The Time We Ran Away and Other Short Stories

by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, Emily Jenkins

Short book full of short stories from 11 various authors. Fiction.

Genres: Short Stories, Anthologies, Horror, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens

58 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Sarah was born in Montreal, Canada. After graduating with an honors degree in English literature from McGill University, she moved to Toronto to work for Harlequin Enterprises. While she never met Fabio, she used her romance publishing experiences to fuel her first novel Milkrun.

Since then, Sarah has written four additional novels for adults: Fishbowl, As Seen on TV, Monkey Business, and Me vs. Me; the New York Times bestselling middle grade series Whatever After; the middle grade series Upside-Down Magic (with Lauren Myracle and Emily Jenkins); and the teen novels Bras & Broomsticks, Frogs & French Kisses, Spells & Sleeping Bags, and Parties & Potions (all in the Magic in Manhattan series), as well as Gimme a Call, Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have), Don't Even Think About It, Think Twice, and I See London, I See France. Along with Lauren Myracle and E. Lockhart, Sarah also wrote How to Be Bad, and along with Farrin Jacobs, she wrote See Jane Write, a guide to writing. Sarah also co-edited two bestselling charity collections (Girls' Night In and Girls' Night Out), and has contributed to various anthologies (American Girls About Town, Sixteen: Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday, 21 Proms, First Kiss (Then Tell), Fireworks, and Vacations from Hell).

Sarah is also a co-founder of OMG BookFest, a celebration of books aimed at the early to middle grade reader (ages 7-12) that brings together commercial and award-winning authors with underserved local communities for an exciting experience of books, games and activities.

Sarah's books have been translated into twenty-nine languages and optioned to Hollywood. She now lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.

Reviews

[Muhammad Usman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was the reason I read some of the stories featured (Scar Island, Save Me A Seat, and Restarted). Good book that I liked as a kid. However, I was disappointed when the stories weren’t the same in their official books.

[Heather Shembarger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 58 page quick read exposes the reader to various authors and excerpts from their works. The book gives a glimpse into 9 different books/authors that would be of high interest for most middle school students. I have not read some of the books that excerpts were taken from, but I definitely had my interest sparked and am looking to read some of these books.
Books that the reader is exposed to include: Upside-Down Magic, The Parker Inheritance, Unschooled, Whatever After Abby in Wonderland, Scar Island, Save Me a Seat, Restart, Allie First at Last, and Goosebumps Slappyworld I am Slappy's Evil Twin.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Short stories"

These are the first (or second?) chapters of the books mentioned.

...I might read them, though... even if the first one (other than the magic bit) actually DOES make a good standalone short story: boy has birthday, says he's only having a low-key family dinner because he hates parties, friend thinks that's sad and plans a surprise party(!!!), surprise party flops EVEN WITHOUT the ensuing shenanigans, boy is mad the friend didn't LISTEN when he said he HATES PARTIES but if the friend wants to come to dinner, that's cool.

May pass on Goosebumps, though. The ones I've read were kind of cheesy, and also I'm not really big on horror anyway because I've only seen a few that "resolve" the horror, vs. pull the old "The threat was eliminated... but then THERE WAS ANOTHER!" trope (and what passes for "children's" horror is generally eyeroll material).

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each story taught a sweet, kind, and sometimes, harsh, lesson about growing up. Some stories showed that making the right decisions despite the consequence(s) is a sign of maturity, and other stories showed how it's important to be yourself. One girl struggles with being pretty or being smart (why can't I be both, she ponders). A brother and sister learn that they can help others however, they must look out for their own safety, too. A young girl refuses to listen to her friend's wishes and throws him the birthday party of her dreams. And, my favorite story, "The Time We Ran Away" finds a boy, despite facing the "school's" bully's wrath, learns a lesson from all things - a rat.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book on my classroom library shelves and decided to pick it up and see what it was about. This little book contained 8-10 short stories from popular middle grade authors such as Dan Gemeinhart, Gordon Korman, R.L. Stine, and Varian Johnson. I had read most of the original stories these short stories were spinoffs of, so that was a fun little surprise to dive back into the worlds of the characters I had grown to love in a different way.

I can see this book being beneficial for readers who like fiction but just aren't sure of their next fiction book choice. Since I finished this book, there are some other books I would like to read because of the characters I met in this short anthology of stories.

[Carson hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange little book. It seemed to have mostly either chapters from books or else they looked like an introduction to the books, I really couldn't figure it out. The only one that was truly a short stand alone story was the last one, which was the best of the collection, in my opinion.

[Reed · Rating 2 out of 5]

did not like book

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of cute short stories. Would appeal to both boys and girls. Some were better than others.

[Amber Orvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book with good messages in these short stories a must read especially for kids.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book the short stories were aMazing

[Rayjan Koehler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, just a short sampling from some middle-school grade books.

[PearlDoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like all the stories, but these kids definitely knew what they were doing. That's what I enjoyed the most about this book! The Creativity really does shine through.

[Michael Medlen · Rating 1 out of 5]

some decent short stories

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. the short stories were short and crisp.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short read aloud for class or to try to get children interested in different genres. Each story is from different full books. So if you find one you like, you can read the whole book.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick read, but I was hoping for more out of it considering the great children’s & YA authors that are listed. The book presents itself as “short stories” which generally stand alone. However this books “short stories” are scenes which are plucked from other books. Therefore if you don’t know about the book previously you’re left confused about the premise. I think the point was to catch people’s attention and get them to buy these books. So I would say this book is more of a sampler. None of the stories are great, but they may catch your attention for a book you want to check out.