By Shaun David Hutchinson
Simon Pulse, 2017. 310 pgs. Young Adult
Ten teens have been sent to a tough summer camp meant to help them get their life back in order before they end up in juvie, or worse. The culminating camp experience is when they are blindfolded and driven out to a remote location in the woods. They have three days to make it back to camp, completely on their own. With their survival skills put to the test, tensions start to run high as their hunger, exhaustion, and general discomfort increases. To pass the time and create a semblance of unity, they have a story telling competition. The stories are varied, but show that perhaps these teens are less “feral” and more deliberate and justified than society believes.
This collection of short stories was inspired by Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, and each story was written by a different author, making the individual voices and storytelling styles that much more distinct. Even with that, it worked extremely well felt like a cohesive whole. The stories touched on a lot of sensitive social issues (bullying, sexuality, assault, etc.), and did so in a way that felt realistic. Youth are too often painted in a negative light, but this collection shows how misleading a label or singular action can be. Overall I quite enjoyed the book and really appreciated the different perspectives.
ACS
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