Review Detail

In all honesty, I had never read an anthology of short stories for middle grade readers before I picked up “Guys Read: Other Worlds” that Jon Scieszka put together. I was hesitant at first, but after diving into this book, I realized my hesitations weren’t needed for a single second.

Scieszka picked a great selection of sci-fi and fantasy stories, and he paced them well. Scieszka gets young readers hooked right off the bat with a familiar writer and a popular character as Rick Riordan kicks off the stories with a light-hearted Percy Jackson adventure. From there Scieszka offers a diverse mix of funny fare (Tom Angleberger’s tale of robotic shoes that take over the world) to more spooky and tense stories (Kenneth Oppel’s “The Klack Bros. Museum” in which a boy is followed around by a potentially menacing ghost). I was extremely impressed by Scieszka’s addition of Ray Bradbury at the very end. He picked an extremely interesting short story of Bradbury’s, showing young readers that authors recommended by teachers don’t have to be boring!

After such a great MG anthology experience, I’m definitely looking into the other Guys Read collections.