Outside Rules: Short Stories About Non-Conformist Youth

by Claire Robson (Editor)

Fourteen challenging and compassionate stories about "outsider"teens. These compellingly readable stories focus on the vulnerability and resilience of adolescents as they try to fit in with their peers and move toward independence. Here are teens who are too brainy, unathletic, poor, the "wrong" religion, emotionally fragile, from non-traditional families, not model-thin, or simply bent on following a unique path. Shala is ridiculed when she wears the traditional Moslem headscarf that marks her passage to womanhood. Timothy is a computer geek who can't find a girlfriend. Gigi lives in an RV with her motheron the run from her father. Brutally honest, with surprising resolutions, these sympathetic stories reveal the outsider within each of us and console us with the knowledge that we are not alone. Among the contributors are Sandra Cisneros, Rand Richards Cooper, Chris Fisher, K. Kvashay-Boyle, Wally Lamb, Sandell Morse, Katharine Noel, Claire Robson, Rebecca Rule, Annette Sanford, Akhil Sharma, and seventeen-year old Caitlin Lonning.

Genres: Short Stories

178 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only read a few stories from this book, and I was not impressed. I didn't find the voices of the narrators engaging, and I wasn't really interested in what they had to say. I've put this book away, and I don't think I'll pick it up again.

[Shaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the first two stories. They reminded me of reading Cicada. The third I liked less and some of the others are good but I'm not loving them like the first two. I decided to stop after about the fifth one, I just wasn't interested any more.

[Shay renne]

it was okay but i think it could have been better with the details