Things I'll Never Say
Stories About Our Secret Selves
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A baby no one knows about. A dangerous hidden identity. Off-limits hookups. A parent whose problems your friends won’t understand. Everyone keeps secrets—from themselves, from their families, from their friends—and secrets have a habit of shaping the lives around them. Acclaimed author Ann Angel brings together some of today’s most gifted YA authors to explore, in a variety of genres, the nature of secrets: Do they make you stronger or weaker? Do they alter your world when revealed? Do they divide your life into what you’ll tell and what you won’t? The one thing these diverse stories share is a glimpse into the secret self we all keep hidden. With stories by: Ann Angel, Kerry Cohen, Louise Hawes, Varian Johnson, erica l. kaufman, Ron Koertge, E. M. Kokie, Chris Lynch, Kekla Magoon, Zoë Marriott. Katy Moran, J. L. Powers, Mary Ann Rodman, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ellen Wittlinger.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this thoughtful anthology of 15 original stories from Ron Koertge, Chris Lynch, Kekla Magoon, and more, readers receive intimate glimpses into the lives of teenagers carrying secrets about their families, friendships, or passions. With the exception of "Cupid's Beaux," Cynthia Leitich Smith's lighthearted fantasy about a guardian angel, the selections have a generally sober tone, addressing serious issues. In two stories, Ellen Wittlinger's "The We-Are-Like-Everybody-Else Game" and Erica L. Kaufman's "Three-Four Time," high-school girls are forced to play adult roles, caring for unstable parents while trying to maintain fa ades of normalcy. Other stories reveal the unexpected consequences of sexual exploits, like the baby, given up for adoption, who haunts the thoughts of his teen father in Mary Ann Rodman's "Choices." Then there's Luke in editor Angel's "We Were Together," who gives his girlfriend herpes after cheating on her. Rather than providing tidy solutions to the characters' dilemmas, the stories focus on the feelings of entrapment and anxiety that go along with living a lie. Ages 14 up.
