The Kissing Game: Short Stories - Hardcover

Chambers, Aidan

3.22

560 ratings by Goodreads

9780810997165: The Kissing Game: Short Stories

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810997169 ISBN 13: 9780810997165

Publisher: Amulet Books, 2011

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In this brand-new collection of short stories, Aidan Chambers explores moments of truth, when a character or an event suddenly reveals an often-surprising meaning: A girl loses her humanity when she takes a summer job as a theme-park character; a boy tries to save a girl from a fiery death, only to discover the same event happened one hundred years before. And the titular story, in which an innocent game takes a fatal turn, will haunt the reader for a long time.

These provocative stories beautifully lend themselves to discussion, and once again Chambers treats us to his fiercely intelligent, finely crafted prose and his incisive understanding of the wonderings of young people on the verge of adulthood.

Awards and praise for the work of Aidan Chambers

Michael L. Printz Award

Carnegie Medal

Hans Christian Andersen Award

“Beautifully written, emotionally touching, and intellectually challenging.” —VOYA

“Jam-packed with ideas and passionate characters.” —Publishers Weekly

“A marvelous wordsmith and magical storyteller.” —ALAN Review

“Disturbing, groundbreaking . . . original.” —Books for Keeps

Praise for The Kissing Game
“His [Chambers] sophisticated yet simple style is perfectly suited for an exploration of the new form of flash fictions—multi-genre drabbles that top out at 1,000 words—as well as standard short-story form. Thoughtful, challenging reading for teens on the cusp of adulthood.” –Kirkus Reviews

“more meaningful discussion and deeper understanding will only come from teens with more life experience, and there’s real potential for possible use in high school English classes.” –School Library Journal

“Models for flash fiction and the short-story form as well as points of departure for challenging open-ended discussion, the stories in this collection lend themselves to multiple curricular uses as well as thoughtful personal reading.” –Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

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About the Author:

Aidan Chambers has received international acclaim and won every major young-adult prize, including the Michael L. Printz Award and the Carnegie Medal, for his novels for teens and young adults. He lives in Gloucester, England, with his wife, Nancy. To learn more, visit him online at www.aidanchambers.co.uk.

From Booklist:

Far from the romance suggested in the title, this short-fiction collection from the author of the Printz Awardwinning Postcards from No Mans Land (2002) explores dark, volatile territory in selections that often lead to explosive, bomb-grade conclusions. Avid readers may notice a few reprints here, including The Kissing Game, but most of the entries are new, and in an authors note, Chambers discusses his interest in the flash-fiction form of writing, which he employs in several stories. There are a few twists of magic realism; in The Tower, for example, a teen boy tries to save a girl from a fire that occurred a century earlier. Most stories, though, are realistic glimpses of young adults grappling with mistreatment and brutality in a contemporary world. As in most collections, not every story is equally strong, but the variety of experimental formats, including scripts and letters, is refreshing, and teens will want to talk about the recurring themes of betrayal, violence, and shifting identities, and the fleeting moments of connection and mercy that can change a lifes course. Grades 9-12. --Gillian Engberg

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