Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich & Strange Stories

Gr 8 Up—Fourteen of today's most celebrated young adult authors have collaborated to create this anthology featuring short stories about alternate worlds. Adventure, romance, and, of course, steam-fueled clockwork combine to power this wonderfully inventive collection. Libba Bray's "Last Ride of the Glory Girls" is the highlight of these selections. Read in a sleepy Texas drawl, this otherworldly narrative tells of a young woman getting mixed up with an all-girl band of outlaws who use a time-stopping device to rob trains. Also memorable are Cory Doctorow's "Clockwork Fagin," in which a group of crippled orphans dispose of their cruel caretaker and replace him with a mechanical replica; and Kelly Link's "The Summer People," a hauntingly beautiful tale about a young girl's plot to escape the strange family to whom she is eternally bound in servitude. The collection's two graphic offerings, Shawn Cheng's "Seven Days Beset by Demons" and "Kathleen Jennings's Finishing School," are presented digitally on a bonus disc. These gems could easily get overlooked by listeners—so librarians might want to make note of the bonus offering on the audiobook packaging. Among the authors represented are M. T. Anderson, Holly Black, Elizabeth Knox, Garth Nix, Cassandra Clare, and others. The multiple readers do a fantastic job narrating these tales, employing everything from a Southern twang to an Irish brogue to bring the stories and their characters to life. This anthology has something for everyone and would make a worthy addition to libraries with a high demand for steampunk. However, considering not all stories translate into audio format, libraries may want to offer patrons the print alternative as well.—Alissa LeMerise, Oxford Public Library, MI