The Bookworm says... Maybe. Flying Lessons & Other Stories is an anthology edited by Ellen Oh, co-founder of We Need Diverse Books, that includes work by Kwame Alexander, Kelly J. Baptist, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Pena, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina, Walter dean Myers, Tim Tingle, and Jacqueline Woodson. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories, and I love how there is a common theme between all of the pieces. The common theme that I felt to be most important? Success cannot be achieved without overcoming hardship. Another thing that I appreciate about this collection is the absolute diversity shown in all of the stories. With stories featuring protagonists of different backgrounds, cultures, and situations, each one exhibits a different walk of life. This is a special grouping of short stories that I feel could positively impact lots and lots of middle grade readers. We need more books like this one.
"Papi chose to be invisible today so you won't ever have to be." (from Sol Painting, Inc. by Meg Medina)
DISCLAIMER: review is based on an uncorrected proof. Tentative release date is January 3, 2017.