Reviewed by JodiG. for TeensReadToo.com

The stories about how people meet and fall in love are as diverse as the couples themselves. From blind dates to chance encounters, the stories of "how we met" always seem to intrigue us.

HOW THEY MET, AND OTHER STORIES is the latest book by David Levithan (BOY MEETS BOY). It is a collection of eighteen short stories about love, longing, and even lust. This wonderful group of stories includes brief crushes, relationships with happily-ever-after endings, and tales of love gone wrong.

Among the stories: being fixed up by a six-year-old; two strangers meeting on a plane; coming out to your prom date; even the author's own story of how he credits his existence to a piano, a jeep, a college, and the Army.

What makes this collection unique is that every story isn't about love being realized. In some cases, the potential only exists and even passes without materializing.

No matter what your experience with love so far, you are sure to find hope, and maybe a hint of your own love story, within the pages of this book. ( )

In his Author's Note, David Levithan explains that this collection of short stories sprang from a tradition of presenting short stories to his friends and family on Valentine's Day. As a result, we have How They Met and Other Stories, which even contains the original Valentine's Day story, "A Romantic Inclination."

The greatest strength of this book is that David Levithan presents to the reader all the different aspects of love, and none of it is sappy or overly sentimental. We are given love between boys, love between girls, unrequited love, everlasting love, love for a brother, love that won't last, and love from a distance. We are shown how love just happens, and how it takes work. Sometimes we love the wrong person, and sometimes it couldn't be more right. It's so very rare to find an exploration like this, that helps us explore everything that love can mean.

My personal favorites in the collection are "The Number of People Who Meet on Airplanes," "Starbucks Boy," and "Princes." Even if you can't, or won't, read the whole book, I really suggest taking a look at these amazing short stories. ( )

When David Levithan was 17, he wrote a Valentine's Day story for his friends instead of paying attention in physics class. This began a tradition of him sharing stories with his friends, and some of them are collected in this book. New love, unexpected love, love for the wrong person, one-sided love, gay, straight, there is something for everyone in this collection. Some of the stories will make you laugh, some might make you cry, they'll all have you looking at love from different angles and thinking about the intersections of chance, hope, and dreams. ( )

Hansen, M C (Jan 2008). Levithan, David. How They Met, and Other Stories.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review). School Library Journal, 54, 1. p.122(1).

Levithan, David: HOW THEY MET, AND OTHER STORIES.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review). Nov 15, 2007 pNAKirkus Reviews, p.NA.

I usually don't like short stories, but I've discovered that I'll read pretty much anything by David Levithan. His writing is strong and this book of short stories was no exception. He creates worlds withing a few short pages, that take you far away from your own. The stories alone, are quite good -- ranging from happy to melancholic, but their impact comes clear when they're put together in this book. Levithan's stories are not just about love, they are about everything else as well. They are, in many ways, very real and very realistic, while at the same time, drawing us in with the ideal that is found in so many novels. What results is a very wonderful journey through 'how they met' where 'they' is everyone. ( )