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A review by notinjersey
Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA by Nova Ren Suma, Emily X.R. Pan
4.0
At first I was concerned that all of the stories were fantasy stories, and I don’t love reading fantasy, but then I realized that only some of them are and others are romance, family drama, and more, sometimes containing elements of fantasy and mythology as well. The stories in this book are as unique and diverse as their authors.
The addition of introductions of each story by a well-known author is appreciated, as are the discussion of the stories by the editors that follow. It is hard to rate a short story collection as every story is different, but here are some of what you can find in this book:
Flight by Tanya S. Aydelott is a mythological fantasy about a mother / daughter relationship.
Risk by Rachel Hylton is about a girl who becomes a lobster, so another fantasy type story.
Sweetmeats by Linda Cheng is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel featuring two friends who are taken by a witch and escape, but no one believes them.
Glow by Joanna Truman is about two girls who are headed out to end the world, until they realize there are reasons not to do so.
Escape by Tanvi Berwah was another fantasy type story with a magical possession that unites and separates a family.
Pan Dolce by Flor Salcedo features and group of friends who live in El Paso but head out to party in Mexico. The story is about the journey and only hints at the danger of border crossings that lurks in the future, as this story takes place in 1998.
My favorite story was Break by Sophie Meridien which was about two high schoolers getting to know each other in brief “seven minutes in heaven” / spin the bottle experiences. I loved the two characters and getting to know them in this story.
The story that made me feel the most was Resilient by Mayra Cuevas which tells the story of two young women who leave Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria hoping to make a new life by working for a turkey packing plant in South Dakota. It made me sad for what happened after the hurricane as well as for what kind of work has to be done in meat packing plants.
There are 13 stories in total, most with a sense of culture and of hope, and if any of the above interest you, I suggest you grab this one and read them all!
The addition of introductions of each story by a well-known author is appreciated, as are the discussion of the stories by the editors that follow. It is hard to rate a short story collection as every story is different, but here are some of what you can find in this book:
Flight by Tanya S. Aydelott is a mythological fantasy about a mother / daughter relationship.
Risk by Rachel Hylton is about a girl who becomes a lobster, so another fantasy type story.
Sweetmeats by Linda Cheng is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel featuring two friends who are taken by a witch and escape, but no one believes them.
Glow by Joanna Truman is about two girls who are headed out to end the world, until they realize there are reasons not to do so.
Escape by Tanvi Berwah was another fantasy type story with a magical possession that unites and separates a family.
Pan Dolce by Flor Salcedo features and group of friends who live in El Paso but head out to party in Mexico. The story is about the journey and only hints at the danger of border crossings that lurks in the future, as this story takes place in 1998.
My favorite story was Break by Sophie Meridien which was about two high schoolers getting to know each other in brief “seven minutes in heaven” / spin the bottle experiences. I loved the two characters and getting to know them in this story.
The story that made me feel the most was Resilient by Mayra Cuevas which tells the story of two young women who leave Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria hoping to make a new life by working for a turkey packing plant in South Dakota. It made me sad for what happened after the hurricane as well as for what kind of work has to be done in meat packing plants.
There are 13 stories in total, most with a sense of culture and of hope, and if any of the above interest you, I suggest you grab this one and read them all!