Written in the Stars

March 15, 2014
Readers of a certain age will recall reading Duncan's stories in Seventeen and Calling All Girls. Fourteen stories are collected here with a prologue and commentary on each by the award-winning author best known for her young-adult novels. At the age of 13, she sold the story "P.S. We Are Fine," which was the genesis of Hotel for Dogs. "Return," about a soldier home from war, was written when she was 18. She still wonders why it won Seventeen's creative-writing contest in 1953. But it's clear that she had a talent for natural-sounding dialogue and an insight into human relationships. Aside from their origins as the author's early work, there's no real unifying theme; it's a pity there is no editorial introduction to lay them out. The most autobiographical of the stories, "The Last Night," is told from the perspective of a room that has seen a girl become a young woman. It provides an answer to that often-asked question--why she writes: "Anne comes again to her desk and reaches for the words. They are still there, shining and golden at her mind's edge. They tremble on her pen and dance onto the paper" until her pen runs out of ink. Of interest mainly to fans, this collection stands as a tribute to the body of work that has poured out of Duncan's pen since she herself was a girl. (Short stories. 12 & up)

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April 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-This collection of hard-to-find short stories written at the beginning of Duncan's career in the early 1950s transports readers to another era, one in which marrying one's high school sweetheart was the norm and the chief concern of most young girls was finding the right man with whom to settle down. The cadence and vocabulary evoke the period. "Written in the Stars" features a girl realizing with shock that her high school beau isn't "The One" as they drift apart once he starts college. In "Return," shell-shocked young veteran Bill struggles with readjusting to life back home from the front. "April" deals with the intense sibling rivalry between intelligent but plain Martha Dunning and her glamorous older sister April, who appears to coast by on her good looks. Close-knit families with warm and supportive brother/sister relationships that echo the author's own family are featured in most of the stories. Each entry is appended with a note from the author on where each piece was originally published, her inspiration for it, and what was happening in her life at that time. Perfect for Duncan completists, this collection may spark interesting conversations with teens about how gender roles have changed over the years.-Madigan McGillicuddy, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, Atlanta, GA

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