This Is Push: New Stories from the Edge [Paperback]

David Levithan (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2007

An anthology of new writing from the authors published over the first five years of PUSH, timed for the fifth anniversary in February 2007.

contributing authors:
Patricia McCormick, Kevin Brooks, Chris Wooding, Markus Zusak, Brian James, Kristen Kemp,Eireann Corrigan, Christopher Krovatin, Billy Merrell, Matthue Roth, Kevin Waltman, Samantha Schutz, Coe Booth

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–Fifteen new stories make up this first-class anthology. A handful of pieces showcase characters from past PUSH titles, such as the return of the fabulously kooky Katie James and her hairdresser bombshell mom in Kristen Kemp's hilarious Katie James Beats the Blues. An installment by acclaimed newcomer Coe Booth finds the title character from her breakthrough novel Tyrell (2006) driving to Riker's Island to visit his dad in prison. PUSH vets Brian James and Eireann Corrigan offer new stories inspired by characters from past works. Readers will be left speechless by Chris Wooding's jarring, horrific tale of two godlike beings who, in the guise of teens on a blind date, wreak havoc on a city from the cozy confines of a coffee-shop window, and they will no doubt be haunted by Markus Zusak's captivatingly poetic story of a gravedigger and his crush. Kevin Brooks, in true noir form, contributes the longest offering: a dangerous story of friendship gone to the dogs in a drunken, suburban wasteland. Visionary poet Billy Merrell's play offers a warm glimpse into a romance between two boys. Patricia McCormick spins an evil tale of snarky betrayal inside a cliquey private school. Most of these installments feel fully realized and stand alone; others seem like a hint of what might come later. As a whole, they run the literary gamut from realistic fiction to memoir to romance to mystery to horror, and each one will no doubt be devoured by teens.–Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Levithan is the founding editor of Scholastic's Push imprint, and in this collection, he groups 15 original stories contributed by Push authors, including well knowns such as Markus Zusak and Patricia McCormick. A few stories veer from realism: Chris Wooding offers a darkly comic fantasy, in which nihilistic, mythological beings spice up a dull first date by terrorizing humans. Most selections, though, find the drama in the concerns of contemporary teens, who confront eating disorders and self-mutilation; complicated, even abusive friendships; the astonishments and tragedies of first love and sex; and the difficulty of growing up with absent or clueless parents. The settings, from the Bronx to a small town in Indiana, are as varied as the characters' cultural identities, and lots of characters speak with graphic, sometimes four-letter frankness. The stories' raw intensity is a unifying thread, and many teens will appreciate these frequently experimental selections that give bold, wild voice to their own tangle of fear, joy, regret, hope, and the changing pictures of who they would like to be. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 15 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Push (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439890284
• ISBN-13: 978-0439890281
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #390,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This anthology will be sure to entertain, June 1, 2007

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Is Push: New Stories from the Edge (Paperback)

David Levithan, the founding editor of the edgy Scholastic imprint, PUSH, has put together this anthology of 15 short stories by PUSH authors, including Markus Zusak, Patricia McCormick, Kevin Brooks, Tanuja Desai Hidier and many more.

THIS IS PUSH offers a wide variety of short story selections that range in style from narrative to the duel poem/play format in "My Boyfriend Refuses to Speak in Iambic Pentameter" by Billy Merrell and the poem "Picking" by Samantha Schutz. The collection encompasses teen heartbreaks, missing parents, overbearing parents and teenage experimentation --- all told in engaging stories with raw and edgy characters. Even in the crazy apocalyptic world of Chris Wooding's "People Watching," there are elements of teenage frustrations leading to rebellion.

The short stories that really stand out among the pack include Patricia McCormick's "Smoking Lessons," about a young girl who desperately wants to impress one of the "cool girls" at her new private all-girls school where she aims for "a fresh start." Markus Zusak also mesmerizes readers with his masterfully poetic language in "The First Six Killers." In typical Zusak style, he writes from the point of view of an oddball character, a 16-year-old gravedigger with "a face like darkness" and "a smile like an uncomfortable tide."

Coe Booth's "Halfway" is an invigorating jaunt into the life of an urban teen celebrating his birthday by driving with his learner's permit to visit his father at a halfway house. In the opening lines Booth writes, "I know I ain't s'posed to be driving by myself with nothing but a hour-old permit in my back pocket, but a brotha got places to go Alright, to be honest, I don't got nowhere to go, but this dude from my old building was dumb enough to lend me his car to go to the Motor Vehicles, so why not cruise 'round for awhile?"

This collection also includes stories with tension between teens and their parents. In Matthew Roth's "The Waitress," a Russian immigrant boy gets beaten up on his first day of high school. Roth writes, "That night to celebrate my allegedly victorious first day of school, my parents took me to the same place we went to celebrate virtually every family birthday, anniversary, and good report card ever...I had to try on all three collared shirts in my closet before I found one to cover the bruises that Bates had put there."

And then in Christopher Krovitan's "Ginger," a young Jewish girl falls for a crazy punk kid that comes into her father's music store. Her mother's response: "Gyah! Izzy, you're killing me...Can't you have a weird little teenage crush on some nice Jewish boy who comes into the store...Why does it have to be the freckled Irishman with the homeless-person clothes?"

THIS IS PUSH is the perfect way to sample the fine talents of the PUSH authors. Whether you read it for your old favorites or to learn more about new writers, this anthology will be sure to entertain.

--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, June 1, 2007

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Is Push: New Stories from the Edge (Paperback)

There's certainly something for everyone in this anthology edited by the brilliant David Levithan and with contributions from great writers like Samantha Schultz, Markus Zusak and Eddie de Oliveira.

It seems to me, however, that short stories can be more subjective than other forms of literature, especially when some of them are as unconventional as some of these are.

All of these stories are very different; there's not really anything I can write here to tie it all together. They're all well worth reading, although every story will not appeal to every reader.

My personal favorites included "Picking," "Smoking Lessons," and "The Waitress." However, upon picking this book up, you've got to be prepared to sit through a few you inevitably won't love; this collection of very different stories will affect everyone differently. None are badly written, however, and the certainty of finding at least one you'll absolutely love makes THIS IS PUSH, overall, a satisfying read.

Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce