Book #1: Sixteen - Edited by Megan McCafferty

Book #1
Title: Sixteen
Author: Edited by Megan McCafferty (et al)
Pages: 300-ish
Grade: A-
Buyability: 6.5/10
Status: Owned (gift)

Megan McCafferty's edited collection of short stories entitled "Sixteen" (A Bday Gift) is quite aptly, sixteen stories about being or turning sixteen.

If you aren't familiar with Megan McCafferty - she is the author of the wildly popular 'Jessica Darling' series, if you can call it that. Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings, and Charmed Thirds (a fourth is on its way) are three books that cover a young woman's journey through most of high school and college. There is in fact a short story on Jessica Darling about the last 15 minutes she spends before her best friend Hope leaves town (which is in fact where the series picks up from).

The other fifteen stories in the book are all extremely varied, but the majority of them are quite good. I'm not a short story fan by any means, but unfortunately have to tackle the task of writing one this term - and this book was so well-compiled and written it inspired me quite a bit. Some of my fave stories were probably "Infinity", "The Many Lives of Emily Milty", and "The Perfect Kiss" - most of them were really good, a couple were not my fave as they seemed to really stray from the subject and style of the book, but it's hard to judge what makes a good short story to everyone.

The one critique I do give to the authors of these short stories is there was a consistent theme of either - kissing (specifically first kisses or momentous kisses) or discovering/experimenting with being gay. Not all sixteen year olds are that confused about their sexuality - yet at least half of the stories in the book dealt with that topic, I guess to provoke some more intense emotions or meaning.