Take a photo of a barcode or cover
1.04k reviews for:
All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages
Saundra Mitchell
3.92 AVERAGE
1.04k reviews for:
All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages
Saundra Mitchell
3.92 AVERAGE
This is a compilation of short stories by well-known young adult authors. Each story features an LGBTQ+ character, though the stories vary in setting and genre. This is an excellent collection of stories. Strongly recommended.
Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: none
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars
Read-Alikes: A Thousand Beginnings and Endings
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Edelweiss for the purposes of review.
Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: none
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars
Read-Alikes: A Thousand Beginnings and Endings
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Edelweiss for the purposes of review.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Just a personal ick; but to my knowledge my edition is the newest… however, it has one of the “about the author” sections at the end still with an author’s previous pronouns. I guess that’s personal preference. But it seems a tad disrespectful to not update for pronouns in a book specifically about queer retellings. If I weren’t the sort of person to google every author in a queer anthology, I’d not have even known. It feels an uncomfortable note to end reading a book on queer people with. Two fictional transmascs with their pronouns respected, but only 1/2 of the transmasc authors…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Transphobia, Death of parent
Moderate: Xenophobia, War
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
What a stunning anthology, and I’m only a little mad that it gave me so many feelings.
I really enjoyed the representation of this book. It had so many diverse characters that fit so well into the time periods of their stories. It's the kind of book I wish I had when I was just figuring things out.
I applaud this anthology for what it was trying to accomplish: providing young adults with historical stories about LGBT teens that are both romantic and uplifting. Not only does this anthology offer stories about gay and lesbian characters, but there are also transgender and asexual characters as well. That's AMAZING. I'm so happy this exists and that I was able to read it. In terms of the quality of the stories, it was kind of hit or miss for me. I've gotten very picky the last couple of years and I found the majority of the stories to be generic and cliched where I could guess the basic premise of the stories by just looking at the location and year in which they took place. There were several standouts though. The Inferno and the Butterfly by Shaun David Hutchinson was a personal favorite about two rival magician assistants who fall in love. I also really enjoyed Every Shade of Red by Elliot Wake about a transgender Robin Hood and New Year by Malinda Lo which features the daughter of Chinese immigrants during the middle of the Red Scare. I also personally connected with Nilah Magruder's And They Don't Kiss at the End as the main character Dee is me through and through and it was nice to see myself in a story. Overall, this was a cute set of stories and it introduced me to a bunch of authors who could expand my reading realm.
This sat on my shelf for ages but I finally got around to reading it. I loved most of the short stories, except one or two.
It's been a great year for YA anthologies, and this is one that firmly cements how worthwhile these collections really are. My pan heart is bursting with happiness, hooked on so many of these incredibly vivid, imaginative, and heart-wrenching these stories are. I've already picked up a copy for my favorite teacher to share with her students as an out non-binary educator, and I can only hope this book makes the impact on them that it did on me. Not all the stories were great, but the ones that shined bright are positively stellar, and took this book over the top. I'll see about doing a story-by-story review at a later date. Loved it too much to let it go to waste.
my only problem with this is that i wanted more of some of the stories
I got this on an adventure to the library, because I love the library, and I was so excited to pick this up.
I'm going to be real I probably hyped myself up for this too much and then disappointed myself when not all of these were happy love stories.
'New Years' and 'Every Shade of Red' made me sad in the ways I didn't want to be, in this sort of book because I feel that we should at least be given warning that these characters we've already put so much love into by just deciding to read this book wouldn't get a direct happy ending and that's just what I wanted. If I wanted a series to follow these characters along with that would be different but this should be an anthology of love stories where we all leave knowing everyone is satisfied and that's what set me off from actually finishing this book. I couldn't take the idea of another set of characters having to be separated like Robin and Will, or a character like Lily whose alone and gets stuck with racist comments from people who she seems to look up to. It breaks my heart.
'The Dresser and the Chambermaid' is the kind of good, gay fun that I came here for, truthfully. Just two girls, being silly in love and wanting to support each other and maybe still keeping their place in the palace with the added bonus of the King telling you to have a nice night kissing. What a blast, truly living the life Sappho wanted for them right there.
Maybe I'll revisit this book later in life, and maybe I'll feel differently. I'm never one to give up completely on a book after one failed attempt at reading it, but this is the first queer book that has frustrated me in a bad way. A lot of books have frustrated me and I've reread them and liked them more the second time around so I'm going to put it on a 'Read Again' list and hope for the best.
I'm going to be real I probably hyped myself up for this too much and then disappointed myself when not all of these were happy love stories.
'New Years' and 'Every Shade of Red' made me sad in the ways I didn't want to be, in this sort of book because I feel that we should at least be given warning that these characters we've already put so much love into by just deciding to read this book wouldn't get a direct happy ending and that's just what I wanted. If I wanted a series to follow these characters along with that would be different but this should be an anthology of love stories where we all leave knowing everyone is satisfied and that's what set me off from actually finishing this book. I couldn't take the idea of another set of characters having to be separated like Robin and Will, or a character like Lily whose alone and gets stuck with racist comments from people who she seems to look up to. It breaks my heart.
'The Dresser and the Chambermaid' is the kind of good, gay fun that I came here for, truthfully. Just two girls, being silly in love and wanting to support each other and maybe still keeping their place in the palace with the added bonus of the King telling you to have a nice night kissing. What a blast, truly living the life Sappho wanted for them right there.
Maybe I'll revisit this book later in life, and maybe I'll feel differently. I'm never one to give up completely on a book after one failed attempt at reading it, but this is the first queer book that has frustrated me in a bad way. A lot of books have frustrated me and I've reread them and liked them more the second time around so I'm going to put it on a 'Read Again' list and hope for the best.
Whimsical and fanciful and free, this book was a lot of fun. A few too many stories where the only interesting thing was that the characters happened to be queer, but enough truly great ones to make up for it. The first and last stories were by far my favorites: a twist on an old Spanish fairy tale and am exquisitely written story of magical healing.
Also: would love to see full length versions of the queer Robin Hood and magicians’ apprentices stories. So good!
Also: would love to see full length versions of the queer Robin Hood and magicians’ apprentices stories. So good!