Oddest of All (original 2008; edition 2008)

Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com

This collection of short stories by Bruce Coville has something for any kid who's ever enjoyed fantasy, science fiction, or ghost stories. The tales range in length and genre, as well as in level of seriousness. Some address very serious topics, like the fate of Earth as we know it, while others are more humorous, such as one story that deals specifically with the vagaries of being thirteen. All of the stories are compelling tales told about people the reader can relate to and set in worlds you really want to explore.

Some of the stories in this volume seemed like typical horror/ghost tales; "The Ghost Let Go" and "The Mask of Eammon Tiyado" both fit into this category. "The Thing in Auntie Alma's Pond" was a nice change from this typicality that addressed some of the same issues as the other tales from a different viewpoint.

One of my favorite stories in the book, "In Our Own Hands," focuses on a future in which aliens come to Earth, not to take it over and destroy it, but to take it over so that they can improve it for humans, since we have not been doing our part to take care of this world. However, these aliens do appear to be benevolent in their intentions; they announce that everyone on Earth will have the opportunity to cast a vote and decide the course of action that their planet will take. This story deftly addresses important issues of ecology and human initiative while placing the focus not on the environmental message but in the head of an average college-age boy named Johnny who struggles over his own decision about how to cast his vote.

Other notable tales, in my opinion, were "The Hardest, Kindest Gift" and "Herbert Hutchinson in the Underworld"--the former sprawling and poignant, the latter short and sparkling with satire.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Coville before; there's something in it for fans of all of his different series, though the focus is primarily upon stories of the fantastic or the paranormal. ( )

A collection of stories by Bruce Coville. Stories containing the supernatural, ghost, freaky mask, and unicorns and silver eyed boys. My favorite was The Boy with the Silver Eyes. ( )

I'd heard of Bruce Coville before, but I'd never actually read any of his work. I'm sorry I waited so long to give him a try; this collection was great!

The book contains nine short stories, three of which are original to this volume. The other six were previously published between 1994 and 2001, but have been revised for ODDEST OF ALL. Genre-wise, they're mostly a mix of horror and fantasy, with one piece of science fiction and a lone real-world story.

And almost all of them are solid, entertaining reads. I like YA and children's lit that gives its target audience full credit. These stories certainly do. His style is distinctly YAish, but Coville never writes down to his readers. He crafts finely plotted tales in which his characters find themselves in difficult, life-changing situations. These run the gamut from sharing your feelings with the girl you like to treading the paths of Hell. Things aren't always pretty, and they're not always nice. They're tough. They're scary. And they're presented in such a way that the reader is invited to live them alongside the protagonist.

There are some real gems here. My favourites were "What's the Worst That Could Happen?", (the real-world story mentioned above), "The Thing In Auntie Alma's Pond," (a ghost story), and "The Hardest, Kindest Gift", (an historically-informed fantasy). The only story that really didn't work for me was "In the Frog King's Court." I found it rather silly, and I thought it ended in the wrong place.

I definitely recommend this. It's a solid collection that should appeal to fantasy and horror fans in particular.

(Review copy provided by the publisher. This review originally appeared in a slightly different form on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )