Flying Lessons--edited by Ellen Oh and published in partnership with We Need Diverse Books--is a top-notch, eclectic collection of stories by 10 powerhouse authors about everything from basketball ("The beautiful symphony of squeaking sneaks and grunts and the thud of body meeting body" from Matt de la Peña's story) to nervous young love to the legendary "Choctaw Bigfoot."
Middle-grade readers are in for a treat: this anthology's contributors are Newbery winners Kwame Alexander (The Crossover) and Matt de la Peña (Last Stop on Market Street); Newbery Honor author Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon); three-time Newbery Honor author and National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming); Soman Chainani (the School for Good and Evil series); Lambda Literary Award winner Tim Federle (Five, Six, Seven, Nate); Pura Belpré Award winner Meg Medina (Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass); three-time American Indian Youth Literature Award winner Tim Tingle (House of Purple Cedar); debut author Kelly J. Baptist (Young); and the beloved, award-winning author to whom this book is dedicated, Walter Dean Myers (Monster: A Graphic Novel).
The book's title story, Soman Chainani's "Flying Lessons," tells the funny and bittersweet tale of an academically ambitious Florida boy whose stiletto-wearing, 69-year-old grandmother takes him to Europe for three weeks, only to abandon him amidst a "dodgy parade" in Berlin and on a nude Barcelona beach in a tiny Chanel swimsuit. She explains, "Because when you're older, no one cares about how many awards you win, Santosh. People care if you have something to talk about." --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness