Social media followers who become literal followers in real life. A "choose your own catastrophe" story about being stuck in a pit. A voice that tells a young person that they are never good enough. A mood ring that tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Pity Party is a patchwork of short fiction that touches on the seemingly endless anxieties that plague young people today. Some pieces are funny, others a bit twisted, but all of them work to recognize the myriad experiences of young people trying to conform to, or push back against, societal pressures to be attractive, popular, and perfect. The concept of the collection is unique and intriguing, though the execution leaves the overall collection feeling somewhat chaotic. Because of the variety of topics covered, however, the book has something for almost every young person to connect with. Through Pity Party, Lane (The Best Worst Thing, 2016) encourages readers to engage in conversation, self-reflection, and ultimately empathy toward anyone experiencing issues around mental health.

Katya is a nervous middle schooler whose fertile imagination defaults to disaster. The voice in her head warns of poisoned Halloween candy, looming social ostracism, imminent acne, and rabid raccoons. In six short entries we cheer her on as she breaks free of her fears and banishes the voice. Interleaved with this unifying story are portraits of Katya's classmates at Bridger Middle School: Julian with his phobia about odd numbers, Kiera with her imposter syndrome, Gio who gets a new personality delivered in a box, Alice who feels so invisible she fears she's a ghost. The tone shifts from naturalistic to surreal, jokey to strange, goofy to mordant, poetic to unabashedly therapeutic. Added to the mix are a recurring faux-interactive "Choose Your Own Catastrophe" game; teen-magazine-style quizzes; the minimalist saga of Marta, who wished for a different life and gets stuck being a tree; an invitation to a gathering for Elena, who died of embarrassment. All the varied moods and textures of these pieces come together into an original, convincing, spot-on, and weirdly moving collage portrait of middle-school-age insecurities, anxieties, awkwardness, and interpersonal dynamics.

"Dear weird toes / crooked nose, / stressed out, left out / freaked out / … / This party's for you."Welcome to Bridger Middle School, home of the titular Pity Party. This grab bag of vignettes condenses a world of early adolescent anxieties and excitements into a single volume progressing at whirlwind pace. With the exception of the arc story entitled "The Voice," each vignette introduces a new protagonist and problem. Here the mundane collides with the fantastical, real-world pathologies and privations made light of through magical realism and a healthy dose of Gen-Z hyperbole. An ill-treated loner wishes everyone who's ever been unkind to her might feel what it is to be ugly-to disastrous effect; a thrift-store mood ring that never lies pushes a closeted gay boy to be true to himself. OCD spirals in the subway and harmful self-talk exist comfortably alongside a human chair, literal death by embarrassment (farting in class, oh, the humanity!), and social media followers dogging one's every step. Not all segments resonate; the sickeningly saccharine Happy Head and Happy Friends ad spots and a too-blasé letter from the Department of Insecurity come off as a bit too self-aware while the simple, unapologetic absurdity of the "choose your own catastrophe" misadventures invariably draw laughter but don't quite fit with the rest of the story-though perhaps that's the point. Swaab's illustrations offer suitably ironic visuals.An artful, amusingly quirky tour of middle school angst. (Fiction. 11-13)