What Are You Afraid Of?: Stories about Phobias » (Reprint)

DONALD R. GALLO is a recipient of the ALAN Award for Outstanding Contributions to Young Adult Literature and the editor of several short story anthologies for teens, including FIRST CROSSING: STORIES ABOUT TEEN IMMIGRANTS and DESTINATION UNEXPECTED.

"An excellent collection on a topic that holds a strange and fascinating allure." — SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

Everyone is afraid of something. But for those with phobias, that fear is exaggerated: the throat tightens; the heart races. The ten stories in this anthology all present people with debilitating anxiety — from a gripping portrait of a teen with agoraphobia to a humorous tale of a boy who dreads his girlfriend’s cat. Whether the trigger is clowns, knives, string, or crossing the street, the characters in these stories confront, are confronted by, and sometimes even overcome their worst fears.

Alan Review

Excessive fears, debilitating fears that cannot be rationalized away, grip teenagers' lives, causing them to be the brunt of bullying, the focus of jokes, and the cause of nightmares for parents and friends who only want to help. These short stories demonstrate how the fear of string, crossing a road, cats, sharp knives, or clowns can make "normal" life impossible for teens. Most of them get help from a professional or a friend or a parent by learning that they first have to face their fears and then take one day at a time to overcome them. The last story will leave you with a taste of fear in your own mouth as the usual source of fears is reversed. Readers will laugh, shiver, and empathize with phobics who can't control their own thoughts and who can't make their bodies react to seemingly natural events. Anthologist Gallo has collected 11 phobia-ridden stories that hold readers' attention long after they finish reading.