Short stories are often a bit hit or miss, at least that is what I've found, and I felt that this did reflect that. Some of the stories were great, and all of them were at least interesting in concept. I loved that there were inclusions of children with a variety of disabilities -  more than just the usual prosthetic limb that features quite often in middle-grade fiction. Obviously, I can't speak to how well those representations were handled, but I thought that it was good that they were there.

My problem was that a number of these read less like stories and more like the opening chapters to a longer book. In some ways, I can see that as a benefit, I like to be left wanting to read more, but in a collection of short stories like this, I would prefer them to feel a bit more finished than some of them did. There were some stories that had the right balance between leaving the ending open and not finishing. 

There is a good balance between the kind of short story that is also a moral lesson and stories that felt like an adventure for adventure's sake. I don't favour one kind of story over another, but I did appreciate the mixture. 

I particularly enjoyed one story that features a girl who is having to pilot her spacecraft home in order to get medical assistance for her sister who is in stasis to prevent her from dying. That was perhaps the upper end of the age range I might expect to read this. 

I don't think that a young me would necessarily pick up this book, I was far too focused on a)fantasy and b)reading full books. But for a child who might want to explore different types of stories to find what they like I think this would be really great. I personally didn't love every story but I think there is something in there to cater to a variety of different readers. 

My rating: 3/5 stars 

I received a free digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The actual collection for 2019 is similar to the previous in many aspects, but the overall quality is lower and the overall concept is not a winning idea either.

Even in the 2018’s collection it was strange that all the main characters were girls, the boys were only exceptions. Now almost all the heroines are not just girls, but disabled, mostly half-legged girls with some kind of prosthesis… Everybody could be a hero. But making all the main characters to disabled little girls seems like some kind of overreacting.

Also many of them are orphans, and the other base idea for the stories that those are played on zeppelins. So the book is full of half-legged orphan girls, who live in zeppelins – it’s OK for one story, or some, but it is constrained and strange that all the independent authors were forced to use this similar setup.

My favorites were:

Machine Language – the very first story, about the first connection with the aliens, between robots, where the human’s robot is driven by a half-legged girl on a space rocket.
The Ground Shifted – another a pretty good story, where a girl sees everything in subatomic levels, which is a brilliant idea. It’s so sad – her parents were killed by her uncle, but eventually she is figuring out what to do.
Thunderbolt Trail – an illegal race through the USA with very old cars (with gasoline propulsion!), with a boy and his dad.
The Last Laugh – it’s a dictatorship, where jokes and laugh are forbidden, and some teenagers are frightened for their life. But humor helps, and it’s a funny reading at last.
Yawn us to sleep and devour our dreams – a strange, but interesting idea for alien invasion: the aliens are yawning us to death, but it works, and the connection between the little girl and her family is heartbreaking.

The Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, Volume 5, edited by Sean & Corie Weaver, is a fun collection of science-fiction stories for middle-grade readers. Journeying to planets both known and unknown, these futuristic tales star robots, space pirates, and plenty of smart, daring and diverse kids. What reader wouldn’t fall headfirst into an adventure on an airship, a high-voltage car race of the future, or pilot a shuttle into uncharted space to discover a new moon? This is a book that young readers won’t want to stop reading once they begin.

From the very first story, Machine Language - of thirteen-year old Yuka, who lives in a spaceship colony, has a prosthetic arm and works as a rover controller - I noticed how diversity and differences are highlighted. Another theme that runs throughout the stories is one of overcoming adversity in often life-threatening situations. Often, as in Yuka’s story - this is done through a mixture of human skill, technology - but also connection. Sometimes that connection is with robots, space dragons, or woomarrin aliens - other times it is with friends and family. Whichever way the authors of these stories chose to send their characters on journeys, and with whom - each one brought not only swashbuckling, high-flying fun but also a healthy dose of heart in the process. My favorite story in the collection was the airship adventure of Juliet Silver and the Orb of Fortunes, which starred Juliet as the pirate captain of the Realm of Impossibility, includes a masked ball, a theft & of course, space-pirate action!

Young reader’s imaginations will be sparked by this exciting, creative anthology. With diverse characters, fun plots and a healthy dose of humanity and heart to go along with its futuristic adventures - The Young Explorer’s Guide, Volume 5 is a collection of science-fiction stories that will delight middle-grade readers.

ARC Copy...I actually liked this better then the previous volume and I was happy it contained a vast variety of genres in addition to Sci-Fi like horror (a yawn has never been so terrifying) and Steampunk. Suggestible as a middle grade anthology.