cover image True Heroes: A Treasury of Modern-Day Fairy Tales Written by Best-Selling Authors

True Heroes: A Treasury of Modern-Day Fairy Tales Written by Best-Selling Authors

Ally Condie, Shannon Hale, et al., photos by Jonathan Diaz. Shadow Mountain, $19.99 (208p) ISBN 978-1-62972-103-3

Proceeds from this collection of 21 stories—contributing authors include Ally Condie, Shannon Hale, Brandon Mull, Bobbie Pyron, and J. Scott Savage—benefit the Anything Can Be project, which fights pediatric cancer. The stories are inspired by children with cancer, and photographer (and Anything Can Be founder) Diaz presents dramatic photographs of the children dressed as firefighters, superheroes, pirates, and more to open each story. Hale recasts Lilly, born with Ewing’s sarcoma, as a warrior princess facing down a goblin army, while Liesl Shurtliff weaves an imaginative Alice in Wonderland–style story, complete with size-shifting, for a girl named Jordan, who died months after being diagnosed with bone cancer. The photography, heroic adventures, and profiles of the children who inspired them add up to a project that’s inspiring and moving on multiple levels. Ages 8–11. [em](Sept.) [/em]