MAKE ME OVER

It isn’t often that a book of short stories doesn’t hold a clunker or two. Singer has avoided that pitfall with this superb collection. Every story is a winner. The combined talents of some of the finest YA writers, such as Margaret Peterson Haddix and Joyce Sweeney, spin 11 stories with a common theme: a makeover of some kind wherein the heroes find their own unique selves. From an avant-garde French club student to boys in the hood, and even including a lovesick owl, the entries dip into Native American storytelling as well as common high-school adolescent angst, ending with an affecting story of immigration. They have humor, drama, insight and heart-touching warmth, all delivering the moral for which every teen yearns: Yes, you can change; you can become better. A real joy from start to finish. (Fiction. 12+)