This gutsy collection of 15 original short stories includes works by some of today's most-beloved fantasy and science fiction authors, including Tamora Pierce, Holly Black, Pamela Service, Margaret Mahy, Bruce Holland Rogers, Mike Resnick, and Brent Hartinger.

 

Reviews:

Publishers Weekly
A host of science-fiction and fantasy writers come together for 15 tales in Young Warriors: Stories of Strength, ed. by Tamora Pierce and Josepha Sherman. In Holly Black's "Heartless," a girl without a heart finds more than dead bodies on the battlefield that she has come to ransack; "Student of Ostriches" by Pierce explores the fallout for a girl and her family when the community suspects that she "gets possessed by demons." Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal
Gr 6 Up-What does it take to be a warrior? Fifteen different fantasy writers offer answers to this question in this well-written and carefully arranged collection of new short stories by experienced writers. Their examples include both males and females fighting physically, mentally, and spiritually; in times ranging from prehistory to World War II; and in distinct settings including Central America, a Russian shtetl, the Near East, Australia, the Sudan, India, the African savannah, and an Irish convent, as well as fantasy worlds. The protagonists are mostly teenagers, some driven by the nature of their world to rise to heroism, others seeking out adventure and potential glory. It is the nature of short-story collections to be uneven, but these selections are almost all strong, with quickly sketched but memorable characters and well-drawn settings. Readers will particularly welcome Pierce's own contribution featuring Kylaia from Lioness Rampant (S & S, 2003) in her familiar Tortall universe. The other contributors include Bruce Rogers, S. M. and Jan Stirling, Janis Ian, Holly Black, Pamela Service, Esther Friesner, India Edghill, Mike Resnick, Laura Anne Gilman, Margaret Mahy, Doranna Durgin, Rosemary Edghill, Lesley McBain, and Brett Hartinger. This timely and appealing anthology will surely help swell the ranks of teenage fantasy readers.-Kathleen Isaacs, Towson University, MD Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews
This collection is gathered around a single theme-that of a child or teen warrior. Giving its contributors a wide berth, the editors have permitted a flourishing of some fabulous ideas. As is nearly always true of such things, however, the stories range widely in focus and power. Some are dark: Holly Black's "Heartless," wherein a girl who scavenges from the fallen in battle at last finds death too much; some are gentle and funny, like Esther Friesner's spirited and tough young Helen of Troy or Mike Resnick's truce between boy and dragon. Tamora Pierce herself offers the origins of the Shang Unicorn from her Lioness stories, and Margaret Mahy's tale of a magician and his unexpected warrior surprises and delights. One of the strongest entries is by Lesley McBain, who expertly weaves a circle of Irish Celtic magic around a refugee from the Holocaust. Each story is followed by a paragraph of biography for its author. Pierce energetically writes the introduction and Sherman offers a few historical bits about young warriors in the afterword. (Short stories/fantasy. 12+)