NECESSARY NOISE: Stories About Our Families as They Really Are
edited by Michael Cart
illustrated by Charlotte Noruzi
HarperTempest/Joanna Cotler Books
Short Stories
ISBN: 0060274999
256 pages

• Read an Excerpt

Fifty years ago, unconventional families were ignored. The media liked to pretend that the only families that existed consisted of two parents, two kids, a dog, and a house with a white picket fence. Today, we know about and see all kinds of families, from those with two mothers to those where the kids have to run the house.

Ten of the best authors in teen literature have contributed stories on families that run from the caring to the dysfunctional. Walter Dean Myers writes about a father who visits his son on death row. Emma Donoghue never shows the parents of her story's streetwise characters, but their presence is felt. In the verse style of WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW, Sonya Sones writes about a sister with a scary dual personality. Love, rivalry and devotion are shown in many ways --- between mothers, fathers, children, brothers, and sisters.

If you only have ten minutes here or there to catch a quick read, NECESSARY NOISE is the perfect choice for you. All of the stories are easy to read, but none of them are superficial. The clean, talented writing and range of emotion and styles will give you plenty to think about. It doesn't matter what kind of family you have, because the themes that run through these stories are important to everyone.

   --- Reviewed by Carlie Kraft

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