Bibliographic Information:
Title: The Collectors: Stories
Editor: A.S. King
ISBN: 9780593620281
Publisher: Dutton
Copyright Date: 2023
Format/Genre: Hardcover; Anthologies; Short stories; Paranormal fiction (Title Detail: The Collectors : Stories, n.d.)
Awards and Honors: 2024 Michael L. Printz Award
Reading Level/Interest Level: 9th Grade and Up
Plot Summary: This book is the only Printz Award winner I selected for this assignment, and it is not a novel. It is a collection of short stories about, well, collections. Things people collect. The collectors themselves. The editor, A.S. King, has brought together some of the biggest names in YA Fiction to contribute stories about people and their collections.
The stories in this anthology are the following:
- Play House by Anna-Marie McLemore
- The White Savior Does Not Save The Day by Randy Ribay
- Take It From Me by David Levithan
- Ring of Fire by Jenny Torres Sanchez
- Museum of Misery by Cory McCarthy
- La Concha by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo
- Pool Bandits by G. Neri
- We Are Looking for Home by A.S. King
- A Recording for Carole Before It All Goes by Jason Reynolds
- Sweet Everlasting by M.T. Anderson
This collection of short stories has some that stand out above the others. The book starts out strong with Play House by Anna-Marie McLemore. This is the story of a young girl named Miranda who lives with her mother and father, and when her father has to go out of town for work, men from the neighborhood start showing up and hanging out at their house, as if they are protecting Miranda and her mother. More and more men continue to show up, causing disruption to other families in the neighborhood, until Miranda takes matters into her own hands.
Pool Bandits by G. Neri takes place in the 70’s (in Southern California). Gio wants to be a surfer, but since he cannot surf the kids who surf beat him and his friends up. So instead, they start skateboarding. They see their idols in a magazine skateboarding in an empty pool, and it gives them the idea to start scouting their neighborhood for empty pools – the pools are currently all drained because of a drought. General teen hijinks entail – things like breaking into backyards to skate pools when neighbors are on vacation, sleeping in the empty houses and eating their food and almost getting caught, skateboarding accidents. The story had a very Stand By Me vibe to it, and it was enjoyable to read about the adventures and interactions, both good and bad, of a group of friends over a summer. Very relatable and brought back fond memories.
Some other standouts of the collection were The White Savior Does Not Save The Day by Randy Ribay (Where a young girl is a big fan of the TV show “The White Savior” and she gets a big surprise when she finds out that The White Savior is real, and it’s her mother who disappeared years ago), Museum of Misery by Cory McCarthy (the only story in the book that is more of a graphic novel short story told in prose, and sends an important message about respecting others and not being a bigot), and Sweet Everlasting by M.T. Anderson. The final story of the book, Sweet Everlasting, tells the story of a demon that traps people (i.e., collects?) when they wish “for a moment to never end.” It was quite chilling and makes one remember the old adage to be careful what you wish for.
Author Background: The editor of this anthology of stories, A.S. King, has won the Michael L. Printz Award (for best literature for young adults) not once, but twice! She has also won a Michael L. Printz Honor, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Amelia Walden Award, the Carolyn Field Award, the Margaret A. Edwards Award and the ALAN Award for her lasting contribution for young adult literature. She also writes middle grade fiction under the penname Amy Sarig King (A.S. King | Author, n.d.).
Critical Evaluation: While not every story in this anthology may have been my cup of tea, there were far more winners than non-winners in my estimation. And stories that I like, you may NOT like! And vice versa! That is the great thing about anthologies, everyone is going to get a different experience out of them!
Kirkus Reviews said this book is “honest about the weight of complex social themes, including systemic injustice, gun violence, abuse, and self-harm, this anthology balances heaviness with hope” (THE COLLECTORS | Kirkus Reviews, n.d.). And Booklist said that readers “will revel in this wonderfully genre-defying, offbeat book that is one of the most original of the year” (Collectors, n.d.). This might be an excellent choice for any YA readers who may be considered “reluctant readers,” as the short story format might be more accessible for them and easier to read chunks at a time. This book is deserving of the Printz medal it won this year!
Creative Use for a Library Program: This would be a great opportunity to get the teens’ creative juices flowing – by writing a short story of their own! I would ask that they use some of the same themes as in this book - Nonbinary; Multiracial; LGBTQIA+ - and then we would share our stories with each other.
Speed-Round Book Talk: This is a book, with a lot of different stories in it. Some are longer than others. One isn’t even a story it’s more like a comic strip. But each of the stories has an important message in it – a message that will resonate with you if you have ever felt different than those around you.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation: Lots of nonbinary, multiracial, LGBTQIA+ protagonists in this anthology. So you could expect to get challenges from the usual suspects – hopefully I don’t need to spell out who those are for you in this blog. I would handle this one the same as with Gender Queer – just let your supervisor know that you’re going to be doing programming with it and know your collection development policy. If you get complains about it being an LGBTQIA+ focused book, you can point out to the complainant how many books your library has that are about straight people!
Reason for Inclusion: I wanted to make sure I included at least one Printz winner in my blog, and I also love anthologies, so when the universe provided and gave me a book that was both of those things it was a no brainer for me.
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