Strange Happenings

Avi. (2006). Strange happenings. Magic Carpet Books. 160 Pages. ISBN 9780152064617

Primary genre: fantasy

Other elements: family, friendship, adventure, mystery, loss

Intended reader age: 8 and up

Synopsis:

This is a collection of 5 short stories. There is a boy so bored with life he accepts his cat’s idea of switching bodies, mother so obsessed with the idea of a flawless daughter that she is given exactly what she asked for, the boy who is set on figuring out who the person inside the mascot costume is, a shoemaker who makes a deal with the devil, and a man who will do anything to make everyone take notice of him.

Review:

Can I first say, I found it really hard to write that synopsis. I don't think I have ever written a synopsis for a story collection and it was hard to give each story their own blurb without overpowering the others. 

I found this to be a great, short collection. Each story had the ability to stand on their own, I enjoyed all five of them, and the stories came together very well. One thing I try to look the look at when reading story collections is the flow of the stories as well as the underlying themes that are present. This collection presented a very unified look at the consequences that come with magic. There was a very prominent message of, “Be careful what you wish for” in each of the stories.

I think my favorite story was the first one, “Bored Tom.” This was a story that could really develop into a full-fledged story. It’s not that there were a great number of unanswered questions, it’s just that the backstory and characters were presented in such a way that I want to know more.

When I was reading this I kept thinking of The Chronicle of Harris Burdick because that is the most recent story collection I have read. There were also a couple of cautionary tales in that collection as well. It also brought back to mind M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman, another collection of fantasy based stories.