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Shining On: 11 Star Authors' Illuminating Stories
In this thoughtful and engaging collection, 11 acclaimed authors explore the highs and lows of growing up and shining on in the face of obstacles. A parent's departure, a sister's illness, a cheerleader's breakup, a family's secrets . . . these stories sensitively capture the challenges—and triumphs—of finding the way to a bright tomorrow.
Featuring powerful stories by Lois Lowry, Meg Rosoff, Meg Cabot, Melvin Burgess, Sue Limb, and more. . . .
A portion of the money generated from the sale of this book will benefit CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation and Children's Oncology Group, partners in the search for a cure for childhood cancer.
Featuring powerful stories by Lois Lowry, Meg Rosoff, Meg Cabot, Melvin Burgess, Sue Limb, and more. . . .
A portion of the money generated from the sale of this book will benefit CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation and Children's Oncology Group, partners in the search for a cure for childhood cancer.
176 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2006
About the author
Lois Lowry
166 books23.1k followersTaken from Lowry's website:
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 30, 2018
81. Shining On: 11 Star Authors' Illuminating Stories by Lois Lowry; (4 1/2*); kindle; library book; BPL; WOMEN'S FICTION; Y/A; shorts; (JULY, 2018)
I totally loved this book of shorts edited by Lois Lowry, who has also contributed to the slim volume. Each story is a bit quirky with the story or the characters and sometimes both. Most of them 'got' me right at the end and I found myself laughing aloud wile reading several of them.
I definitely recommend this book of shorts to those of you who enjoy finding twizzlers while reading. A fun, fun read!
(I would have scored this one a perfect 5 stars if not for the teaser at the book's end. Hate those.)
I totally loved this book of shorts edited by Lois Lowry, who has also contributed to the slim volume. Each story is a bit quirky with the story or the characters and sometimes both. Most of them 'got' me right at the end and I found myself laughing aloud wile reading several of them.
I definitely recommend this book of shorts to those of you who enjoy finding twizzlers while reading. A fun, fun read!
(I would have scored this one a perfect 5 stars if not for the teaser at the book's end. Hate those.)
December 31, 2018
Quirky short stories about young ones .... teens !
Must Read
Must Read
October 13, 2007
I love compilation books, and this one is another good read. Because most of the authors are British, I am not familiar with a lot of their writings, but I plan on reading quite a few of them now that I have gotten a taste. And isn't that what compilations are for--I mean besides supporting whatever charity the proceeds of the books are supporting, that is?
All of the stories in Shining On center on teens overcoming whatever challenges life throws at them, and the proceeds of this particular book benefit children's cancer research and treatment.
There are a couple of standouts that illustrate this theme very poignantly. "Humming Through My Fingers" by Malorie Blackman is about a blind girl who teaches a boy to "taste shapes and hear colors," and "Skin Deep" by Rosie Rushton is about a girl who loses her self-identity along with her boyfriend after a bomb disfigures her face.
Two humorous anecdotes made me laugh out loud. The never-failing Meg Cabot's "Allie Funklestein' Rules for Boyfriends" tells the email story of a girl whose pain over her boyfriend's infidelities is eased when she admits to having a crush on her geeky tutor, and Cathy Hopkins' "John Lennon Said..." describe the panicked thoughts of a girl who has no clue what she wants to be when she grows up.
I wasn't a big fan of Celia Rees' "Calling the Cats," and I also couldn't figure out why Lois Lowry, who edited the book, included an excerpt from her novel that was published earlier this year ("A Summer to Die") rather than writing a new story or submitting something from a book in progress.
Overall, the stories were heartfelt, inspiring and easy to read. It's a great book for any summer reading list and provides some deep though on tough issues while still keeping a fairly light tone.
All of the stories in Shining On center on teens overcoming whatever challenges life throws at them, and the proceeds of this particular book benefit children's cancer research and treatment.
There are a couple of standouts that illustrate this theme very poignantly. "Humming Through My Fingers" by Malorie Blackman is about a blind girl who teaches a boy to "taste shapes and hear colors," and "Skin Deep" by Rosie Rushton is about a girl who loses her self-identity along with her boyfriend after a bomb disfigures her face.
Two humorous anecdotes made me laugh out loud. The never-failing Meg Cabot's "Allie Funklestein' Rules for Boyfriends" tells the email story of a girl whose pain over her boyfriend's infidelities is eased when she admits to having a crush on her geeky tutor, and Cathy Hopkins' "John Lennon Said..." describe the panicked thoughts of a girl who has no clue what she wants to be when she grows up.
I wasn't a big fan of Celia Rees' "Calling the Cats," and I also couldn't figure out why Lois Lowry, who edited the book, included an excerpt from her novel that was published earlier this year ("A Summer to Die") rather than writing a new story or submitting something from a book in progress.
Overall, the stories were heartfelt, inspiring and easy to read. It's a great book for any summer reading list and provides some deep though on tough issues while still keeping a fairly light tone.
December 3, 2007
I enjoyed this compilation of short stories by some well-known young adult authors (mostly British). I did wish though that more of the stories would have had male protagonists (although all but one of the authors were female and what boy would ever pick up this book with that cover?). But, overall, the stories were well done and interesting.
January 13, 2014
It surprised me how much I liked this book. I didn't know what it was when I first picked it up and didn't like the essays at first, but by the end it really hit my coming of age/young adult fiction soft spot. Short snap shots of what it is like to be in a teenager's world. Be prepared for lots of angst.
April 14, 2017
I have been on a Lois Lowry kick since stumbling upon the Anastasia Krupnik series. I grabbed this book from HPL Overdrive without reading the summary indicating it was a collection of short stories from various authors. What a find! This collection has introduced me to several new authors that I want to track down their books. Category: mostly realistic fiction, young adult, one ghost story
August 25, 2012
Surprisingly this book was really good!! I saw it on the shelf at the library and it just pulled me it with teen drama ;)
You would think its one of those stupid corny books that shows someone growing up...but it's NOT! The stories great except one or two.
You would think its one of those stupid corny books that shows someone growing up...but it's NOT! The stories great except one or two.
May 26, 2008
I loved most of the short stories by really great YA authors and I recommend this book to teens.
April 12, 2008
These stories are really good and you can re read them, I liked the one with the twins (Skin Deep), but I'd recomend it to anyone.
July 22, 2008
interesting collection of modern (and a few older) YA short stories.
December 8, 2008
A waste of my time? I think so.
It was for a very good cause, though.
It was for a very good cause, though.
April 8, 2011
teenagers only, not suitable for pre-teens
May 7, 2011
Really liked Meg Rosoff's story "Resigned." Meg Cabot's story fell flat for me, though.
Read
August 6, 2011Most of the stories were pretty cliche teen novel type things but I did really like "Humming through my Fingers" by Malorie Blackman.
March 13, 2013
It was ok but not my favorite I did like the stories coming home and Getting the message.
Read
February 23, 2014A Collection of Stories in Aid of the Teen Cancer Trust
November 17, 2016
Chapters taken from books. Nice variety.
April 27, 2025
A mixed group of short stories. I liked some, didn't like others, pretty average for a bunch of short stories.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews