Member Review

'Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA' (2020) is an anthology that contains several names with whom you are likely familiar: Laurie Halse Anderson, Adam Silvera, Sabaa Tahir, Jason Reynolds, Nicola Yoon, Becky Albertalli, and more. However, their role in this anthology is not as contributors—instead, each established YA author introduces the work of an up-and-comer. Reading this anthology reminded me of being at YALLFest; this community of writers is one that supports each other and realizes that more voices, more viewpoints, more lived experiences, and more imaginations make everyone’s experience as readers and writers better. 'Foreshadow' is, simply put, a very good sign of things to come.

The stories in Foreshadow come from the digital, serial YA anthology of the same name. In addition to the introductory words written by each story’s sponsor as well as author’s notes that follow each story, editors Emily X.R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma provide even more discussion, linking each story to a big idea or literary element. Voice, emotional resonance, motif, and worldbuilding are some of the topics discussed. And if that’s not enough for you, they also offer story prompts! Remember what I said earlier about the inclusiveness of the YA world? Taken together, this anthology is a writing workshop, carefully assembled by established authors who are dedicated to lifting up the voices of others.

But hold on—before you get too excited about picking up this one-stop writing workshop, I haven’t even told you about the stories themselves! There are thirteen stories, and in those stories you’ll find romance, magical realism, folk tales, fairy tales, fantasy, science fiction, culture clashes, humor, and drama. You’ll find stories that resonate with parts of your life, and you’ll find stories that are nothing like your lived experience. Maybe you’ve never wondered what it’s like to turn into a lobster, which is what Rachel Hylton explores in “Risk,” but the awkwardness of adolescent metamorphosis we know all too well. Another one of my favorites is “Glow” by Joanna Truman, a story about a girl who falls in love with a girl who is convinced that she can unmake the world. There’s also the twisted fairy tale, “Sweetmeats” by Linda Cheng—twisted only because Cheng manages to seamlessly blend those classic fairy tale elements into a world that we recognize. The final story that I keep coming back to is “Pan Dulce” by Flor Salcedo. “Pan Dulce” is a border story that is fraught with potential peril. As Rosa crosses from El Paso to Juárez, she and the reader become aware of how the danger that you face changes as you move from one space to another.

The thread that these stories all share is, of course, adolescence. All of these stories focus on that liminal space between childhood and adulthood. For me, YA is at its best when adolescence isn’t treated as a way station. Adolescence has value, and these authors understand that value, which is why their stories feel so genuine and compelling. Many of the authors in this anthology have succeeded in finding more opportunities to tell their stories, and I look forward to reading more of them in the future.

In the meantime, 'Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA' is an easy book to recommend. The uniqueness of the experience that it offers is not to be missed.