Review Detail

‘First-Year Orientation,’ edited by Lauren Gibaldi and Eric Smith, with additional stories by fourteen other, acclaimed authors, shares the stories of a variety of incoming college freshmen who are looking to find their way on campus without their pasts sneaking up behind them. While one girl is annoyed that her parents keep showing up wherever she goes, others just want to find a new version of themselves so they can fit in the mix. High school isn’t so far behind them, so they have not yet learned that fitting in and making strides often takes more time than one might hope for initially.

The stories run the gamut of emotions, from hopeful to humorous, all with candid understandings of what someone’s experience might actually be like in reality.

College is an exciting, sometimes difficult, always thought-provoking time in one’s life, and the authors of this compilation do a nice job connecting with young adult readers through short stories that are all linked together rather than their own distinct tales, allowing the essence of life away to be captured more thoroughly.