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Notes Across the Aisle.
Edited by Peter Carver.
Grades 9 and Up / Ages 13 - 18.
****/4
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excerpt:
It is usually the events which seem insignificant that have the most profound effects in life.
WE CELEBRATE THISTLEDOWN'S second anthology of short stories for young adults. The success of the Blue Jean collection (1992) seemed to call for another national competition, from which the seventeen stories in Notes Across the Aisle were taken.
Some of the
winning writers are as young as eighteen; for many, this is their first
time in print. The plots are varied and diverse; the themes deal with
relationships, angst, coming of age and making sense of our world; the
settings range from ``a steamy Sri Lankan summer, wartime Halifax, the
dinosaur badlands, a Northwest Company fort of 200 years ago, and a
future when human contact thrives only by modem."
The characters
all make their way through a complex world, though they are not perhaps
as developed or memorable as those of the Canadian masters of the short
stories like Valgardson or Munro.
We can only hope
there will be a third volume.
Highly recommended.
Grace Shaw is a teacher at Vancouver Community College.
To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cmeditor@mts.net.
Copyright © 1996 the Manitoba Library Association.
Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice
is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364