This short story collection was very hit or miss. Some were great, but most of them felt like they were missing something.

Play House -- 3 stars -- A well written story, but ultimately not that special

The White Savior Does Not Save The Day -- 4.5 stars -- A good satire, very inventive in form.

Take It From Me -- 3.75 stars -- A surprisingly sweet story about growing up

Ring of Fire -- 3 stars -- Very meh

Museum of Misery -- 3.75 stars -- A good palette cleanser that read more like poetry than a short story

La Concha -- 4 stars -- Beautifully written

Pool Bandits -- 2 stars -- Something about it made it a not very enjoyable reading experience

We Are Looking For a Home -- 4.5 stars -- This story is too smart for me, but I really enjoyed basking in the beauty of it

A Recording For Carole Before It All Goes -- 3 stars -- I really liked the idea of this, but the execution just didn't pack an emotional punch the way it could have

Sweet Everlasting -- 3.75 stars -- A good setup, and a story that mostly followed through. It was a good ending to the collection

Overall The Collectors kind of irritated me, because basically all the stories had such good premises, but most failed to live up to them.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I think there was really only one or maybe two authors on here that sparked my interest - at least enough to request this book. I never got around to it though.

This collection of stories is, well, an odd collection. The editor's note at the beginning tries to explain how all these eclectic tales go together. Perhaps it's just the ephemera that are thrown together.

Each work stands on its own. Some appeal more than others, but each of the voices deserve to be heard.

Do they belong in a collection together? Probably not, but maybe that's the point. People, by nature, are collectors. Maybe this isn't your collection, but it's validly someone's.

The story that will stick with me longest came in the form of "Museum of Misery" - maybe because I'm reading this in March. The author's biggest message ("hey. you need to breathe.") is the most important message we need right now. Thanks, Cory McCarthy, for this one.

I flew through this one because each story did catch me enough to keep me listening (audiobook) and then I'd say "eh what's one more?" until it was over. There were some I liked a lot more than others, some I had no idea what was going on with for either most of until the end or all the way through (A.S. King, I'm looking at you! No shade though because while I didn't fully get what was happening, it was one of my favorites of the stories). I had some I liked more than others, hence the middling rating, and I was bummed Jason Reynolds didn't come in for his story because he is the love of my life, but overall this was a fun quick read that I think works for the right angsty teen.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

As with most short story collections, this had some hits and some misses. Favorites: Cory McCarthy's Museum of Misery, Jason Reynolds' A Recording for Carole Before It All Goes, Anna-Marie McLemore's Play House, and e. E. Charlton-Trujillo's La Concha.

This was an interesting collection. I liked the theme of collections throughout the book, but some stories were stronger than others. The only reason I wouldn't get this for my library is because it is above my library's age range. It was nice to see some of my favorite authors delving into short stories though.

I was super excited about this because it's full authors I'm familiar with, which almost never happens with anthologies for me. Just like any other anthology, there were stories that I LOVED, stories I felt good about, and stories that were just ok. I averaged my ratings for each story out to get the rating and I feel good about it. The overarching concept of "Collections" was really intriguing and it was cool so see how each author put their own spin on what it is to be a collector. I was pleasently surprised by some of these stories, because I rated them higher than any book I had read from those authors and it gave me hope that I would really enjoy something by one of them if I gave them another chance. My absolute favorite story was Play House by Anna-Marie McLemore, which isn't surprising because I've really enjoyed all of their books that I have read in the past. In the introduction, A.S. King says that she told the authors to "get weird" and I feel like Anna-Marie went the most weird. Overall though, all the stories were entertaining and all the authors did a great job of flushing out the characters in their short stories.

The Collectors: Stories is a fiction anthology of stories featuring collections. Some of the stories are desperately sad, while others are fantastical. I appreciated that each story was well-rounded and offered us a snippet into the lives of each character. I would recommend this book to adult or young adult readers who are looking for interesting, thoughtful yet digestible stories.

This collection of short stories comes to us from a diverse cast of YA heavy hitters. Award winning authors like Jason Reynolds and A.S King write about the different forms and meanings of collections. The short stories vary from extremely short and illustrated, to one that is nearly 1/4th of the book. I do tend to gravitate toward "longer" short stories, but honestly. some of the shortest picks were the ones I was interested in the most. "Museum of Misery" with it's illustrations, really hit hard. Going into this, seeing that A.S. King was the editor, I knew the collection would be a bit bizarre and diverse, but I was blown away with how well this anthology was put together.

this was a nice collection of stories, it was very well put together and "collected"

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I’m not good for writing beautifully worded literary reviews, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. This collection of short stories was just so-so for me. I skimmed through a good half of them. Perhaps just not my personal cup of tea. Nevertheless, it will not be part of our circulation collection unless someone specifically asks for it. More a 2.5 than a 3

Interesting premise. Mixed results. But that is usually the case with short story anthologies and this book is no different.

A YA anthology about people and their collections.
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This #storycollection is filled with real, and sometimes dark, stories about various topics such as Alzheimer’s disease, 1970’s skaters, fire, white saviorism, and more.
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Some of today’s best young adult authors contributed to this short stories collection and it shows. Obviously @jasonreynolds83 was my favorite, but I don’t think I’m alone in that one.

CW: racism, sexism, alcohol, grief, abuse, sexual harassment, assault, homophobia, transphobia, hate crimes, genocide, fatphobia, drug use, misogyny, school shooting, Alzheimer’s

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974


There are some who are takers, givers, and collectors. This anthology of tales will take you on a journey of sorts. There are a diverse series of experiences of each collector as well as characters. Some of the offerings are short while others read more like a novella. This anthology will draw you in and you'll reread specific stories more than once. I hope there will be another anthology offering from these editors, a part two if you will.

A generally fun mix of stories! Definitely enjoyed some more than others but still had a blast with most. I loved the “weird” group of characters and how abstract it was. Each character was unique and I enjoyed seeing how their stories played out

Crying because I love A.S. King sooo much. The all star cast of authors is so incredible! I loved these stories, I felt attached to each and every one.

There were a couple of stories I really enjoyed and many that I couldn't get into. I just wasn't sure that the collection as a whole would capture young readers. I really loved the concept and theme though! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review it!

The Collectors: Stories is an eclectic "collection" of short stories written by nine award-winning and bestselling young adult authors. Based on a prompt from author A.S. King, each story features a collection of some kind: a non-binary teen who collects things from other people's collections; the teen who, along with his friends, collects experiences trying to "go vertical" skateboarding in 1970s California; the demon who collects people who wish an experience would go on forever; and more. Some stories are strange and some are other-worldly. All are intriguing. I didn't like every story, but I found them all thought-provoking and interesting.

The first two stories I read were very disappointing so I decided to put this aside and I don't think I'd come back to it. There are much better collections out there.