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luna_rondo's review
3.0
I picked up this book solely for Sarah Dessen's "Infinity" which I had wanted to read for a while - and is the entire reason behind the three star marking. Otherwise, it probably would have been a one.
There were a few other good ones, but I was glad that it started out with Dessen's.
There were a few other good ones, but I was glad that it started out with Dessen's.
kricketa's review
3.0
The tricky thing about reading a book of short stories by different authors is that it's hard to give a rating to; I loved a few, liked some, didn't like others at all. The good thing is that I discovered some new authors I want to read more of.
I think my favorite was "Cowgirls and Indie Boys" by Tanuja Desai Hidier because it was surprising, yet also summed up so well what it feels like to be in high school. My other favorites were "Rutford becomes a man" by Ned Vizzini because it was bizarre and hilarious, and "The Perfect Kiss" by Sarah Mlynowski, because I have had mono, and also because it was hilarious.
Next time around I will probably skip the Sonya Sones, but I've never been a huge fan.
I think my favorite was "Cowgirls and Indie Boys" by Tanuja Desai Hidier because it was surprising, yet also summed up so well what it feels like to be in high school. My other favorites were "Rutford becomes a man" by Ned Vizzini because it was bizarre and hilarious, and "The Perfect Kiss" by Sarah Mlynowski, because I have had mono, and also because it was hilarious.
Next time around I will probably skip the Sonya Sones, but I've never been a huge fan.
impybelle's review
4.0
I won't say that I loved each story equally. I didn't. But the big surprise for me was that the authors I expected to love were merely liked, but the others were loved more than I could have imagined.
bbckprpl's review
4.0
Read for CBR6
, milestone birthdays that everyone remembers. Girls get a little bit more mileage out of it, what with the whole sweet sixteen thing, but even for guys, turning 16 tends to mean a certain amount of freedom – there’s the whole license thing, just for a start. Mine wasn’t like that, for various reasons, but I remember the hype. In the book, Sixteen; Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday, edited by Megan McCafferty, sixteen young adult authors tell some of their best stories about what 16 means in their minds, and let us decide if the hype is worth it or not.
There’s a lot to pick from here, as far as favorites go: In terms of authors, SIXTEEN culls from the cream of the crop – Sarah Dessen, MT Anderson, David Leviathan, Sarah Mlynowski. In terms of stories told, you’ve got everything from the horror that is rotaries (here in Massachusetts, I know they are their own special kind of hell); to pursuing your pen-pal; to the universality of having odd relatives (and also the completely unreal feeling of realizing that you are closer in age to the odd relatives than the main characters, but that’s just me, I suppose); to outrageous displays of shocking naivety. You’ve got dangerous strangers and even more dangerous friends; you’ve got religion and philosophy and it’s all approached with a seriousness that I so admire in Young Adult books – that sense that this matters, and we know it matters and we’re not going to patronize you about it.
The book doesn’t idealize or shy away from difficult topics – one of my favorite stories is about having a college interview with your closeted boyfriend’s father, but there are others that deal with things that are pretty heavy too, and this quote from Steve Almond’s piece more than encapsulates that spirit that I was referring to, that brutal honesty that I feel YA fiction is filled with –
“One of the reasons I hate Hollywood so much is that they portray the travails of teen life as so innocuous and fun-loving, some kind of idyll before the mean business of adulthood. People forget how much it all hurts back then. Someone pinches you and you feel it in your bones. They don’t want to face what a bunch of sadists teenagers are, wounded narcissists, killers. All these folks who acted all shocked and outraged about Columbine – where the hell did they go to high school?”
Exactly. Being a teenager isn’t any less painful then being a grown-up, we just sometimes remember it that way. But YA authors – or at least, good YA authors – seem to be able to clear away that nostalgic cobweb and write the truth of being 16: good, bad, painful, funny, heartbreaking, horrible, happy – you’re a whole person at 16, just like you are however old you are at this moment.
“I am not the person I have always known” a character exclaims in Juliana Baggott’s story, and it’s this mental reshuffling of the pieces, this new self-evaluation that being 16 requires of you that makes this book, & these stories, so great. But here’s a thing I didn’t know at 16 that I do now (at freaking 35) – those feelings, that mental reshuffling and re-evaluation? Never stops. Your brain doesn’t settle on a new thing that you are, instead it’s just a continuum of new things that you are/want to be/might be/don’t want to be, and you keep working for or against them, consciously or unconsciously. So when Emily Milty says “I am still a wool coat and grey soup and Sears carpeting, but not as much as I was just that morning when I woke up.” well that’s a feeling just about everybody can understand, no matter how far from 16 they may be.
I was glad that there was to see so many male characters represented (and well represented: w/author like Ned Vizzini, David Leviathan, & Steve Almond, that’s a given, but still) because I feel like guys totally get the shaft when it comes to the whole sweet sixteen thing, and I’m glad the book didn’t leave them behind. In fact, I don’t feel like it left anybody behind. There were stories of outsiders (and who doesn’t feel like an outsider, at 16), and the quiet kid, and the theater kid, and straight kids and gay kids and “please don’t call me a kid anymore because I am 16 years old now” kids.
There were stories of discovery and desperation; stories of finding love and finding yourself; stories about just waking up and making it through yet another day. There were those summers that changed friendships, and friendships that changed your life, and lives that wound up mattering more than they originally thought.
Short, and not necessarily sweet, Sixteen somehow managed to hit a lot of the right notes. (There were only one or two stories that didn’t do it for me, and out of sixteen, that’s a pretty good batting average.)
, milestone birthdays that everyone remembers. Girls get a little bit more mileage out of it, what with the whole sweet sixteen thing, but even for guys, turning 16 tends to mean a certain amount of freedom – there’s the whole license thing, just for a start. Mine wasn’t like that, for various reasons, but I remember the hype. In the book, Sixteen; Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday, edited by Megan McCafferty, sixteen young adult authors tell some of their best stories about what 16 means in their minds, and let us decide if the hype is worth it or not.
There’s a lot to pick from here, as far as favorites go: In terms of authors, SIXTEEN culls from the cream of the crop – Sarah Dessen, MT Anderson, David Leviathan, Sarah Mlynowski. In terms of stories told, you’ve got everything from the horror that is rotaries (here in Massachusetts, I know they are their own special kind of hell); to pursuing your pen-pal; to the universality of having odd relatives (and also the completely unreal feeling of realizing that you are closer in age to the odd relatives than the main characters, but that’s just me, I suppose); to outrageous displays of shocking naivety. You’ve got dangerous strangers and even more dangerous friends; you’ve got religion and philosophy and it’s all approached with a seriousness that I so admire in Young Adult books – that sense that this matters, and we know it matters and we’re not going to patronize you about it.
The book doesn’t idealize or shy away from difficult topics – one of my favorite stories is about having a college interview with your closeted boyfriend’s father, but there are others that deal with things that are pretty heavy too, and this quote from Steve Almond’s piece more than encapsulates that spirit that I was referring to, that brutal honesty that I feel YA fiction is filled with –
“One of the reasons I hate Hollywood so much is that they portray the travails of teen life as so innocuous and fun-loving, some kind of idyll before the mean business of adulthood. People forget how much it all hurts back then. Someone pinches you and you feel it in your bones. They don’t want to face what a bunch of sadists teenagers are, wounded narcissists, killers. All these folks who acted all shocked and outraged about Columbine – where the hell did they go to high school?”
Exactly. Being a teenager isn’t any less painful then being a grown-up, we just sometimes remember it that way. But YA authors – or at least, good YA authors – seem to be able to clear away that nostalgic cobweb and write the truth of being 16: good, bad, painful, funny, heartbreaking, horrible, happy – you’re a whole person at 16, just like you are however old you are at this moment.
“I am not the person I have always known” a character exclaims in Juliana Baggott’s story, and it’s this mental reshuffling of the pieces, this new self-evaluation that being 16 requires of you that makes this book, & these stories, so great. But here’s a thing I didn’t know at 16 that I do now (at freaking 35) – those feelings, that mental reshuffling and re-evaluation? Never stops. Your brain doesn’t settle on a new thing that you are, instead it’s just a continuum of new things that you are/want to be/might be/don’t want to be, and you keep working for or against them, consciously or unconsciously. So when Emily Milty says “I am still a wool coat and grey soup and Sears carpeting, but not as much as I was just that morning when I woke up.” well that’s a feeling just about everybody can understand, no matter how far from 16 they may be.
I was glad that there was to see so many male characters represented (and well represented: w/author like Ned Vizzini, David Leviathan, & Steve Almond, that’s a given, but still) because I feel like guys totally get the shaft when it comes to the whole sweet sixteen thing, and I’m glad the book didn’t leave them behind. In fact, I don’t feel like it left anybody behind. There were stories of outsiders (and who doesn’t feel like an outsider, at 16), and the quiet kid, and the theater kid, and straight kids and gay kids and “please don’t call me a kid anymore because I am 16 years old now” kids.
There were stories of discovery and desperation; stories of finding love and finding yourself; stories about just waking up and making it through yet another day. There were those summers that changed friendships, and friendships that changed your life, and lives that wound up mattering more than they originally thought.
Short, and not necessarily sweet, Sixteen somehow managed to hit a lot of the right notes. (There were only one or two stories that didn’t do it for me, and out of sixteen, that’s a pretty good batting average.)
lfuntan's review
1.0
I loved Megan McCafferty's Jessica Darling books, so I thought I would love these short stories for my sixteenth birthday, but they didn't quite compare.
bethreadsandnaps's review
3.0
3.5 stars
I loved the first story (Sarah Dessen!), and I did like quite a few others as well. I think the drama of being a teenager got to me by halfway through. I did appreciate more representation than I thought I would see in this collection - both LGBTQ and cultural.
I loved the first story (Sarah Dessen!), and I did like quite a few others as well. I think the drama of being a teenager got to me by halfway through. I did appreciate more representation than I thought I would see in this collection - both LGBTQ and cultural.
wanderlustmyfriend's review
3.0
Not the best. There were only a few stories that I actually enjoyed. One of the only redeeming points in this collection was the brand new short story that tied into Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings.
tohelenback's review
3.0
Honestly, I couldn't get through any of the stories except for Megan's Jessica Darling story. Loved that story enough to give the entire book three stars.
endlessreader's review
5.0
Apparently a girl's sixteenth birthday is supposed to be the be all to end all of all birthdays. It's supposed to be the year when your life begins. When everything of interest starts to happen to you. The cute guy right by your locker will finally notice you and your kick-ass boobs. The meanest girl in school will finally bow to your awesomeness and you'll get the chance to be a total bitch to her. It's supposed to be the year you look back at and think "Man, those were the days. The sneaking out, the making out, the doing of drugs...God, how I miss those days!!!" Of course, then you have the other scenario. The year in which you get your heart broken for the first time. The year you realize that actually getting your license and getting a car means paying gas. The year you realize life sometimes just blows no matter how old you are. My sixteenth year....was nothing like either of these scenarios.
The angst filled sixteenth year was something that I avoided. It was actually very anti-climactic. Not to say that nothing of interest didn't happen. It just wasn't very book or movie worthy. I seemed to avoid all of the major drama associated with being sixteen. Does that mean I'm lucky that I didn't get to go through the angst? Or unlucky because being sixteen wasn't extremely memorable to me and I therefore don't have any hilarious antidotes or earth-shattering, wrist slicing, drama to talk about? I don't know. What I do know is that I get to relive my 16th year vicariously through Sixteen.
Not being a fan of short story compilations, I was surprised that I loved Sixteen and raced through it. There's a story in here for everyone. You want something angsty read The Grief Diet. You want something in the vein of all of the other cheesy '80's movies read The Perfect Kiss. You want something that makes you think back at those days when you thought nothing embarrassing could ever happen to you because this is in fact real life and not a movie, read Cat Got Your Tongue?.
Sure there were a couple of stories in here while were not really clunkers, they were not as great as the rest. It's inevitable with a short story compilation. But still, the majority of the these stories were amazing and brought me back to my high school years and the angst that goes along with it(just because my 16th year wasn't that memorable doesn't mean my 17th wasn't...). I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to revisit the feeling you had when you were sixteen or just to laugh at the rest and think "Thank God that didn't happen to me!"
The angst filled sixteenth year was something that I avoided. It was actually very anti-climactic. Not to say that nothing of interest didn't happen. It just wasn't very book or movie worthy. I seemed to avoid all of the major drama associated with being sixteen. Does that mean I'm lucky that I didn't get to go through the angst? Or unlucky because being sixteen wasn't extremely memorable to me and I therefore don't have any hilarious antidotes or earth-shattering, wrist slicing, drama to talk about? I don't know. What I do know is that I get to relive my 16th year vicariously through Sixteen.
Not being a fan of short story compilations, I was surprised that I loved Sixteen and raced through it. There's a story in here for everyone. You want something angsty read The Grief Diet. You want something in the vein of all of the other cheesy '80's movies read The Perfect Kiss. You want something that makes you think back at those days when you thought nothing embarrassing could ever happen to you because this is in fact real life and not a movie, read Cat Got Your Tongue?.
Sure there were a couple of stories in here while were not really clunkers, they were not as great as the rest. It's inevitable with a short story compilation. But still, the majority of the these stories were amazing and brought me back to my high school years and the angst that goes along with it(just because my 16th year wasn't that memorable doesn't mean my 17th wasn't...). I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to revisit the feeling you had when you were sixteen or just to laugh at the rest and think "Thank God that didn't happen to me!"
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