I enjoyed this unusual mix of stories by diverse voices. I particularly liked the pirate story. I would recommend this for young people - a lot of it seemed more middle grade than young adult- so maybe middle school age youth would really enjoy it. I also liked the story about the 8th grader that wanted to play basketball at the public courts and all of the things that the struggle to fit in there taught him about his life, his father, and other people. 3.5 stars.

Like any collection of short stories written by different authors, some of these are better than others. However, there is not a single story in here that I didn't enjoy to some degree. My favorites are the ones written by Jacqueline Woodson and Kwame Alexander. This collection was edited really well--the authors are diverse as well as the storylines. There's a little of something for everyone here. Several of the stories use interesting perspectives. I will be recommending this title to many of my library's patrons, both teens and adults.

In this anthology, Ellen Oh presents 10 short stories, all written by authors whose work we already know and admire for their honesty and integrity, not to mention their talent, and for their belief in the We Need Diverse Books movement Oh began just a few years ago in response to the underwhelming number of books by diverse authors that are being published.

The title of the anthology, Flying Lessons, comes from the story by Soman Chainani, author of the School for Good and Evil series, by the same name. A shy young Indian boy is traveling through Europe with his grandmother, a rather colorful women who insists on wearing a couture dress, red stiletto heels and a white fur coat to the beach after outfitting her grandson, Santosh, in a tiny striped Speedo. She has other things to do, so she deposits Santosh on a nude beach with the admonishment “make friends.” Santosh finds himself drawn to a boy about his own age, not sure why he finds him so attractive. But Santosh’s Nani may just understand him better than he understands himself. She is like a (grand)mother bird teaching her young that he is meant to soar, to be who and what he is by nature, and the European trip is her flying lesson.

And so it is with all the stories in this anthology - each story features a young main character who has stood on the margins of society until they come into their own and take off. For instance, in Matt de la Peña’s “How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium,” a smart 8th grader knows what to expect when he decides to play basketball with the best at Muni Gym during summer vacation- to be told that he’s too young, too light, too short, too skinny, too Mexican. At the end of summer, he definitely does leave his mark on the basketball court, but what he learns off the court is the most important lesson of all.

In “The Difficult Path,” Grace Lin takes the reader to long ago China, where Mrs. Li promises to educate the female child, Lingsi, she has just bought. Though a servant to the family, Lingsi turns out to be a formidable student, unlike Mrs. Li’s lazy, uninterested son FuDing. Eventually, when no one will marry FuDing, it is decided that Lingsi will be his bride. But fate has another path for Lingsi - and all because she can read - and what a path it is.

The last story in this collection is called “Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push” by Walter Dean Myers. Chris knows his father’s dream was for him to become an athlete and follow in his footsteps onto the basketball court. And although an auto accident has left Chris in a wheelchair, it does not keep him off the court. Chris plays in a wheelchair league, but his dad seems to have trouble accepting it. When his dad must take him to a game, things change. Slowly, a dream comes true - but whose dream?

As a rule, I’m not a big fan of short stories. I like the depth and meatiness of a novel. Besides, when a collection of stories is put together, it’s a sure bet that not of them are going to be good. But, Flying Lessons sounded just too good to pass up. After all, some of my favorite authors have contributed to this anthology and, to a teacher like myself, I know how important their diverse characters and variety of themes are for the young readers who, after all, will shape the future. And I wasn’t disappointed reading Flying Lessons - the stories have substance, the characters are well developed and the themes are universal, and each one is unique.

There is a short biography of each author at the end of the book, plus a short history of why and how the We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) movement began written by its founder and editor of this anthology, Ellen Oh. After reading it, you may want to refresh your reading of Walter Dean Myer’s New York Times article “Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books?” written shortly before his death, an article which he ends with the exhortation "There is work to be done." And finally, publishers are beginning to listen to that.

The stories in Flying Lessons are aimed at middle grade readers, but could certainly be read and enjoyed by high school kids and adults.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

I have passed on my first copy of this book to a colleague and have bought a second. It is a great idea for a book and will get readers interested in many new authors.

What a fantastic collection of diverse short stories by a diverse group of authors! Here are two stories, I especially loved:
Matt de la Pena's story, which talks about the relationship between the protagonist and his dad, and reminded me of an interview with the author I had read in which he talked about his relationship with his dad, how his dad picked up an interest for reading, for literature, through him. - The story that totally broke my heart but left me with enough hope in the end, was The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn. From the very first sentence, my heart ached for Isaiah, his mum and little sister. I love it when an author is able to establish such a strong connection between me, the reader, and the characters of the story, right away.

I am not generally a short story person, so this took me quite a while to read. However, the variety (and diversity) found within this book was outstanding. I think my favorite was Kwame Alexander's, but they were all good. All told from the POV of a youngster (generally tweens or early teens, I think, but I may be misremembering some) experiencing some kind of upheaval or confusion. I think all readers will find something to relate to in these stories.

The trouble with short story collections as well as poetry collections is that there are usually great entires and then some that are not as strong. I enjoyed most of the stories in this book but not all. Overall it is a book I will probably purchase for the library because of the featured authors and the diversity represented.

Wonderful, diverse collection of stories for middle grade readers.

An assortment of diverse short stories told by many popular children's authors. Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents was definitely my favorite. It was amusing but also heartfelt. I was also drawn to Flying Lessons.

Like any collection of short stories, this book has a wide variety of experiences and different styles of writing. It's great that the We Need Diverse Books group had a competition, and this book is a collection of the winners. Really, looking at the authors, it's hard to see how anyone was able to choose! I'll probably buy a copy because of all of the great writers who are included, but I don't know if I will be able to get anyone to read it. My students will not pick up short story collections unless they are Scary Stories to tell in the Dark. It's weird, and I certainly try to give these collections to my readers, but they won't even pick up the marvelous Guys Read books. Maybe I can pitch the collections to teachers. This is a good companion to Open Mic, another diverse story collection edited by Mitali Perkins.

I see this book as required reading. Not just because of the diversity of the authors and their stories but because it’s an anthology with the power to change readers’ lives. The stories grab your attention and hold it. You’ll be as impressed as me by the authors’ mastery of their craft and the universal themes within each story.

A wonderful set of stories. I hope to see librarians and also writing for young reader instructors at various levels use these works as examples of the variety of voices that don't hinge on the POC experience but the youthful experience.

my review: https://youtu.be/Al-lfMjFQW0?t=2m57s

As a Latina, growing up I didn’t read a book with Latino characters until I was in high school. There is still in this day and age a lack of diversity in fiction and this book of short stories fulfill a need that is there, telling diverse stories that show many facets of our lives. It isn’t just important to see ourselves reflected in literature, it is important that we learn about others who are different from us, especially in these troubling times.

These stories give peeks into lives of different students. It is a beautiful diverse collection that needs to be included in every library.

You know what's great about anthologies? It's all these different stories written by different authors with different view points, different lives, different writing styles, different ideas coming together to create one book.

This is a great collection of stories to emphasizes that there is more than what we know of the world and the people in our lives. Even if they're just in our lives for a passing moment.

The characters in these ten stories are absolutely authentic. Whoever they might be there is someone out there that will see themselves in one of these characters. And if they don't that's even better, because they will see into the lives of someone else.

This is perfect for kids of all ages, like any good book should it will open them up to a new world (their own, actually) and show them life from another perspective. All while subtly making a good point and maybe teaching something in the en

I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Collections of any kind are bound to have hits and misses, but Ellen Oh has managed to compile a great collection of short stories. I had heard of most of the authors before and was not surprised by the quality of their work and the diversity of characters found amongst its pages.

I featured this title here: http://www.bethfishreads.com/2016/12/10-books-for-tweens-and-teens.html

Hope to do a full review soon.

One of the things that initially got me into reading as a youngster was the ability that books had to let me see through new eyes and walk that proverbial mile in someone else's shoes. I think it is so important for everyone but for children and teenagers to have access to a wide variety of books that reflect all different walks of life and experience. That is just one reason that I am such a big supporter of the "We Need Diverse Books" movement. It's an important step forward for the book industry and I'm happy to see anthologies like this come out to take the movement forward!

If you read middle grade fiction, it is easy to see that the line up of authors included in the book is truly a powerhouse. Each author brings their own unique voice to the collection. I had two favorite stories in the book. First, I loved the story about a boy who finds a fantastical story that his father secretly wrote about the boy and the boy takes the idea and turns it into a story for a story contest. My other favorite was about a boy who gets dragged to Europe by his crazy grandmother and discovers how to break out of his shell.

There is a lot to love about this collection. All of the stories are incredibly different and will introduce readers to memorable characters. If you don't know some of these authors already, it will also introduce you to some of the brightest voices in middle grade fiction today. This is a great collection and one that I know that I will be recommending a lot. It would make a great gift for the middle graders in your life.

***DISCLAIMER: This review contains an overuse of the word "Different."***


You know what's great about anthologies? It's all these different stories written by different authors with different view points, different lives, different writing styles, different ideas coming together to create one book.
Much like it's readers, we all have different stories, different backgrounds, different view points, different experiences, even different opinions of this book alone. 

This is a great collection of stories to emphasizes that there is more than what we know of the world and the people in our lives. Even if they're just in our lives for a passing moment.

The characters in these ten stories are absolutely authentic. Whoever they might be there is someone out there that will see themselves in one of these characters. And if they don't that's even better, because they will see into the lives of someone else.

This is perfect for kids of all ages, like any good book should it will open them up to a new world (their own, actually) and show them life from another perspective. All while subtly making a good point and maybe teaching something in the end.



We come from different places, we're all going different places but if that wasn't true we'd be stuck in a very dull book with the exact same story playing over and over.
The world is an anthology and we're all contributing our story to it.