Time Capsule: Short Stories about Teenagers Throughout the Twentieth Century

While many look toward the future as the year 2000 approaches, Gallo (No Easy Answers: Short Stories About Teenagers Making Tough Choices) scans the past. In this ""time capsule"" of an anthology, he adroitly traces the evolution of 20th-century American trends, inventions and values by amassing 10 original stories from prominent YA authors, each of whom explores a different decade via a teenage protagonist. In the year 1904, Richard Peck's farm-girl heroine is awed by wonders of the modern world displayed at the St. Louis World's Fair. For the '50s, Trudy Krisher brilliantly contrasts seventh-grader Nancy's delight in the TV show I Love Lucy with Nancy's father's fear-based militarism and decision to build a bomb shelter in the backyard. Bruce Brooks satirizes the '70s through his narrator's extremist parents, who have changed their names from Al and Frieda to Like and Snow; they bake hash brownies and warn their son not to ""disalign your chakras""--until they get swept up in disco. The stories are smoothly connected and insightfully introduced by succinct historic prefaces, giving readers new ways to explore their heritage. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)