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gnandini's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
richincolor's review against another edition
Technically, Flying Lessons is a middle grade book, not young adult, but my love for these stories overruled small technicalities like that. I was so excited when I first heard that this anthology was coming out, and I’m happy to say that Flying Lessons more than lived up to my expectations.
Flying Lessons featured stories about a wide variety of racially diverse characters and included LGBTQ characters and disabled characters as well. The characters also filled a variety of socioeconomic levels, from a family wealthy enough that the grandmother could take a child away on a several-week traipse through Europe to a family that ended up homeless. There’s a little something for everyone to enjoy, and maybe even see themselves in, in this collection. (However, I will note that I was surprised and disappointed that the titular story “Flying Lessons” by Soman Chainani included the slurs g*psy–“g*ypsy bangles”–and lame–“so he doesn’t think I’m lame.”)
My favorite stories were “How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium” by Matt de la Peña (a thoughtful account of a summer at a new basketball court and the lessons learned there), “The Difficult Path” by Grace Lin (a fun story starring a servant girl who has an encounter with famous pirates—I’d love a full book on this one), and “Secret Samantha” by Tim Federle (one of the cutest first crush stories I’ve read in ages). The other seven stories are also very good, and they span a wide range of topics, styles, and tones. Some stories are more serious (dealing with the death of a parent or trying to navigate some nasty microagressions), while others are more lighthearted (a story-within-a-story about a family’s encounter with the Naloosha Chitto, the Choctaw equivalent of Bigfoot).
While I love “The Difficult Path,” it does feel strikingly out of place as the only story in this anthology that wasn’t set in the present day. Since it was the second story in the book, it made me think we were going to get more non-present-day stories (e.g., historical, fantasy, sci-fi, etc.), but I was disappointed when that never happened. I would love to see another anthology like this with more non-contemporary titles and with even more kinds of representation.
Recommendation: Get it soon, particularly if you enjoy middle grade fiction! Flying Lessons is a thoughtfully compiled anthology that strove to be as inclusive as possible, and it mostly achieved its goal to celebrate diverse voices.
Flying Lessons featured stories about a wide variety of racially diverse characters and included LGBTQ characters and disabled characters as well. The characters also filled a variety of socioeconomic levels, from a family wealthy enough that the grandmother could take a child away on a several-week traipse through Europe to a family that ended up homeless. There’s a little something for everyone to enjoy, and maybe even see themselves in, in this collection. (However, I will note that I was surprised and disappointed that the titular story “Flying Lessons” by Soman Chainani included the slurs g*psy–“g*ypsy bangles”–and lame–“so he doesn’t think I’m lame.”)
My favorite stories were “How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium” by Matt de la Peña (a thoughtful account of a summer at a new basketball court and the lessons learned there), “The Difficult Path” by Grace Lin (a fun story starring a servant girl who has an encounter with famous pirates—I’d love a full book on this one), and “Secret Samantha” by Tim Federle (one of the cutest first crush stories I’ve read in ages). The other seven stories are also very good, and they span a wide range of topics, styles, and tones. Some stories are more serious (dealing with the death of a parent or trying to navigate some nasty microagressions), while others are more lighthearted (a story-within-a-story about a family’s encounter with the Naloosha Chitto, the Choctaw equivalent of Bigfoot).
While I love “The Difficult Path,” it does feel strikingly out of place as the only story in this anthology that wasn’t set in the present day. Since it was the second story in the book, it made me think we were going to get more non-present-day stories (e.g., historical, fantasy, sci-fi, etc.), but I was disappointed when that never happened. I would love to see another anthology like this with more non-contemporary titles and with even more kinds of representation.
Recommendation: Get it soon, particularly if you enjoy middle grade fiction! Flying Lessons is a thoughtfully compiled anthology that strove to be as inclusive as possible, and it mostly achieved its goal to celebrate diverse voices.
e_mak's review against another edition
5.0
This is a great collection of short stories, including realistic fiction, fantasy, and stories in verse.
the_loudlibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
So funny story: I downloaded this audiobook while demonstrating how to use Overdrive for a teacher, and a couple days later remembered it and started listening. This is SUCH an amazing collection of short stories from authors central to the We Need Diverse Books campaign. I loved listening to these, especially because my attention span is pretty short with audiobooks. Switching gears every half hour or so was perfect for me. This book also has endless possibilities for classroom use, as well as independent reading for readers with shorter attention spans or those who struggle with longer texts. If you haven’t read this, be sure to add it to your list. It is truly phenomenal.
christiana's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty solid offering from WNDB. Some stories are better than others, but that's just anthologies in general, I think.
kimpics's review against another edition
4.0
A book of very diverse short stories suitable for middle school. Differently able as well as LGBT stories are included. Some stories are better than others.
nomefriegues's review against another edition
5.0
I love short story collections, but usually ones for kids or teens are pretty meh. But I would happily recommend this one to anyone, adults included. I genuinely enjoyed every story in here and am interested to try works by authors I hadn't made time to read before.
jrwgraphics's review against another edition
I did not finish reading this book. It's a series of short stories and the beginning ones I read but I couldn't get traction on the ending ones.
donalynbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Fabulous anthology with a mix of genres and perspectives represented. A must-have for middle school and high school classrooms and libraries.
spring_lilac's review against another edition
3.0
Ten short stories from a variety of authors that span a variety of topics, including race and ability. The stories range from a summer of basketball to sailing away with pirates and using a newly found telepathic ability to snag a date with a crush.
A well put together set of short stories, adolescents and teens will easily relate to one or more of them. I don't typically read short story collections, so this was a nice break from a traditional novel. I know there are students I can recommend this to in hopes of building their reading stamina and/or interest in reading.
A well put together set of short stories, adolescents and teens will easily relate to one or more of them. I don't typically read short story collections, so this was a nice break from a traditional novel. I know there are students I can recommend this to in hopes of building their reading stamina and/or interest in reading.