untimely death, coming out, and poverty, and range in genre from contemporary realistic fiction to adventure and romance (Gr. 8-12)

In Something to Hang On To award-winning author Beverley Brenna constructs a diverse cast of quirky and honest young teens in tough times. In varied settings characters battle through adversity: a fear of heights, family violence, the physical cage of Down syndrome, ossifying muscular dystrophy, the artistic world of autism, and even a toe caught in the vacuum. In these positive fictions, teens find ways to overcome their obstacles by capturing lasting resolutions from within. Read the review in Resource Links https://go.exlibris.link/TyLTNpXy (Gr. 8-12, CANADIAN).

Fifteen illustrated short stories, some humorous and some haunting, set in the Australian suburbs: a water buffalo who hangs out in a vacant lot and gives directions to local kids; stick figures who get beaten up by neighborhood bullies; a giant du­gong that appears on someone’s lawn; and the lonely fate of all the unread poetry that people write — it joins a vast “river of waste that flows out of suburbia.” (Gr. 7-12)

Notable Graphic artist Kazu Kibuishi gave 10 emerging comic artists the same theme (flight) and collected the stories in this volume. Many now have established careers (Gr. 9-12 GRAPHIC NOVEL).

Here is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the award-winning anthology Firebirds! Firebirds Risingtakes readers from deep space to Faerie to just around the corner. It is full of magic, humour, adventure, and - best of all - the unexpected. The one thing readers can count on is marvellous writing. Firebirds Risingproves once again that Firebirdis a gathering place for writers and readers of speculative fiction from teenage to adult, from the United States to Europe, Asia, and beyond (Gr. 7-10).

"First times" can be life-changing experiences. Marthe Jocelyn has selected fourteen unforgettable stories, written by several of the best authors in North America, which explore human nature and take the reader on a transforming journey. From innocent firsts, such as first blue jeans, first boyfriend, first job, first step into adulthood, to the more complex first disillusionment, first inappropriate love, first family breakup, first breach of trust, to the shocking first dead body and first night alone, the stories in First Times -- in all their diversity -- embrace and captivate with their power (Gr. 8-10 Mostly CANADIAN).

10 original science-fiction stories based on the science and technology used to understand and explore polar regions on Earth and elsewhere. From understanding climate change on Earth to the search for life within the ice of Mars or Europa, polar science has never been more central to unraveling the secrets of our past, present and future. Polaris uses the speculation and imagination of science fiction to explore polar science itself. Where might it take us? What might certain discoveries mean? And at what cost do we take the frozen poles for granted? (Gr. 7-10, CANADIAN)

Once again R.P. MacIntyre ups the speed limit with a collection of stories that are journeys into the delight and terror of emerging self-consciousness. From a strange party in honour of a dying hamster to a young man's quest to find his missing sister, Revved resonates with the authentic experiences of today's youth and the reverberations of their extraordinary imaginations (Gr 9-12, CANADIAN).

For this intriguing collection, Hunt sent nine hauntingly surreal images to 18 YA authors and asked each one to write a story based on the image. Sometimes the same picture can tell two different stories, as this collection shows. Illustrations (Gr. 9-12).

The stories in this collection are funny, nasty, playful, heartbreaking, angry, honest, authentic and surreal. They're about family, friends, obstacles, searching, love, loss, music, sex, discovery and growing up. Lisa Heggum, a librarian passionate about reaching older teen readers, has gathered stories from some of the brightest lights writing today (Gr. 9-12). CANADIAN.

A collection of tales of imaginary worlds and not-quite-ordinary people. From the young girl who finds work experience at the Commonwealth Time Laboratories isn't quite what she expected; to a teenage boy suppressing his feelings for his best friends with surprising results (Gr. 8-11).

Eight tales explore the highs and lows of characters struggling to belong. Their journeys are funny, fantastical and moving (Gr. 8-10 CANADIAN).

Drawing on dark fantasy as well as horror and wild humour, ten contemporary authors pay homage to the gothic tale in original stories of the supernatural and the surreal. Vampires, ghosts, witches and haunted houses are featured in this compilation of frightening tales by Joan Aiken, Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix (Gr. 9-12)

There is "The Ugly One," whose only solace comes when she is locked inside her own head. In "Wanted: A Thug," a teenager seeks advice on how to steal her best friend's bad-guy boyfriend. And then there's Erika, who only likes white boys. Sharon Flake takes readers through the minds of girls trying to define themselves while struggling to remain relevant to the boys in their lives. This is a complex, often humorous, always on-point exposition of black youth resolving to find self-worth . . . any way they know how (Gr. 7-10).

It starts with the story of Arthur Clive Pinner, a Home Boy shipped to Canada in 1909, desperate for some kind of refuge. Flash forward ninety years: the now ancient Art Pinner sits in his wheelchair, vaguely aware of the intrigues and stresses of twenty-first century Sky Falls. The real-life dramas swirling around Art make up the bulk of this collection of thirteen stories about a group of young people coming of age in a small town in northern Ontario. These are stories in which teenagers come to terms with their sexuality, with private shame and public tragedy, with emerging love, with heroism-and with the inexplicable spirits and small miracles that are at work in their lives. Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year Award Shortlist (2004) Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Starred Selection (Gr. 8-10, CANADIAN).

Fractures is a collection of twelve deeply affecting stories that address contemporary family relationships and dynamics through a child's or teenager's eyes. Although these stories (most of which are new to this collection) deal with difficult issues and themes--sibling rivalry, alcoholism, illness, child abuse and neglect--each offers powerful moments of revelation, even of redemption, as its protagonists seek out and connect with others. (Gr. 7-10, CANADIAN).

...A kid visited by memories of his dead cousin and tortured by his decision not to take a leap. A twin tormented by his monstrous brother. A couple blown apart by an unintended pregnancy. A personal discovery that threatens disaster. A bitter anger whose object is beyond the reach of revenge. A longing to live a forbidden life.In a new collection of sharp, glittering short stories, award-winning author Chris Lynch gives us a candid and intense look at a collection of young lives from the inside out (Gr. 9-12).

Close-Ups confronts teen readers with the sometimes exultant, sometimes anguished, but always riveting turf of adolescence. These seventeen stories, from such acknowledged talents as Martha Brooks, Brian Doyle, Sarah Ellis, Bernice Friesen, Linda Holeman, Kevin Major, Budge Wilson, Tim Wynne-Jones and many others, salute the rich and varied talents of Canadian writers for teens. View School Library Journal Review at https://go.exlibris.link/MVFkXtgJ (Gr. 8-10 CANADIAN).

From the celebrated author ofThe Chosen and My Name is Asher Levcomes an outstanding work of fiction for young adults. Zebra and Other Stories charts moments of grief, crisis, or change for its teenage protagonists: an injury; the loss of a parent; one family's remembered grief, another's thinly buried secrets; the complex hopes that accompany a birth and the shattering impact of death. Containing six stories that are rich in drama and sharp in understanding, this is a memorable collection from a master storyteller that speaks clearly to young adults (Gr. 9-12).  

This collection of 10 stories explores the confusion, frustration and rewards of growing up. Reissued in 2003 under a different title: Toxic Love. (Gr. 8-10, CANADIAN).

A collection of short stories which focus on the difficult journeys teens take on their way to adulthood.(Gr. 7-10, CANADIAN)