All Sleek and Skimming: Stories

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

In her introduction, Heggum explains, “This anthology combines young
adult fiction and adult fiction with teen appeal. It gathers stories of
interest to older teen readers, a neglected group.”

Two contributions, Janet McNaughton’s “Piglet” and James
Heneghan’s “The Legacy,” are original works, while 17 are chapters
from novels or short stories taken from books or literary magazines
between 1988 and 2005. Of the remaining three entries, two are extracts
from graphic novels, while the final piece, the source of the
collection’s rather obscure title, is Susanna M. Smith’s “Making
the Dragon,” a poem written in free verse.

The anthology’s contents are principally character-driven
“stories” focusing on matters of concern to adolescents. With the
exception of Anne Fleming’s somewhat humorous “The Defining Moments
of My Life,” the remaining prose pieces are generally quite
“heavy” in content. If by “older teen readers,” Heggum meant
“senior high,” then she needed to recall that adolescence is about
“becoming.” Consequently, she should have selected more pieces with
older protagonists, because many of the central characters are much
younger than the anthology’s intended audience. Brief About the
Authors notes and Story Sources details appear at the book’s
conclusion. Assuming that one of the anthology’s purposes is to entice
readers to read more by the book’s contributors, such information
would have been better placed at the end of each entry. All Sleek and
Skimming is, nonetheless, recommended.