The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2015

September 12, 2016
This eclectic compilation, guest-edited by novelist Kushner (The Flamethrowers), is selected by high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area and Ann Arbor, Mich., from a variety of national publications (e.g., the New Yorker, the New York Times) and literary journals (e.g., Granta, the Iowa Review). The offerings include nonfiction, short stories, a book review, poetry, and even narrative cartoons. These are clearly very discerning high school students: the majority of the choices are first-rate, though some of the poems are obscure and Marilynne Robinson's "An Interview with President Obama" is superficial. The pieces generally try to engage the reader quickly, with first sentences that are either punchy ("In the fourth week of drought... the elephant keeled over dead," from "The Miracle at Little Fork" by Rebecca Makai) or intentionally vague ("At first all the mothers were going into town," from "Shadehill" by Mark Hitz). Sometimes that opacity is intriguing, but the fiction pieces do start to show similarities, with the recurring theme of characters on the fringes of society dealing with extreme circumstances. Some of the selections will not be to everyone's taste ("Brown vs. Ferguson," from the discussion group behind the theoretical journal Endnotes, is timely but dry), but there are many engaging, beautifully written choices that will surprise and delight.

October 15, 2015
The entries in the Best American Nonrequired Reading series are always delightful. This one with an introduction by editor and Pulitzer Prize winner Johnson, who was aided by high-school students from around the Bay Area as well as student members of Michigan's 826 National, a tutoring, writing, and publishing center, is especially charming in its diversity. It features poetry, touching and thoughtful, from such writers as Anders Carlson-Wee and Rachel Zucker, fiction from such writers as Victor Lodato and Tom McAllister, and nonfiction, such as Rebecca Curtis' The Christmas Miracle, originally from the New Yorker, and Sarah Marshall's Remote Control, from the Believer. Graphic artists are represented here, as well (e.g., Box Brown and Emily Carroll). These are pieces read, debated, and chosen, and the variety of topics (from ice-skater Tanya Harding's literal downfall, so long ago, to Paul Salopek's posts from his walk retracing the footsteps of human migration ) depict life in the U.S. and the world in all its precariousness, preciousness, and sheer oddity. A collection to treasure and to share.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)