No Easy Answers: Short Stories About Teenagers Making Tough Choices

by Donald R. Gallo (Editor)

This anthology features stories about individuals who find themselves in situations that test their strength of character. They are called upon to make moral choices, face the consequences of their actions, and consider what it means to "do the right thing. " From computer blackmail, peer pressure, and gang violence to drug use, unwanted pregnancy, guilt and atonement, these characters face decisions that may affect the rest of their lives. There are many tough choices; there are no easy answers.

Genres: Young Adult, Short Stories, Fiction

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published January 12, 1999

About the author

Donald R. Gallo, often called the godfather of YA short stories, is the editor of more than a dozen acclaimed anthologies, including Sixteen, Destination Unexpected, First Crossing, and What Are You Afraid Of?. A former English teacher and professor, he began championing short stories written specifically for teens in 1980, addressing a gap in school curricula. His groundbreaking work has earned numerous accolades, including the ALAN Award for Outstanding Contributions to Young Adult Literature. Gallo now writes, edits, and presents workshops, while also enjoying photography, cooking, and travel from his home in Solon, Ohio.

Reviews

[Amber Wortz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amber Wortz
Short Stories

No Easy Answers: Short Stories About Teenagers Making Tough Choices, is a compilation of short stories written by young adult authors about many of the hard decisions teens have to make throughout their adolescence. The book is split up into six categories: How Did I Get Myself into This?, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, What Do I Do Now?, How Do I Get Myself Out of This, and I'm Sorry.

As a whole I thought this was a pretty good read. Some of the stories didn't really interest me or seem a little irrelevant or far-fetched. I did enjoy the opportunity to read small pieces of work from a variety of different authors. While I think this could be a helpful book for teens, I think it would take a teen who is mature to appreciate what the book is trying to teach.

[Cheryl]

Not sure how this got on my list. I wound up reading a couple by authors I know or that seemed interesting, but most were like 'thank goodness I'm not responsible for any teens.'

[Jaden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do certain teens have different mindsets than other kids? When reading No Easy Answers one should expect to read about kids making dumb decisions, kids from bad backgrounds, and kids not knowing from good or bad. This book is like reading from a teens perspective and how a kid from a poor, dangerous, neighborhood would handle things differently than a kid from a white suburban neighborhood. X-15’s is a gang from a dangerous neighborhood in New York that states to have their member’s back. In the story a kid from a good, wealthy neighborhood wants to join the gang only because he thinks the idea of having someone's back when they have his is cool. Soon after he realizes that means that he would have to kill for them as well which he does not take well, It is shown in the story when during the initiation he has to kill his own cat which he can’t bring himself to do.
The main topic of this book is about moral standards and the strengths of character in a teenager when they find themselves in a tough situation. Especially when finding out how to deal with the consequences of their actions and what it means to do the right thing. In the short story The Photograph a boy finds out about a teacher skinny dipping so him and another student decides to go to her house and take pictures of her. Then after when trying to hide the photo it gets leaked and he doesn’t know what to do and how to fix what he did. “I just hoped that… things worked out for her. I mean, wherever she went.” (21). Some of the characters I think of as the type of people who want to fit in and not be an outcast. Which are both shown in both stories when in X-15 he tries to join the gang because he thinks it’ll be a chance to make friends and having each other's backs when it’s something more serious and in The Photograph he takes to the picture to try to prove to all the athletes that what he saw was true. Some things I do have questions about are, how did he come up with these scenarios? Did they actually happen? Did he experience them? An important message I feel that what he’s trying to explain in the short stories is that you should always try to have a good character and face your consequences head on instead of being afraid of them.
The author uses certain words to explain the story, such examples are when the author says in The Photograph “Lance muttered, peeling away his sweaty football jersey over his head, it was humid September afternoon in the locker room”. He uses humid to describe what the day felt like, and sweaty to describe the football jersey. In the beginning of the story he catches the reader's attention by saying “Naked?” “Yes.” “Ms. Jenson? Our beloved phys ed teacher and girls’ track coach?”. The author also uses specific words in other stories such as in X-15 he describes the outfit the gang wears “ Black pointy-toed shoes, Beige Levi’s, and a black V-neck T-shirt.”. The book has a unique way of telling the stories. It’s different stories in chapters, the chapters are the main point and the stories in the chapters explain the main point.
In conclusion he is a very good writer and knows what words to use and when to use them in a sentence.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

👑

[Bob Foote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though some are dated, nice collection of short engaging stories about tough choices teenagers make.

[Troy Fanton]

2 Copies

[Carver]

She DNF

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the short stories are better than others but the collection is solid.

[Darien Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the first short story "The Photograph" is about a couple of teens who plays in their football team was talking about their phys ed teacher Ms. Jenson skinny dipping. The teens goes for a look see to find out if it was true or not. What they found was something way more better than skinny dipping. A photo was shot by what ever the teens had saw. Now what will they do with the photo and what they saw? You need to find out by reading No Easy Answers.

I liked the book because the plot of the book was mysterious wanting you to read more and know what will happen next and how it will end, like for an example, "The Photograph." I wanted to know what the teens was going to see when they went to spy on their teacher Ms. Jenson and what they was going to do with the photo after they took it and what would happen to Ms. Jenson. Also it was exciting to know what happened next but it sometimes will be sad to know what happened but sometimes humorous. The book was humorous cause some of it was just teens doing dumb stuff by accident, it is not that bad of dumb stuff just a little mix up.

I would like to recommend this book to the teenagers who has had struggles in their life to read this book. It will let them know that they are not alone choosing hard choices.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a short story book. The stories are about teens and the problems that they have and how they deal with them and how they get over them. They are about gangs, drugs, sex, bad decisions, shootings and much more. One story is about three boys who learn that a teacher swims naked. One of the boys is a photographer so they go and take pictures. Then they learn something else about that teacher. The picture gets out and the teacher leaves town. Another story is about a girl who works at a fast food place. At first she is not too nice but through the book things happen that make her change her mind about things.

I liked these short stories. I can not relate to them but they are still things that happen to people in real life and this book shows how people could deal with those situations. This book is about the way that these situations test the character of the fictional teens. I got to thinking how I would handle these situations and honestly I don't know.

[Louie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must say that it is quite an interesting. The stories are very entertaining, and have managed to keep me fully engaged. This book is a set of 16 teenage stories, which brush on common problems that teenagers face. So far this book has mentioned sex,drugs, homosexuality, homelessness, theft, gang violence, ad love. Each story is about 20 pages long, which really isn't bad at all. If you are a person who doesn't quite like reading all that much yet, this is the book for you. These stories are short and sweet. Plus if one story bores you, you only have to bare with it for about 20 pages, as a pose to a one story 200-300+ page book.

Happy Reading,
Louie

[NadjaD · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book "No easy answers" was split up into several short stories that connected to teenagers, and them making choices. I read the short story called "Photograph" because it sounds like a difficult choice to make. Throughout this story a teenage boy named Anthony is stuck between the choices of falling under peer presure or doing whats right. This short story was okay, it wasn't all that, or shocking. Its not an ideal recommendation to me because it didn't have me psyched up to see what's going to happen next. But the concept of the story is intresting because they twist things around with the photo and who it is about.

[JUAN IBARRAaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is about how teens make choice that can effect the rest of there lives by trust and respect because it is either taking choices of taking pictures doing drugs get involved with guns and pranks.this book also shows how sometimes teens need to make choices that may show how they are either a good or bad person.this book also shows how sometimes teens make other teens do something they dont wanna do.I think this book was great and actually sees how teens has it bad because they dont really got choicesto do something.This book is great for teens..=]

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was enjoying the stories in this book until near the end, I came across a horrible story of a boy trying to kill his own cat so he can be admitted to a gang.
It gave descriptions of the two methods he tried using.Although the cat ultimately survived, I found it very disturbing.
It was not something I would have read or bought if I had known such a story was included.
There was no warning of any kind about this disturbing material and I found that to be very inappropriate as it is mostly teenagers who will be reading this book.

[Jennifer Carafa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few short stories on tough decisions and situations for teenagers. It's a great book for teenagers who have gone through or are going through a hard time. It also teaches others how life can be hard at times. It's quick and interesting.

[Hannah Goodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this eclectic collection. Some stories had mainly dialogue and others had a lot of exposition– good for my annotations for school. The first story had such a great premise but the way too long exposition kind of made it long-winded.

[Jose Rios · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book. These teens went through alot and even though some couldnt overcome their problems, most of them did.
Although they were on drugs, abusive relationship or being in the wrong crowd, these teens still found a way to overcome their challenges or problems.

[Ruth Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good resource for read-alouds to start discussion. It is just what the title suggests: stories that involve character and making choices. I bought the Kindle version, so I can project it as a I read.

[Erika Forth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come

[Amy Ensign · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to be more enthusiastic about this book, but it's an outdated YA collection of short stories. There are about five million other great options. Glad it's over.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great "read alouds" with young adults--inspires rich discussions