YA Friday: Short Story Anthologies

My latest reading obsession is young adult short story anthologies. I have always loved short stories. I remember hating Nathaniel Hawthore's The Scarlet Letter, but adoring his short stories. My all-time favorite classical literature is Edgar Allen Poe's short stories: "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Tell-tale Heart." I do not use the word obsession lightly. I have bought 7 collections just this week.  However, I'm going to talk about three 2016 collections in this post.



Realistic fiction YA is my favorite so I'm loving this collection. It features authors like Kekla Magoon, James Preller and Jordan Sonnenblick. In the first story, "Three Imaginary Conversations With You," author Heather Demetrios presents a narrator in a relationship that is gone sour.  A girl who is about to graduate is trying to extricate herself from her college boyfriend. The boyfriend criticizes her all the time, looks down on her for being younger and is very manipulative, threatening to kill himself if they break up.



A collection of historical fiction heroines kicking ass and taking names? Yes, please! Authors include Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer, Kelka Magoon and YA historical fiction queen, Elizabeth Wein.  In "Pearls" by Beth Reavis, set in 1876, a young girl is trying to escape a marriage her father insists is mandatory. He assumes she has relinquished her virtue, but the man actually raped her. Her method of escape? She moves from Chicago to Wyoming to become a teacher in a subscription school. One of her pupils is a famous figure from history.



This is a companion to My True Love Game to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories. I can't help but sing "Summer Lovin'" from the musical Grease when I see the cover of this book. After reading Tim Federle's debut YA novel, The Great American Whatever, I am thrilled to read another one of his stories. In "Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail," author Leigh Bardugo's heroine, Gracie, lives in a tourist town and thinks she sees The Loch Ness Monster in the lake. She starts hanging out with Eli, a nerdy tourist boy, and they research the possibility. They see each other summer after summer and a romance develops; however, there is a secret that keeps them from having anything more than a summer fling.

Do you have any YA short story anthology recommendations for me? If so, leave them in the comments, or let me know on Twitter @sralph31.