Takes

Sheree Haughian is an elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Dufferin County Board of Education.

Takes follows The Blue Jean Collection and Notes Across the Aisle as the
third short-story anthology published by Thistledown Press. Like its
predecessors, this collection highlights fiction that belongs to young
adults. The predicaments and challenges they face are both contemporary
and timeless. Their “scenes” are captured in a special spot of time,
a “take” that may be embarrassment due to a physical weakness, a
small triumph over fear, a minor revelation about people from another
generation or culture, a moment when life somehow comes into focus more
brilliantly. This fiction, superbly edited by R.P. MacIntyre, never
preaches a message or hammers home a truth. “Things Happen,” as one
of the stories is aptly titled. The writing often has a raw energy that
refuses to be confined to predictable plots or neatly resolved endings;
life’s mysterious ways are not to be unraveled and revealed in a
single “take.”

Aside from any general thematic links, the stories in this anthology
are bound together by their sheer excellence and readability. Although
some of the contributors may not yet have a well-established place in
the canon of Canadian young-adult fiction, the power and craftsmanship
exhibited here suggest that they certainly should—and surely will.
Highly recommended.