This evening I saw the editor and several authors of _Stay True: Short
Stories for Strong Girls_ read at my local B &N (Park Slope, Bklyn).
I can't recommend the book enough! Edited by Marilyn Singer; the
contributors I saw were Jennifer Armstrong, Peni Griffin, Marian Bray, and
Drew Lamm (sp?); Rita Williams-Garcia and others are also included.
Singer mentioned that the book was conceived in response to two phenomena:
the idea that girls begin to "lose self" in early adolescence (according
to Singer that certainly doesn't have to be true! and often is not!) and
the proliferation of "bleak books" for young adults.
These stories are funny, and sad, and most of all, strong.
I'm still glowing from the evening!!
Leah
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He was still immersed in the dim, wet wonder of the folded wings that might open if someone loved him; he still hoped, probably, in a butterfly's unthinking way, for spring and warmth. How the wings ache, folded so, waiting. . .
--Harold Brodkey, "The State of Grace"
