Flying Lessons & Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh

 Flying Lessons & Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh, Crown, 9781101934593, 2017.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 1-5, (5 is a starred review) 5

Genre:  Short stories

What did you like about the book? This is a wonderful collection of shorts stories by a diverse group of authors including Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina and Matt de la Peña. That’s the sole purpose of the collection, diversity. Stories about African-American, Latino American, Indian American, Native American, and white kids, even Chinese children. Ellen Oh co-founded the WNDB web site, We Need Diverse Books and came up with the idea for this book.

Each story is from the perspective of a middle grade student, they are about crushes, sports, tragedies and joys, even special powers. None of the stories are too long and will definitely keep kids’ attentions.

It’s wonderful to be inside the heads of each of these protagonists to hear their voice and to see their worlds. Some may be familiar and some may  be foreign, but that’s the point. We are all different, but we are also all alike.

Anything you didn’t like about it? No

To whom would you recommend this book? Reluctant readers into high school would enjoy these stories, particularly boys since basketball is involved in two of the stories. May be a nice choice for ESL classes to read.

Who should buy this book?  Middle and High schools, Public libraries, too.

Where would you shelve it? Fiction, Short Story collections

Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? Yes

Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City and State: Maria Touet, Pope John XXIII High School, Everett, MA

Date of review: February 13, 2017