Contemporary Short Stories (Responding to Literature)

This book, now sadly out of print, sets the standard for an excellent anthology of contemporary, multicultural short stories. We can't get this at my school anymore, and we in the English department have been searching for a suitable replacement for two years -- nothing is as good. We used to use this with our 9th grade literature class, and the themes within worked perfectly for us: coming-of-age; the outsider; traditions/breaking free; multicultural experience, etc. Top hits: "The Lie" by Kurt Vonnegut; "Initiation" by Sylvia Plath; "The Name" by Aaron Megged; "Marigolds" by Eugenia W. Collier; "One Friday Morning" by Langston Hughes. There are lots of others I'm forgetting. In addition, as another review states, the journal suggestions are terrific, as are the introductions to the works, vocabulary chosen, and follow-up questions and activities. Publisher -- please bring this one back!

I bought this book for my 14-year old whose writing and reading "juices" have been drying up really fast the last two years in middle school. My purpose is to use it as an at-home immersion activity in the hope of getting him back to reading and writing well. Each day since June (2003), I have been spending at least an hour discussing with him a particular genre, the introduction to a story listed under that genre, and information about the author. After which, my son would spend time reading that story. He would, then, write in his journal (a simple spiral notebook) his responses to the questions found at the end. The selection of these stories is great, grouped by genres, with brief introductions by the author--so the reader gets an idea what a cluster of stories focuses on. The bios of the authors are provided in the last few pages of the book. What a great improvement in my son's reading and writing this book has done! He could really relate to the stories and tries to connect these with his own experiences. He even compares the stories with the films he's seen. Lastly, I'd like to say, at least in my son's case, that there is no efficient way to honing reading and writing--Patience is the key!