Wrong Grave - This is a story about a young boy named Miles which wants his poetry back from the grave of his dead girlfriend. A funny situation really, but he digs up the grave and gets quite a surprise. This one was funny.

The Wizards of Perifil - About a young man named Onion and a girl named Halsa which take lessons on how to serve wizards. This one was fascinating.

Magic for Beginners - Her character Jeremy becomes a star in an episode of the Library. Which is a strange show, but Jeremy falls in love with a friend of his, and then goes to visit the wedding chapel in Las Vegas that his mother inherited but really learns more about adults. This one was more about life.

The Faery Handbag - A young girl takes a trip to all of these thrift stores in search of her grandmother's handbag, which is very old, hairy, black and contains a world of faeries. This one could have been a little creepier - I love creepy. A world in a handbag where when people go into it, when they come out it's like years later, even though it may have just been days in the bag.

The Specialists Hat - This is a story of the life of twins, Samantha and Claire and their life in a strange mansion and spending the night with a very strange babysitter. But this is a strange ghost story and who doesn't love a good ghost story. It leaves your mind racing. Great story!

Monster - A story about a summer camp that has this monster that uses a cell phone and is always hungry for teenage boys. This one was funny too!

The Surfer - About a young boy named Dorn who was a great soccer player but now waits for the aliens to come back while in a bunker. Everything happens with the flu virus spreading like wild fire. This one will definitely keep you on your toes and a surprise at the end.

The Constable of Abal - A young girl named Ozma who keeps a ghost in her pocket but eventually gets a good look at her mothers real self after she murders the handsome constable. This story was probably one of my faves out the whole book.

Pretty Monsters - About two sisters who read a story about a group of girls and the night they put two new girls through an odd situation. But includes a romance one of the girls who is reading a story about a girl who falls in love with an older boy. This would have to be my second choice of fave out of the whole book.

This book was full of pictures made by Shaun Tan and would be an excellent addition to any young adults book collection. Wonderfully and colorfully written with lots of imagination! I always find it difficult to rate a book that is full of different stories and this one was no different than other anthologies that I have read. But the stories did leave you to make up your mind what could have happened next. Not that I'm a big fan of being left hanging, but it allows you to use your own imagination. ( )

And yet I hadn't read anything by her until now so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was a set of imaginative stories over a wide variety of topics and genres. The Wrong Grave and Monster are based on more classic horror themes while Pretty Monsters is classic but then again not. There are a couple of stories that are a bit more fantasy. My favorites were probably Magic for Beginners about teens that follow a pirate television show about a magical library and The Constable of Abal with its "ghosts on ribbons".

My only real complaint about this collection was that the stories are written for a young adult audience and yet the first three stories all dropped the f-bomb which limits some of the younger teens from picking up this book (if their parents happen to see it first). My fake complaint is that I wanted some of the stories to be more fleshed out but I guess then they wouldn't have been short stories! Some of them almost weren't anyway at anywhere from thirty to sixty pages. This didn't matter so much though as Link has a very conversational way of writing which makes even her longest stories quick-reading.

http://webereading.com/2009/10/pretty... ( )

The book is composed of short stories. So, if you get bored with one them be another one to read. The short stories [are compelling]. The short stories were all different. No comments, unless you want to make a book about a crazy 'nam veteran who is still wary of Charlie being everywhere. AHS/JD

A collection of fantasy stories, previously published in a variety of publications. ( )

This collection of short stories had a little bit of everything when it comes to the supernatural. My favorite story was the one titled "The Wizards of Perfil". The stories were interesting, the only thing that I wasn't too happy with was that some of the stories ended in what you would consider cliffhangers. Overall, an enjoyable read. ( )