"Teen romance comes in a wide assortment of flavors in this collection of original short stories by popular YA authors," wrote <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW. "While all contributors share a common theme and a markedly frank, contemporary narrative, the perspectives differ, moving in a continuum from conservative to unconventional." Ages 13-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Jan.)

Gr 9 Up-These 10 stories range in mood from sweetly romantic to dark and sensual, but the quality of the writing is uniformly good. Several stories particularly stand out. Louise Hawes's "Fine and Dandy," about a girl who has an abortion, is one of the best. In just a few pages, the author shows Casey as a vivid, fully developed character. Best of all, the adults around her are realistically portrayed. Also outstanding is Michael Lowenthal's "The Acuteness of Desire," about a boy's first sexual encounter, with a male classmate, and his heartbreaking disappointment when the classmate rebuffs him the following day. Finally, Emma Donoghue closes the collection with a gem of a story about the new member of a woman's housing cooperative, a tight-lipped stranger who harbors a startling secret. Like many of the other selections, this story is at once funny and sad. Not surprisingly, given the topic, several of the pieces include graphic sexual scenes, but always as integral parts of the stories. Other selections feature more innocent romances; for example, the book begins with "Extra Virgin," Joan Bauer's tribute to abstinence. It isn't among the strongest in the collection. Overall, though, the selections portray teenage sexuality-with all of its confusion, pain, and joy- with unflinching honesty.-Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

(It is Booklist policy that a book written or edited by a regular contributor receive a brief descriptive announcement rather than a recommending review.)An author, editor, and frequent contributor to Booklist s Books for Youth Section, Michael Cart has collected 10 stories from a stellar roundup of familiar writers for young adults who explore, with candor and heart, how passion, sex, crushes, and commitment alter and influence teens' lives.

Stylistically and thematically diverse, this collection contains a frantic comic piece by Chris Lynch, self-consciously "literary" stories from Sonya Sones and Angela Johnson, and an intense first-person tale of same-sex desire by Michael Lowenthal. Most of the entries have a utilitation "written to order" feel, though readers will be drawn to the provocative subject matter of abortion, abstinence, and first sex.

In a direct frontal assault on censorship of young-adult literature, Cart ( My Father's Scar , 1996, etc.) presents ten short stories that highlight a taboo subject: teenagers coping with sexuality. Written by established and critically praised YA authors, the stories range from a girl determined to remain abstinent, to an agonizing blind date set up by parents, to abortion, and to homosexuality of both genders. One story by Australian author Garth Nix dips into science fiction, while another real winner by Sonya Sones relates a girl's first experience of love through simple but evocative poems. Honesty and responsibility act as currents running through the collection, whether the stories depict those qualities directly, as in Joan Bauer's humorous and touching "Extra Virgin," or as undercurrents, as in Shelley Stoehr's reckless runaway main character in "Troll Bumps." Cart laments in his foreword that many teenagers today appear not to understand "certain differences between lust and love." By telling teens the truth rather than leaving them without guidance, he argues that young adults may better cope with the intense sexual pressures in their lives. Some stories hit hard, but all deal honestly with the reader. It's a bold poke in the eye to the censors, and an invigorating addition to the literature. (Fiction. YA)