From Publishers Weekly
Ehrlich offers more of a good thing in this second volume of memoirs of adolescence by renowned, contemporary YA authors. Here, readers can journey to their favorite writers' old stomping grounds, places where the seeds of imagination and keen powers of observation are planted. There is the unheated shed where Norma Fox Mazer presses her eye against the slats of the wall to watch and make up stories about Herbie, the landlord's son. Inside Jane Yolen's grandparents' home is a passage to discovery: a double-doored closet smelling "of cedar and mothballs, and something else, a heavier, homier smell that I realized years afterward had been my grandfather's sweat." And in Joseph Bruchac's "The Snapping Turtle" there is the "little piece of forest" where Bruchac's Abenaki Indian grandfather teaches him to read nature's "signs" and respect its gifts. Rita Williams-Garcia, Paul Fleischman, Howard Norman, E.L. Konigsburg, Michael J. Rosen, Kyoko Mori and Karen Hesse also weigh in. While the settings, themes and characters of these memoirs are as eclectic as their creators' individual writing styles, all express a poetic understanding and insight. Accompanied by brief commentaries from the authors, these works perceptively and succinctly encapsulate the joys, pains and quiet moments of realization that are a part of growing up. Ages 9-14.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9-As in the first anthology (Candlewick, 1996), 10 acclaimed authors write short stories based on their own childhoods and share a moment or situation that made a difference in their lives. It is the immediacy of the emotional experiences that drive the stories and make this collection well worth reading aloud in the classroom and library. Karen Hesse's haunting "Waiting for Midnight" is about a mother who abuses her children while the neighbors turn a blind eye. Kyoko Mori's "Learning to Swim" tells of a daring ocean adventure, and Paul Fleischman's "Interview with a Shrimp" humorously examines what it was like to suffer from Chronic Stature Deficiency as a youth. Each semi-autobiographical story begins with a photo of the writer as a young person and is complemented by an endnote. The appended short biographies and Ehrlich's inviting foreword appeal to readers' desire to see that authors might just be "like us after all." A sensitively crafted volume suitable for any short-story collection.
Katie O'Dell Madison, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
