Flying Lessons & Other Stories

Published by Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group

Narrated by Ellen Oh, Kwame Alexander, Meg Medina and 8 more

Whether it is basketball dreams, family fiascos, first crushes, or new neighborhoods, this bold anthology—written by the best children’s authors—celebrates the uniqueness and universality in all of us.
 
In a partnership with We Need Diverse Books, industry giants Kwame Alexander, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Peña, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter Dean Myers, Tim Tingle, and Jacqueline Woodson join newcomer Kelly J. Baptist in a story collection that is as humorous as it is heartfelt. This impressive group of authors has earned among them every major award in children’s publishing and popularity as New York Times bestsellers.
 
From these distinguished authors come ten distinct and vibrant stories.

Table of Contents & Cast of Narrators:
“Foreword,” written and read by Ellen Oh
“How to Transform an Everyday Hoop Court Into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium” by Matt de la Peña, read by Dion Graham
“The Difficult Path” by Grace Lin, read by Samantha Quan
“Sol Painting, Inc.,” written and read by Meg Medina
“Secret Samantha” by Tim Federle, read by Julia Whelan
“The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn” by Kelly J. Baptist, read by Adam Lazarre-White
“Choctaw Bigfoot, Midnight in the Mountains,” written and read by Tim Tingle
“Main Street” by Jacqueline Woodson, read by Abigail Revasch
“Flying Lessons” by Soman Chainani, read by Sunil Malhotra
“Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents,” written and read by Kwame Alexander
“Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push” by Walter Dean Myers, read by Dominic Hoffman
ABOUT WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS, read by Ellen Oh


"There's plenty of magic in this collection to go around." -Booklist, Starred

"A natural for middle school classrooms and libraries, this strong collection should find eager readers"
-Kirkus, Starred

"Inclusive, authentic, and eminently readable, this collection of short stories is an excellent addition for libraries and classrooms.”-School Library Journal, Starred

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524721145

Reviews for Flying Lessons & Other Stories

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A short story collection. Many of the authors write in their signature styles - Kwame Alexander in poetry, Meg Medina writes a Merci Suarez story - and the stories are engaging.

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Outstanding collection of short stories by a truly spectacular collection of current authors. By turns funny, inspiring, heart-rending, fascinating, this is a read that will keep you engaged, and that is particularly well targeted for a upper elementary to young middle school audience. .

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

children's middlegrade (4th-7th grade) short stories (everyday diversity). Mostly contemporary stories (Grace Lin had one set in historic China) that are highly readable and that would be of interest to most kids. Even if you don't know of or care about the #weneeddiversebooks movement (which you should), this is a fantastic compilation.

[carriewuj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a strong group of stories with a strong intention: diversity in race, physical ability, economics, ethnicity and sexuality (though the last is more hinted at than stated outright) in this collection for middle/junior high readers. As editor and co-founder of We Need Diverse Stories, Ellen Oh has assembled a great group of writers (Kwame Alexander, Grace Lin, Jacqueline Woodson, Walter Dean Myers among others) whose work will be familiar to the target audience. They are sure to see themselves or gain empathy for others through these varied works. Some are funny (Choctaw Bigfoot, Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents), some are touching (Main Street, Flying Lessons) but all will resonate with the 11-14 year-old demographic and their tulmultuous mishmash of emotions, opinions, and experiences. Soman Chainani captures it best in Flying Lessons: "At your age, sometimes it's hard to know whether you like someone....or whether you just want to be them."

[bookbrig-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So, so good. I love short stories anyway, but these are such fun and they're all so different. I highly recommend the audiobook if you can get your hands on it, because each story is read by a different reader and they're all perfect. (Some of the authors read their stories!) Pick this up for summer, because you'll love it.

[slmr4242 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant. There should be more books like this!

[sammusher · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Like most short story collections, this is uneven. Standouts include Matt de la Pena, Kelly J. Baptist, Meg Medina, and Tim Federle. Some of the others dragged for me. Best for selecting one or two stories to fit a curricular need, rather than reading cover to cover.

[christianr_899499 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Anthology of stories written by acclaimed authors writing for We Need Diverse Books.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of young adult short stories by diverse authors. Edited by Ellen Oh, the co-founder of the we need diverse books movement, this collection contains short stories from diverse young adult authors such as: Walter Dean Myers, Kwame Alexander, Matt de la Pena, Tim Tingle and more. Touching on a variety of topics from Bigfoot, basketball, racism, girl pirates, and difficult family situations, this collection is sure to have something for everyone. An essential addition for diverse young adult literature and easy enough reading to attract even middle grade readers.

[thelibraryladies · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kate’s Thoughts

The “We Need Diverse Books” movement is one that I have been following for a bit now. Basically, it’s goal is to promote, publish, and highlight books by diverse authors, and tell stories of many different viewpoints and experiences, especially in children’s and young adult literature. When our dear friend and fellow librarian Alicia picked the short stories collection “Flying Lessons” for our book club, I threw it on my request list and got it almost immediately. I also happened to read it during the first attempt this administration made on implementing a travel ban into this country. So yeah, this felt like a very pertinent read, especially since the hope is that diverse books will build empathy to other experiences.

Like most short stories collection, it had some highs and lows. But luckily, it was mostly highs! I really liked the varied authors that contributed to this, and how they all offered so many different kinds of stories without feeling like a box was getting checked off. I expected no less from Ellen Oh, one of the instrumental members of We Need Diverse Books. I will focus on my two favorites.

“Sol Painting, Inc” by Meg Medina: I love the other books by Medina that I’ve read (“Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass”; “Burn, Baby, Burn”), and I was very excited to see that she had a story in this collection. She does a great job of showing one snippet of a day in the life of Merci, Roli, and Mr. Sol, who are Latinx and have a family painting business. While Mr. Sol and and younger sister Merci really love this business, so much so that Merci wants to open her own home improvement empire someday, the elder brother, Roli, is starting to feel embarrassed by it, and would prefer to focus on science things. Medina does a great job of showing the discomfort that Roli has surrounded by his very white peers in a very white space when they go to paint the high school gym, in exchange for tuition for Merci. This story also feels very real in Merci’s voice, as she is the narrator. She doesn’t understand her brother’s self loathing or her father’s self sacrificing. This is probably the saddest story in the bunch, but it was my favorite.

“The Difficult Path” by Grace Lin: Lin takes us back in time to long ago China. It follows the story of Lingsi, a servant girl who is also educated, as it was her mother’s dying wish and her mistress, fearful of being cursed with bad luck, agreed. Lingsi and her house are traveling to try and find a wife for the only son of the family, a cruel and idiotic lout. But as they are traveling, they are attacked by pirates, and Lingsi finds herself in a very surprising situation. I loved Lin’s story telling in this one, as I could totally see everything and hear everything with perfect clarity. It was also neat seeing a surprising feminist twist within this story. No spoilers here. But let’s just say that there is a history of female pirates during this time period. This story was fun and definitely satisfying.

I really liked “Flying Lessons”, and I think that it’s a great collection of short stories that all kids will love.

Serena’s Thoughts

I’m always a bit hesitant about short story collections for a few reasons. First is the same reason that Kate laid out earlier and is true to a certain extent with this one: there can be a variety in quality from one story to another which can be an off-putting reading experience. Secondly, writing a short story is a completely different beast than writing a novel, a fact that I think many authors tend to forget and that then leads to questionable short story collections. Publishers simply paste all the big author names together on one title and think it’s a clear win, with no understanding that many of the skills and traits that make an author successful as a novelist may not carry over to a short story collection.

So, with all of this in mind, I was hesitant about this book, especially as it was often marketed and sold on the fame of the authors’ works it included. But, while there were a few misses, I was happy with the collection as a hole and there were a few stories that particularly stuck out. Kate already discussed two of my favorites, but I’ll throw in a third.

“The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn” by Kelly J. Baptist: This story follows Isaiah Dunn, a young boy coping with the death of his father and with his mother’s subsequent fall into alcoholism. Just with that short description, you know going in that this was one of the heavier titles in the book. But this story was so incredibly powerful for it! Grief itself is a huge subject, but the story also touches on so many other factors that all get swirled together in a the life-changing impact that comes with the loss of a parent. The trying economic situation of the family, the mother’s coping method, and the hope that can be found amidst it all is beautifully illustrated in this tale. I particularly appreciated the rather meta use of the power of stories that is brought to being in this story after Isaiah finds a old book of his father’s stories. Isaiah’s voice is also particularly strong, effectively portraying the innocence of childhood but never short-changing his ability to deeply understand the world around him.

As Kate said, there were a few weaker stories included, but even these would likely be well-received by the middle grade target audience of this book. All in all, I greatly enjoyed this collection and its ability to tell important stories without falling under the weight of too much “agenda.”

[salsabrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Narrated by ensemble. A great collection of short stories featuring diverse children and with universal themes that all kids can identify with: trying to understand family members, wanting to be friends with the cool kids, finding something to be good at. Many of the narrators are of diverse backgrounds as well, which helps pop these stories with authentic voices. I did not expect my eyes to suddenly prick hearing Dion Graham finish out the first story of the collection by Matt de la Peña!

[terran_9 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Many points of view are represented in this book of short stories, with characters of various ethnicities, abilities and life situations. Offering it to middle-school kids might introduce them to authors they haven't explored yet or present them with alternative perspectives.