Flying Lessons & Other Stories

The co-founder of We Need Diverse Books, Ellen Oh edited this collection. She dedicated it "to the memory of Walter Dean Myers, who said 'There is work to be done.' So our work continues." I'm a big fan of Myers, and am happy to see the work continue here.

Ms. Oh has put together ten stories from diverse authors.

Characters are not all cut from the same mold, these are stories for all of us. Writers include Kwame Alexander, Kelly J. Baptist, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Tim Tingle, Jacqueline Woodson, and the great Walter Dean Myers.

As with any anthology, there are some stories I like better than others - that's to be expected. I can't really pick a favorite, but Matt de la Peña's story, "How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium" was as good as the title. And Meg Medina's "Sol Painting, Inc." made me laugh so much at one point (commenting on a painting business), I had to set the book down a while and collect myself. So try some Flying Lessons & Other Stories!