Nine Novels by Younger Americans

by Sara Bradshaw, Rachel Barber, Daniel Cowen

This anthology collects nine exceptional novels that were written by high school students from New York City during the summer of 2005 in 826NYC's Young Adult Writers' Colony. Ranging from comedic, to fiercly political, to deeply personal, these novels are immensely entertaining and forecast a bright future for this brand new generation of novelists. As novelist Richard Powers says in his foreword, "There comes a time when we must decide whether we love the world enough to hand it over to its next lover . . . [This is a book of] nine worlds that nine people could not find and so had to make themselves. Here it is before you: how the story ends this time. And how it starts again."

864 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 2007

Reviews

[Hecka · Rating 1 out of 5]

garbage

[Jayd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nine separate novels by nine young people, written in one summer. Their goal was to get their first novel written and published, and they succeeded at that enormously. Some books, of course, I enjoyed more than others - one book I skipped entirely after the first few pages. I would say that the most maturely written novel, to me, was Pax Americana, and I found Mistaken Identity to be the most entertaining, and surprisingly emotional. I loved the idea behind Eyes in the Mirror, and really enjoyed Salt.
Of course, there were things I didn't like. There were huge amounts of spelling and punctuation errors even in the most well-edited books. Several books had "Mary Sue" characters - absolutely perfect in every way, but still angst-y about how awful their life is, blah blah blah. Unrealistic to the max. Flaws are what make characters people, and people interesting.
Overall, I thought this was a great way to get some young authors out in the world of publishing and sharing their words with the world. Huzzah!

[Jen Snow]

This book isn't just by the author listed above. It's exactly what the title says - nine novels by younger americans (nine kids who spent the summer of 2005 at 826NYC's Young Adult Writers' Colony). It has 848 pages and it weighs a little more than 3 pounds. It's impressive.

[Sm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I had to give this 5 stars, since it's got my book in it :) It's still really awesome to find out that people are actually reading it!