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The Collectors
From Michael L. Printz Award winner A.S. King and an all-star team of contributors including Anna-Marie McLemore and Jason Reynolds, an anthology of stories about remarkable people and their strange and surprising collections.
From David Levithan’s story about a non-binary kid collecting pieces of other people’s collections to Jenny Torres Sanchez's tale of a girl gathering types of fire while trying not to get burned to G. Neri's piece about 1970's skaters seeking opportunities to go vertical—anything can be collected and in the hands of these award-winning and bestselling authors, any collection can tell a story. Nine of the best YA novelists working today have written fiction based on a prompt from Printz-winner A.S. King (who also contributes a story) and the result is itself an extraordinary collection.
From David Levithan’s story about a non-binary kid collecting pieces of other people’s collections to Jenny Torres Sanchez's tale of a girl gathering types of fire while trying not to get burned to G. Neri's piece about 1970's skaters seeking opportunities to go vertical—anything can be collected and in the hands of these award-winning and bestselling authors, any collection can tell a story. Nine of the best YA novelists working today have written fiction based on a prompt from Printz-winner A.S. King (who also contributes a story) and the result is itself an extraordinary collection.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2023
85 people are currently reading
4633 people want to read
About the author
A.S. King
23 books3,734 followersA.S. King is the author of the highly-acclaimed I CRAWL THROUGH IT, Walden Award winner GLORY O'BRIEN'S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE, REALITY BOY, 2013 LA Times Book Prize winner ASK THE PASSENGERS, 2012 ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS, and 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ and THE DUST OF 100 DOGS as well as a collection of award-winning short stories for adults, MONICA NEVER SHUTS UP.
Look for Amy's work in anthologies DEAR BULLY, BREAK THESE RULES, ONE DEATH NINE STORIES, and LOSING IT. Two more YA novels to come in 2016 & 2018. Find more at www.as-king.com.
p.s.- If I don't accept your friend request, don't feel sad. It's because I don't really use Goodreads even though I'm completely thrilled that you do!
Look for Amy's work in anthologies DEAR BULLY, BREAK THESE RULES, ONE DEATH NINE STORIES, and LOSING IT. Two more YA novels to come in 2016 & 2018. Find more at www.as-king.com.
p.s.- If I don't accept your friend request, don't feel sad. It's because I don't really use Goodreads even though I'm completely thrilled that you do!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 337 reviews
May 5, 2024
3.5 ✩
honestly? this wasn't bad. i had fun reading it (surprisingly). i think this is my first short story collection so i didn't really know what to expect but i really liked reading different people's takes on collections and how bizarre a collection can be. i never knew what was going to happen next and i really liked that. some stories were boring. some were next level confusing. but overall i flew through it pretty quickly (for my pace) and i didn't find myself dreading reading it so that was good. my favorite stories are probably play house by anna-marie mclemore, pool bandits by g. neri, and sweet everlasting by m. t. anderson.
honestly? this wasn't bad. i had fun reading it (surprisingly). i think this is my first short story collection so i didn't really know what to expect but i really liked reading different people's takes on collections and how bizarre a collection can be. i never knew what was going to happen next and i really liked that. some stories were boring. some were next level confusing. but overall i flew through it pretty quickly (for my pace) and i didn't find myself dreading reading it so that was good. my favorite stories are probably play house by anna-marie mclemore, pool bandits by g. neri, and sweet everlasting by m. t. anderson.
March 12, 2024
2024 Printz Winner
Only two stories in this collection are worth reading - M.T. Anderson’s and Jason Reynold’s. The rest are in turn boring, poorly written or awkwardly, painfully “progressive.”
I don’t know what the committee was thinking. This collection was not good and didn’t deserve the award, and I am saying it with all the respect for A.S. King whose story was just passable and never successfully got to the point it was trying to make.
Only two stories in this collection are worth reading - M.T. Anderson’s and Jason Reynold’s. The rest are in turn boring, poorly written or awkwardly, painfully “progressive.”
I don’t know what the committee was thinking. This collection was not good and didn’t deserve the award, and I am saying it with all the respect for A.S. King whose story was just passable and never successfully got to the point it was trying to make.
October 17, 2023
Thank you NetGalley for this EARC
I find short story collections quite hard to review since it can be such a mixed bag, and this one was no different. So here is a mini review for each story:
Play House: this was my first time reading from Anna-Marie McLemore but I desperately want to get to more of their work! This story was interesting and then very suddenly very weird, all in a good way!
The White Savior Does Not Save The Day: I think as a satirical story it definitely delivered but also don’t really know how to feel after reading it.
Take It From Me: I have read a few David Levithan books in the past and have never really connected to them. Sadly this was much the same. I found the story to be too long with not enough emotional weight.
Ring of Fire: This one was really good, a story about grief told with a distinct metaphor. Simple yet very affecting.
Museum of Misery: Impactful. Important. Impressive to be able to say so much in such few words.
La Concha: this is one big metaphorical story which I personally could not always follow, but still I felt the heaviness of it while reading it.
The Pool Bandits: This was not my cup of tea. Irresponsible, horny teenage boys who want to skate and make for a truly annoying perspective to read from, in my opinion.
We Are Looking For Home: Throughout this whole story I was trying to figure out what it was about, and I failed. Still, something about it was really beautiful. It has truly baffled me but I definitely liked reading it
A Recording for Carole Before it All Goes: Very heartwarming, truthful and beautifully told. I really related to this story on a personal level and I loved it.
Sweet Everlasting: This might be my favourite story in the collection! The concept was amazing, the overall message, the story telling, the pacing, which vignettes it decided to focus on, … From start to finish one of my favourite short stories I have ever read!
I find short story collections quite hard to review since it can be such a mixed bag, and this one was no different. So here is a mini review for each story:
Play House: this was my first time reading from Anna-Marie McLemore but I desperately want to get to more of their work! This story was interesting and then very suddenly very weird, all in a good way!
The White Savior Does Not Save The Day: I think as a satirical story it definitely delivered but also don’t really know how to feel after reading it.
Take It From Me: I have read a few David Levithan books in the past and have never really connected to them. Sadly this was much the same. I found the story to be too long with not enough emotional weight.
Ring of Fire: This one was really good, a story about grief told with a distinct metaphor. Simple yet very affecting.
Museum of Misery: Impactful. Important. Impressive to be able to say so much in such few words.
La Concha: this is one big metaphorical story which I personally could not always follow, but still I felt the heaviness of it while reading it.
The Pool Bandits: This was not my cup of tea. Irresponsible, horny teenage boys who want to skate and make for a truly annoying perspective to read from, in my opinion.
We Are Looking For Home: Throughout this whole story I was trying to figure out what it was about, and I failed. Still, something about it was really beautiful. It has truly baffled me but I definitely liked reading it
A Recording for Carole Before it All Goes: Very heartwarming, truthful and beautifully told. I really related to this story on a personal level and I loved it.
Sweet Everlasting: This might be my favourite story in the collection! The concept was amazing, the overall message, the story telling, the pacing, which vignettes it decided to focus on, … From start to finish one of my favourite short stories I have ever read!
October 13, 2023
This is an unsurprisingly eclectic mix, mostly erring on the side of "dark," which, again, shouldn't be surprising given the authors who contributed. I really enjoyed the first half, but at a little past that I felt like the stories were less engaging or flat-out disturbing. (Especially M. T. Anderson's. Wow.) I don't know that this fully shows the versatility of the topic or of YA as a demographic, but it's still definitely appealing, and I think a lot of YA readers will find plenty to enjoy, especially if they're going through their "dark is deep" phase.
(Which I don't mean to sound dismissive. Goodness knows mine lasted for a while!)
(Which I don't mean to sound dismissive. Goodness knows mine lasted for a while!)
January 30, 2024
I usually expect a short story collection to have some hits and misses, but this one was pretty strong all around and absolutely deserving of the Printz! My favorite stories were those by Anna-Marie McLemore, AS King, Jason Reynolds, and MT Anderson (shocking no one who knows me). McLemore combines her trademark magical-realism with some anti patriarchal anarchy that I was here for, AS King continues to be a postmodern genius who just GETS teenagers, Jason Reynolds masterfully employs his trademark sweetness and strong voice, and MT Anderson had me scratching my head, then gasping in shock and laughing out loud. Strange, beautiful, thought-provoking, and smart--one of the best YA books I've read in awhile.
May 9, 2024
3 ½ ⭐️ rounded down.
The title of this compilation is clever and apt. This is a collection of imaginative stories about collectors. The editor asked the writers to forget traditional structures and go ahead and get weird. So, they did.
I dig the concepts, and all of the contributors write well, buuuuut, they all seem to slow-walk their stories. Many of them felt like old cars, that have to go downhill just to get going at all, and then seem to take forever to pick up speed. Take "Ring of Fire" for instance: it's eleven pages long, and seems ordinary until the last three pages, which are extraordinary.
These stories require very patient readers. My favorite of all was "The White Savior Does not Save the Day," because I like provocative content. I think it's the most solid selection in the bunch. After all, you can feel the sinister potential of the word "Collector." I'm glad that the authors felt that, too.
The most imaginative award goes to "Museum of Misery" which is illustrated in the print version. it's also the only story in the collection which felt like it wasn't YA. I'm totally fine with reading YA, it's just that you never know which end of the spectrum to expect. Some YA authors these days veer into New Adult territory. This particular collection is tilted decidedly towards the younger side of YA.
The title of this compilation is clever and apt. This is a collection of imaginative stories about collectors. The editor asked the writers to forget traditional structures and go ahead and get weird. So, they did.
I dig the concepts, and all of the contributors write well, buuuuut, they all seem to slow-walk their stories. Many of them felt like old cars, that have to go downhill just to get going at all, and then seem to take forever to pick up speed. Take "Ring of Fire" for instance: it's eleven pages long, and seems ordinary until the last three pages, which are extraordinary.
These stories require very patient readers. My favorite of all was "The White Savior Does not Save the Day," because I like provocative content. I think it's the most solid selection in the bunch. After all, you can feel the sinister potential of the word "Collector." I'm glad that the authors felt that, too.
The most imaginative award goes to "Museum of Misery" which is illustrated in the print version. it's also the only story in the collection which felt like it wasn't YA. I'm totally fine with reading YA, it's just that you never know which end of the spectrum to expect. Some YA authors these days veer into New Adult territory. This particular collection is tilted decidedly towards the younger side of YA.
October 13, 2023
3.5 - maybe a review to come ?
February 21, 2024
3.5*
This is a weird collection of complex young adult short stories all based on collections (haha, I didn’t consider how meta that was). Some of them I really didn’t understand because they were all definitely a little… experimental feeling? The editor asked the various authors to toss out conventions. “There is currency in weirdness. Be defiantly creative” were the instructions. And it shows. The editor then tells the reader to live our life and our dreams without rules or normalcy as well. Be as weird as we want. Make art our life. “Collect all the little pieces of you and make your story.”
The introduction really pulled me in. “Collections are beautiful to their collectors. Even the most disgusting collection is a glimpse of magic to the right person. Same as the most boring collection can excite. Essentially, every collection is extraordinary and impossible to duplicate, because even if I have the exact same baseball cards as you do, mine hold a meaning for me that is different from yours. That individual meaning highlights the creative component – which tells me that collections are art, and the active collection, artistry. Emotion trumps logic here. If you collect buttons/thimbles/rocks, and you don’t logically know why, I can tell you. You collect those buttons/symbols/rocks because you’re an artist, and they somehow give life an extra layer of meaning for you. They make you happy.”
“Take it From Me” was an early story I really liked. It was the story of a kid who stole something from other peoples collections to make his own collection.
Then lots of stories that I really didn’t get. I could follow “Pool Bandits” and it held my attention.
I really didn’t understand “We are Looking for Home” either, and yet there was something about it.
Excerpts from it: “These are the best years of our life. We go to school and learn things we will forget. We have accumulated trillions of memories between us. Amassed tragedies. Gathered all kinds of matter. Humans collect everything. We collect galaxies of information. We collect photographs. We collect the right thing to do in any situation. We collect the wrong things to do too. We are curators of joy and misery. We collect ourselves. We are dangerous.”
“Jasper goes to the garden without his father. There is no age requirement for being lonely and it’s sucking.”
The last two stories, “A Recording for Carole Before it All Goes” by Jason Reynolds, and”Sweet Everlasting” by MT Anderson, were my favorites by far, a case of saving the best for last which brought my review up a half star.
The Jason Reynolds, as always, was full of heart. The collection written about in this story is a collection of recordings that Carroll is making for her grandma Carole who is losing HER collection of her lifetime of memories. It’s beautiful. And a fun detail is that her grandma had a rubber plant she named after her granddaughter, spelled yet a different way: Carol.
And the concept of “Sweet Everlasting,” that a demon began a collection of humans frozen in time at the moment that they wished would last forever, well… it works and broke my heart.
One example: a kid riding downhill on her bike, thrilled with speed. “ after an hour of that moment, the exhilaration turned pretty quickly to vertigo. She will never be at rest, because she will always feel the need to balance. She will never stop falling forward. None of us will.”
Or the Frenchman having sex in 1724 wishing the moment would last forever. “So he’s hurtling forever toward fulfillment, but will never get there. Tendons all stretched. Nerves screaming. People don’t usually think about the fact that there is very little difference between pleasure and pain. He knows now: pure agony is just pleasure slowed down too far.”
Or the child: “Even the taste of your favorite cake nestled on your tongue, after a week, comes to seem like torture.”
Or the father, seeing his baby daughter for the first time. “Don’t ask to pause with her first yowl. Don’t treasure it by begging time to stop. You deprive yourself of everything: the games in the mud, the endearments to animals, the hugs in the dawn, the lengthening of her limbs, the pride at her singing. Your love is so great it has choked you. You will never see her married. You will never see her children grow. She will never weep to see you die.”
“Remember the lesson of his awful collection of cameos: they show us how precious decay is, and loss, and the end of things sometimes. This is what makes our joy so poignant, because we cannot grasp forever the wrist we love, the streetlight’s beam, the applause of friends, the air of summer, the speed of spoked wheels down the hill. This is why we wish they’d last forever, and why they absolutely should not. Because you cannot truly love anything you will not someday lose.”
The book ends with a fun “about the authors” that includes collections they each keep.
This is a weird collection of complex young adult short stories all based on collections (haha, I didn’t consider how meta that was). Some of them I really didn’t understand because they were all definitely a little… experimental feeling? The editor asked the various authors to toss out conventions. “There is currency in weirdness. Be defiantly creative” were the instructions. And it shows. The editor then tells the reader to live our life and our dreams without rules or normalcy as well. Be as weird as we want. Make art our life. “Collect all the little pieces of you and make your story.”
The introduction really pulled me in. “Collections are beautiful to their collectors. Even the most disgusting collection is a glimpse of magic to the right person. Same as the most boring collection can excite. Essentially, every collection is extraordinary and impossible to duplicate, because even if I have the exact same baseball cards as you do, mine hold a meaning for me that is different from yours. That individual meaning highlights the creative component – which tells me that collections are art, and the active collection, artistry. Emotion trumps logic here. If you collect buttons/thimbles/rocks, and you don’t logically know why, I can tell you. You collect those buttons/symbols/rocks because you’re an artist, and they somehow give life an extra layer of meaning for you. They make you happy.”
“Take it From Me” was an early story I really liked. It was the story of a kid who stole something from other peoples collections to make his own collection.
Then lots of stories that I really didn’t get. I could follow “Pool Bandits” and it held my attention.
I really didn’t understand “We are Looking for Home” either, and yet there was something about it.
Excerpts from it: “These are the best years of our life. We go to school and learn things we will forget. We have accumulated trillions of memories between us. Amassed tragedies. Gathered all kinds of matter. Humans collect everything. We collect galaxies of information. We collect photographs. We collect the right thing to do in any situation. We collect the wrong things to do too. We are curators of joy and misery. We collect ourselves. We are dangerous.”
“Jasper goes to the garden without his father. There is no age requirement for being lonely and it’s sucking.”
The last two stories, “A Recording for Carole Before it All Goes” by Jason Reynolds, and”Sweet Everlasting” by MT Anderson, were my favorites by far, a case of saving the best for last which brought my review up a half star.
The Jason Reynolds, as always, was full of heart. The collection written about in this story is a collection of recordings that Carroll is making for her grandma Carole who is losing HER collection of her lifetime of memories. It’s beautiful. And a fun detail is that her grandma had a rubber plant she named after her granddaughter, spelled yet a different way: Carol.
And the concept of “Sweet Everlasting,” that a demon began a collection of humans frozen in time at the moment that they wished would last forever, well… it works and broke my heart.
One example: a kid riding downhill on her bike, thrilled with speed. “ after an hour of that moment, the exhilaration turned pretty quickly to vertigo. She will never be at rest, because she will always feel the need to balance. She will never stop falling forward. None of us will.”
Or the Frenchman having sex in 1724 wishing the moment would last forever. “So he’s hurtling forever toward fulfillment, but will never get there. Tendons all stretched. Nerves screaming. People don’t usually think about the fact that there is very little difference between pleasure and pain. He knows now: pure agony is just pleasure slowed down too far.”
Or the child: “Even the taste of your favorite cake nestled on your tongue, after a week, comes to seem like torture.”
Or the father, seeing his baby daughter for the first time. “Don’t ask to pause with her first yowl. Don’t treasure it by begging time to stop. You deprive yourself of everything: the games in the mud, the endearments to animals, the hugs in the dawn, the lengthening of her limbs, the pride at her singing. Your love is so great it has choked you. You will never see her married. You will never see her children grow. She will never weep to see you die.”
“Remember the lesson of his awful collection of cameos: they show us how precious decay is, and loss, and the end of things sometimes. This is what makes our joy so poignant, because we cannot grasp forever the wrist we love, the streetlight’s beam, the applause of friends, the air of summer, the speed of spoked wheels down the hill. This is why we wish they’d last forever, and why they absolutely should not. Because you cannot truly love anything you will not someday lose.”
The book ends with a fun “about the authors” that includes collections they each keep.
May 20, 2024
All the stories not mentioned I either skipped or skimmed through. They said no limits, be as weird as you want, and some of them took that to heart.
Play House - 1 star. Creepy, confusing, and depressing.
Take It From Me - 2 stars. Alright, but ended poorly.
Ring of Fire - 2 stars.
La Concha - 1 star.
A Recording For Carole Before It All Goes -3 stars. Not my favorite style of writing but otherwise well-done.
Sweet Everlasting - 4 stars. As horrifying and inappropriate as this was, this was by far the best.
Play House - 1 star. Creepy, confusing, and depressing.
Take It From Me - 2 stars. Alright, but ended poorly.
Ring of Fire - 2 stars.
La Concha - 1 star.
A Recording For Carole Before It All Goes -3 stars. Not my favorite style of writing but otherwise well-done.
Sweet Everlasting - 4 stars. As horrifying and inappropriate as this was, this was by far the best.
June 4, 2024
This was a weirder collection of short stories than I was expecting. That's not a bad thing, but I really struggled to connect to most of the stories. I did really like "Museum of Misery," "A Recording for Carol Before It All Goes," and "Sweet Everlasting" (which is seriously disturbing, but in a good, thought-provoking way).
January 29, 2024
I (like many, I imagine) was a lil surprised when this won the Printz this year but you know what? I should have trusted AS King. This is a banger anthology. I think my fav was Cory McCarthy's "Misery Museum." And I also loved King's introduction about why she's fascinated by collectors/collections and what kind of power they have
January 6, 2024
M.T. Anderson and Jason Reynolds’s stories were the standouts for me.
September 18, 2023
Overall Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
I want to start off with saying that it is pretty difficult for me to rate each story with a specific number, so I did an overall rating and a read/wouldn’t read again system for each story. I hope you guys can understand my logic with how I rated these!
🦇Play House by Anna-Marie McLemore
The book starts off strong with Play House following a girl and her mother being intruded on by weird men in the neighborhood. I thoroughly enjoyed this story due to the fact that it was the “right” kind of weird for me. It had a great allure and a seemingly perfect kind of twist.
READ !
🦇The White Savior Does Not Save The Day by Randy Ribay
The story was cool, but I was getting weird narrative pushing vibes from the way the characters were named. Maybe I missed the whole point, but it was an awkward read for me personally… yikes
🦇Take It From Me by David Levithan
A great story and an easy read. Levithan was able to show the main character (MC) mature in a short amount of time and in an almost bittersweet kinda way.
would read again
🦇Ring Of Fire by Jenny Torres Sanchez
I felt like this story dragged a little bit, but I ended up really liking how it wrapped up. The story felt very much so heady and abstract, almost as if I was in a fever dream, but not quite there.
would read again
🦇Museum of Misery by Cory McCarthy
I unfortunately am not a fan of written poetry, so this “story” did not pique my interest. The visuals were pretty cool, but that’s about it.
wouldn’t read again
🦇La Concha by e.E Charlton-Trujillo
I honestly felt like I was reading a continuation of Ring of Fire… Is that a good or bad thing? I’m not too sure, but I was entertained.
would read again
🦇Pool Bandits by G. Neri
This was one of my favorites out of the stories. It was a simple hoodlum story with some bleakness and a feel-good ending. Some of the isms in the story reminded me of my punk friends.☺️ I enjoyed it a lot.
would read again
🦇We Are Looking For A Home by A.S. King
I feel like this was another abstract and heady story. It felt pretty bleak as I was reading it, but the tension was cut with some romance, so I did not feel like a black hole of despair the whole time.
would read again
🦇A Recording For Carole Before It All Goes by Jason Reynolds
Another favorite story that was written in the best way ever. There was a lot personality and emotion to the characters and the story in general. This was definitely bittersweet, and I loved it.
would definitely read again
🦇Sweet Everlasting by M.T. Anderson
This was, for sure, a best for last situation. I think this story was my favorite, but I am biased to anything that has to do with angels and demons. There was an added piece of dimension with the different POV’s within the collection.
10/10 would read again
One gripe I had about these stories were that they used the actual word ‘collection’ in awkward places. It seemed to pull me out of the story while I was reading. I think that might just be a me thing though. As a weird book lover, I would give this book, as a whole, a would read again! There were way more reads than wouldn’t reads, and I think that is enough to tell that this is a just fine book.
Thanks again to A.S. King for sending me an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Collectors!
I want to start off with saying that it is pretty difficult for me to rate each story with a specific number, so I did an overall rating and a read/wouldn’t read again system for each story. I hope you guys can understand my logic with how I rated these!
🦇Play House by Anna-Marie McLemore
The book starts off strong with Play House following a girl and her mother being intruded on by weird men in the neighborhood. I thoroughly enjoyed this story due to the fact that it was the “right” kind of weird for me. It had a great allure and a seemingly perfect kind of twist.
READ !
🦇The White Savior Does Not Save The Day by Randy Ribay
The story was cool, but I was getting weird narrative pushing vibes from the way the characters were named. Maybe I missed the whole point, but it was an awkward read for me personally… yikes
🦇Take It From Me by David Levithan
A great story and an easy read. Levithan was able to show the main character (MC) mature in a short amount of time and in an almost bittersweet kinda way.
would read again
🦇Ring Of Fire by Jenny Torres Sanchez
I felt like this story dragged a little bit, but I ended up really liking how it wrapped up. The story felt very much so heady and abstract, almost as if I was in a fever dream, but not quite there.
would read again
🦇Museum of Misery by Cory McCarthy
I unfortunately am not a fan of written poetry, so this “story” did not pique my interest. The visuals were pretty cool, but that’s about it.
wouldn’t read again
🦇La Concha by e.E Charlton-Trujillo
I honestly felt like I was reading a continuation of Ring of Fire… Is that a good or bad thing? I’m not too sure, but I was entertained.
would read again
🦇Pool Bandits by G. Neri
This was one of my favorites out of the stories. It was a simple hoodlum story with some bleakness and a feel-good ending. Some of the isms in the story reminded me of my punk friends.☺️ I enjoyed it a lot.
would read again
🦇We Are Looking For A Home by A.S. King
I feel like this was another abstract and heady story. It felt pretty bleak as I was reading it, but the tension was cut with some romance, so I did not feel like a black hole of despair the whole time.
would read again
🦇A Recording For Carole Before It All Goes by Jason Reynolds
Another favorite story that was written in the best way ever. There was a lot personality and emotion to the characters and the story in general. This was definitely bittersweet, and I loved it.
would definitely read again
🦇Sweet Everlasting by M.T. Anderson
This was, for sure, a best for last situation. I think this story was my favorite, but I am biased to anything that has to do with angels and demons. There was an added piece of dimension with the different POV’s within the collection.
10/10 would read again
One gripe I had about these stories were that they used the actual word ‘collection’ in awkward places. It seemed to pull me out of the story while I was reading. I think that might just be a me thing though. As a weird book lover, I would give this book, as a whole, a would read again! There were way more reads than wouldn’t reads, and I think that is enough to tell that this is a just fine book.
Thanks again to A.S. King for sending me an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Collectors!
August 27, 2023
Overall rating: 3.5stars
(Read my review per short story at your own risk)
Thank you Penguin Teen for sending an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Play House by Anna-Marie McLemore
Miranda's collections of aprons became an instrument to save her and her mom from men in their area who are trespassing their property.
Commentary about sexism and white audacity, the author created an eerie story in 14 pages that will leave you satisfied at the end.
RATING: 3.5stars
The White Savior Did not Save the Day by Randy Ribay
Perdita Padilla's collections of children hero series White Savior is the one thing that grounds her to reality but what will happen when the truth about the multiverse came out?
Funny even though it was delivered in a serious note with epistolary format varying from a script to normal novel paragraphs, TWSDNSTD is Randy Ribay's attempt of exposing how the Global North exploits the Global South only for the former to show up at drastic times so they can be labelled as the hero.
RATING: 5stars
Take it from me by David Levithan
A collector who collects from other's collection, Take if From me is a mature end-to-end storytelling of how someone's collection started and ended through time.
RATING: 4stars
Ring of Fire by Jenny Torres Sanchez
The death of Lucia's mother left a gaping hole in her life and in the process, she found refuge through things that is associated eith fire - matchbox, candle, lighter. When she realized that the one thing that hold her off is the presence of her father, she planned to set things off by playing with fire.
RATING: 3stars
Museum of Misery by Cory McCarthy
A form of mixed literature combining poetry, short-form essay, and visuals to deliver the message about issues that we are still combating as of today such as bodyshaming, homophobia, transphobia, etc.
RATING: 3.5stars
La Concha by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo
Told in a complex storytelling that trancends reality and fantasy, La Concha is a story of a daughter who hides her collection from his model citizen father who is loved by many but is cruel to his own blood. There were a lot of things happening but I think the ending summed up how satisfied I am that the Model Citizen had that fate.
RATING: 3stars
Pool Bandits by G. Neri
Three boys trying to make their summer worthwhile started a fascination with skating in a drained pool and what started as an exciting adventure turned into a bloody mishap as they started collecting pool skating experiencea across their neighborhood.
RATING: 3.5stars
We are Looking for Home by A. S. King
Is it an A. S. King book if you are not confused as to what is happening but equally amazed about how unique the narration is?
RATING: 4stars
A Recording for Carole Before it all Goes by Jason Reynolds
Definitely the most heartwarming among the batch, Jason Reynolds penned a grandson's letter to his aging grandmother who likes to name people, pets, plants with name that starts with C.
RATING: 4stars
Sweet Everlasting by M. T. Anderson
Interesting final entry with a demon named Flaelphagor collecting humans from different countries and eras who wish for a certain moment to last forever.
RATING: 3.5stars
(Read my review per short story at your own risk)
Thank you Penguin Teen for sending an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Play House by Anna-Marie McLemore
Miranda's collections of aprons became an instrument to save her and her mom from men in their area who are trespassing their property.
Commentary about sexism and white audacity, the author created an eerie story in 14 pages that will leave you satisfied at the end.
RATING: 3.5stars
The White Savior Did not Save the Day by Randy Ribay
Perdita Padilla's collections of children hero series White Savior is the one thing that grounds her to reality but what will happen when the truth about the multiverse came out?
Funny even though it was delivered in a serious note with epistolary format varying from a script to normal novel paragraphs, TWSDNSTD is Randy Ribay's attempt of exposing how the Global North exploits the Global South only for the former to show up at drastic times so they can be labelled as the hero.
RATING: 5stars
Take it from me by David Levithan
A collector who collects from other's collection, Take if From me is a mature end-to-end storytelling of how someone's collection started and ended through time.
RATING: 4stars
Ring of Fire by Jenny Torres Sanchez
The death of Lucia's mother left a gaping hole in her life and in the process, she found refuge through things that is associated eith fire - matchbox, candle, lighter. When she realized that the one thing that hold her off is the presence of her father, she planned to set things off by playing with fire.
RATING: 3stars
Museum of Misery by Cory McCarthy
A form of mixed literature combining poetry, short-form essay, and visuals to deliver the message about issues that we are still combating as of today such as bodyshaming, homophobia, transphobia, etc.
RATING: 3.5stars
La Concha by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo
Told in a complex storytelling that trancends reality and fantasy, La Concha is a story of a daughter who hides her collection from his model citizen father who is loved by many but is cruel to his own blood. There were a lot of things happening but I think the ending summed up how satisfied I am that the Model Citizen had that fate.
RATING: 3stars
Pool Bandits by G. Neri
Three boys trying to make their summer worthwhile started a fascination with skating in a drained pool and what started as an exciting adventure turned into a bloody mishap as they started collecting pool skating experiencea across their neighborhood.
RATING: 3.5stars
We are Looking for Home by A. S. King
Is it an A. S. King book if you are not confused as to what is happening but equally amazed about how unique the narration is?
RATING: 4stars
A Recording for Carole Before it all Goes by Jason Reynolds
Definitely the most heartwarming among the batch, Jason Reynolds penned a grandson's letter to his aging grandmother who likes to name people, pets, plants with name that starts with C.
RATING: 4stars
Sweet Everlasting by M. T. Anderson
Interesting final entry with a demon named Flaelphagor collecting humans from different countries and eras who wish for a certain moment to last forever.
RATING: 3.5stars
November 22, 2025
це була просто визначна колекція оповідань про колекціонерів та їхні колекції.
знову нагорода Принца мене не підвела.
на половину оповідань лишала коротенькі відгуки, але якщо коротко про основне, то найбільше вражень лишили МакЛемор, бо дуже гарно та з сенсом, оповідання в ілюстраціях, і змусило добряче подумати оповідання і самої Кінґ, я не знайшла єдиної відповіді, хто такі "ми", але точно не хороші люди.
і я точно раджу цю збірку до прочитання!
знову нагорода Принца мене не підвела.
на половину оповідань лишала коротенькі відгуки, але якщо коротко про основне, то найбільше вражень лишили МакЛемор, бо дуже гарно та з сенсом, оповідання в ілюстраціях, і змусило добряче подумати оповідання і самої Кінґ, я не знайшла єдиної відповіді, хто такі "ми", але точно не хороші люди.
і я точно раджу цю збірку до прочитання!
February 28, 2024
Nine of the best YA novelists working today have written fiction based on a prompt from Printz-winner A.S. King (who also contributes a story), and the result is an intriguing collection. I am now older but wish I could return to my own teens to dig deeper into friends' lives, to imagine, and then see the truth of what they may have been collecting. Today's teens might see an opening into their own lives (That's me! That's me!) or imagine an opening to a secret group not imagined yet! It could spark something real in their lives to raise them out of the darkness where they often feel abandoned. Or, it could become a book they relish, just for the outrageous or the courageous teens they meet in every story. It's a gift from A.S. King and those other special authors she invited along with her.
April 6, 2024
Very ambitious, and I loved the inspiration. As with all story collections, there are some you like and some you don’t. I could see teachers using specific stories in classrooms for discussions and breaking it up, but I honestly think the collection as a whole is one that teens won’t pick up on their own.
April 16, 2025
3.5 stars, some of these stories were excellent and some were sad or confusing or too brief. I like the idea of a collection about collections/collectors, and I think the theme was pulled through all of them nicely.
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March 14, 2025dnf @ 42%
March 14, 2024
I was expecting to like this a lot less than I did. Not perfect, but interesting.
February 17, 2024
I don’t get it.
I look forward to the announcement of the Printz winners every year and usually agree but this year, I do not get. It’s not for me. However let me say that I am not a fan of short stories. I feel like they don’t provide enough info for me. And just when I start to get into the story, it’s done!
I look forward to the announcement of the Printz winners every year and usually agree but this year, I do not get. It’s not for me. However let me say that I am not a fan of short stories. I feel like they don’t provide enough info for me. And just when I start to get into the story, it’s done!
May 1, 2024
Disappointing at best and downright painful at worst. I was intrigued by the idea of a collection of stories whose only common tie was that they were each in turn about their own collections. The individual collections were quirky but many held so much unfulfilled promise. And the progressive ideals felt forced and fractured. I will freely admit that I may not be the intended audience (YA) but I argue that a good story transcends those barriers, and this was not it for me.
September 1, 2023
#net galley #short stories #YA
I am a great fan of short stories when they are well done. It takes precision, thrift of words, and timing to create a great short story and these YA authors were exceptional. Each story highlighted a "collector" of sorts-- not necessarily the typical sea shell collection, but true to the authors' various genres, unexpected collections such as a collector of "souls." Some were funny, some were deeply moving or suspenseful. So this short story collection is amazing and I highly reccomend it.
I am a great fan of short stories when they are well done. It takes precision, thrift of words, and timing to create a great short story and these YA authors were exceptional. Each story highlighted a "collector" of sorts-- not necessarily the typical sea shell collection, but true to the authors' various genres, unexpected collections such as a collector of "souls." Some were funny, some were deeply moving or suspenseful. So this short story collection is amazing and I highly reccomend it.
February 2, 2024
Yep, I get it. I was into everyone of these stories. Both the sum, and all the parts hit the bullseye. I will be thinking about these stories for a long time to come.
Great on audio too.
Great on audio too.
Read
August 12, 2023The Collectors is a peculiar anthology—a collection of stories—where the central tying similarity is the character’s affinity for collecting in their own right. This premise drew me in, with a unique concept that was still vague enough to encompass a wide variety of tales. Already from the first few stories, I was hooked. While I find it difficult to rate the collection as a whole—some of the stories hit my heart unexpectedly, others missed the mark for me—the ordering of the stories was methodic and well executed to keep my attention. Overall, The Collectors is worth the read for anyone looking for fresh, unconventional short stories.
Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group / Dutton Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this title.
Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group / Dutton Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this title.
December 2, 2023
As with all story or essay collections, there are some that I liked better than others, but all in all this is a remarkable collection with a great range of authors. It's the second one I've read in the two days since I finished Excellence in Nonfiction reading--I have a pile on my chair in the order received from pre-orders.
I can honestly say, it it's by A.S. King, even as editor, I know I'm going to love it, recommend it, add it to course reading lists, and go back often to think about it. Her books have real "sticking" power.
I can honestly say, it it's by A.S. King, even as editor, I know I'm going to love it, recommend it, add it to course reading lists, and go back often to think about it. Her books have real "sticking" power.
February 14, 2024
Like most short story collections (hehe), it's hard to assign a blanket review. However, the majority of these stories are very strong - a lot that are good, some that are very well-written but not my taste, and a few that can only be described as outstanding. Two standouts, "Take It From Me," David Levithan, and "A Recording for Aunt Carole before It All Goes," Jason Reynolds. The selection of collections as a unifying theme worked: the interpretations were as diverse as the authors, and so, so creative.
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March 16, 2024Overall, I really quite liked this one and I absolutely loved the idea behind it. Some of the stories really didn't resonate with me and some felt like a short story wasn't enough space for them, that they really needed more to make sense and feel like a story...
I think my favorites where Take it from Me by David Levithan (well crafted all around), A Recording for Carole Before it All Goes by Jason Reynolds (🥰) and Sweet Everlasting by M.T. Andersen (so creepy!).
I think my favorites where Take it from Me by David Levithan (well crafted all around), A Recording for Carole Before it All Goes by Jason Reynolds (🥰) and Sweet Everlasting by M.T. Andersen (so creepy!).
January 6, 2025
It's been months since I read this. I enjoyed a lot of the stories, ostensibly linked by people with various collections, though that is a very loose thematic element throughout. I enjoyed all of the stories, but the ones that have stuck in my memory months later are "The White Savior Does Not Save the Day" by Randy Ribay, "Take It From Me" by David Levithan, "The Museum of Misery" by Cory McCarthy, "Pool Bandits" by G. Neri, And " A Recording for Carole Before It All Goes" by Jason Reynolds.
September 26, 2023
These are great stories! My favorites are Museum Of Misery, A Recording For Carole Before It All Goes and Sweet Everlasting. The stories are all creative and fit the theme well. I would recommend this! Special Thank You to all the authors, Penguin and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
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