The Collectors

July 17, 2023
King (Attack of the Black Rectangles) collaborates with nine other writers—including M.T. Anderson, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Randy Ribay—to
ruminate on collections, collectors, and storytelling conventions in this quirky anthology. Not all the showcased assemblages consist of physical things, as evidenced by David Levithan’s humorous “Take It from Me,” which follows a nonbinary teen who amasses items stolen from other people; when they encounter a teen who collects self-doubts, they are confronted with the only grouping they can’t pilfer from. Jason Reynolds’s meandering selection, “A Recording for Carole Before It All Goes,” furthers this notion; employing an introspective narrator to cultivate a recollection of a life lived, this story speaks directly to an aging elder with Alzheimer’s who gathers wigs and names that begin with C. Other entries detail collections meant to remind the reader that they are allowed to take up physical space, as in e.E. Charlton-Trujillo’s biting “La Concha,” in which the protagonist hoards jars containing beach sand, a single piece of their own hair, and “torn-out pages from books my mother read.” King proclaims, in an introduction, that “there is currency in weirdness”; by turns darkly cheeky and piercingly perceptive, this moody and existential grouping of stories lives up to the statement. Concluding author bios highlight the contributors’ own collections. Ages 14–up.

August 1, 2023
Ten acclaimed YA authors explore the artistry and emotion behind the human instinct to collect. This anthology centers around the question: "Why do we collect things?" Each story features a different type of collection, from the tangible (glass bluebirds and fandom memorabilia) to the experiential (skateboarding in empty swimming pools) and the intangible (misery, doubts, dreams, and moments that you wish could last forever). The characters discover strengths and yearned-for connections to themselves and others through what they collect. When men aggressively pursue her beautiful mother, a Latine teen living in white suburbia protects herself and her home in Anna-Marie McLemore's "Play House." In "Take It From Me" by David Levithan, first love makes a nonbinary teen question the purpose and the impact of their collection that's curated from objects stolen from other collections. Randy Ribay's "The White Savior Does Not Save the Day" centers a Filipino and white teen who collects scripts from a canceled superhero show and crosses dimensions, searching for clarity about herself and her absent white mother. Cory McCarthy presents "museum of misery," an emotionally raw, illustrated tour through a museum of trauma and internalized self-hatred. Embracing weirdness, many of the stories defy genre categories, blending reality with fantastical metaphors. Although honest about the weight of complex social themes, including systemic injustice, gun violence, abuse, and self-harm, this anthology balances heaviness with hope. Across the stories, the cast of characters includes a diverse range of identities. An eclectic, poignant, and introspective treasure trove. (Anthology. 14-18)

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Starred review from September 1, 2023

Gr 9 Up-An astonishingly all-star cast of authors take extremely creative interpretations of the idea of collections and collectors in this volume of strange stories. These are 10 of YA's most beloved writers including King, the anthology's editor. From Anna-Marie McLemore's ethereal, quietly violent collection-inspired fairy tale to Jason Reynolds's heartbreakingly honest, tender, and illuminative entry, which is itself a piece of a larger collection, each of the strong-voiced authors included has distilled the essence of what they do best into something "defiantly creative." The pieces found here are ones of experiences (G. Neri's "Pool Bandits"), things that fit in jars (e.E. Charlton-Trujillo's "La Concha"), things that are created (Reynolds's "A Recording for Carole Before It All Goes"), and things that are stolen (David Levithan's "Take It From Me"). The pieces differ in format, as well-other than prose, there is a screenplay (Randy Ribay) and an illustrated, experimental piece (Cory McCarthy); one is set in 1976 (Neri), one in 2021 (M.T. Anderson). The collectors themselves are all searching for something; some of them find it. Though the stories differ in so many ways, each author brings a sense of reverence for the theme to their entry, resulting in brutally heartfelt moments with incredible emotional depth that feel like a cohesive whole. King's argument in the introduction that all collections are art and collectors are artists certainly holds true here; masterfully collected and worth slowing down to absorb. VERDICT An anthology for every collection.-Allie Stevens

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 9, 2024
It's a time-honored convention among reviewers of story collections to complain that the book in hand is uneven (trust me, this anthologist reviewer writes from personal experience). Anyway, I hate to spoil the reviewers' dismissive fun, but here is a collection notable for the uniform excellence of 10 of its stories, which come from such distinguished creators as M. T. Anderson, David Levithan, Anna-Marie McLemore, Jason Reynolds, and its inimitable editor, King herself. Collectors and collections are the stuff of this, well, collection: in her introduction King writes that she asked her contributors to toss out conventions, as there were no rules, there was no "normal," and they could be as weird--or not--as they want. Levithan's love story, "Take It from Me," for example, is about a nonbinary teen whose collection contains objects stolen from other collections, while Randy Ribay offers a story with an intriguing title ("The White Savior Does Not Save the Day") that's about a Filipino teen who collects scripts from a canceled superhero show. It goes without saying that King's contributors have not disappointed her and, by extension, her readers, who will revel in this wonderfully genre-defying, offbeat book that is one of the most original of the year.

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