Close-Ups: Best Stories for Teens

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.

The collection’s 17 short stories have all been previously published
in single- or multiple-authored collections that, with one exception,
originally appeared between 1990 and 1999. Not only are they “Best
Stories for Teens,” but they are, in the main, “about” teens.
Almost evenly divided between male and female central characters, the
stories “book-end” the first and last things of life with the
opening story, Alison Lohans’s “Beginnings,” which deals with an
unwed teen’s giving birth, and the concluding piece, Rick Book’s
“Saying Good-Bye to the Tall Man,” which concerns a young man’s
response to his grandfather’s death. In between, the adolescent
characters, among other things, deal with the long-term effects of
illness (Anne Carter’s “Leaving the Iron Lung”), cope with
parental divorce (Tim Wynne-Jones’s “Dawn”), abandon abusive
boyfriends (Shelley Leedahl’s “Jesse’s Girl” and Bernice
Friesen’s “Belonging to the Dragon”), overcome bullies (Gillian
Chan’s “The Buddy System”), find friends in unexpected places
(Kathy Stinson’s “Babysitting Helen” and Bonnie Blake’s “To
Each His Song”), and learn to relate to senior citizens, a group that
shares much in common with teens (Martha Brooks’s “The Kindness of
Strangers” and R.P. McIntyre’s “The Rink”). The only story that
does not immediately seem to fit in terms of age and content is Kevin
Major’s 1984 offering, “Three People and Two Seats,” which is told
from the viewpoint of a young teacher. However, teens past the
adolescent egocentrism stage will enjoy the adult perspective and may
want to contrast its contents with Budge Wilson’s “The Metaphor.”

Created as a fundraising project for the Canadian Children’s Book
Centre, Close-Ups serves as a fine stand-alone read that introduces
adolescents to the writings of some of Canada’s premier writers for
teens. One hope that those who enjoy the anthology’s contents will
seek out the collections from which the stories have been drawn.
Although each story concludes with brief biographical information about
its author, a more detailed bibliography could have encouraged even more
reading. Highly recommended.