Book Review/Blog Tour: Up All Night edited by Laura Silverman

Hey friends!

I'm writing today because I was sent a book by Algonquin Young Readers in exchange for a spot on their blog tour! The book is an anthology, which always intrigues me because I love being able to devour so many stories from authors I love. And this anthology is absolutely stacked with amazing authors! There are some of my favorite authors I've already read from and a bunch I've been meaning to try. If you're interested, the book is called Up All Night (out tomorrow, 7/13) and it was edited by Laura Silverman. See the graphic below for the rest of the authors in it!

Image provided by Algonquin Young Readers

About the Book

In this collection of stories in a range of genres from romance to horror, 13 young adult authors write stories about teens' adventures over the course of one night. 

Review

Typically, when I read anthologies or short story collections from one author, there does tend to be some stories I like more than others. That was true of this collection, but it wasn't like I even found any of the stories bad- all of the stories ranked 3-5 stars for me. Some of the short stories I found especially wonderful were Nina LaCour's story A Place to Start about two teens learning to become step-siblings after their mothers' whirlwind romance and Laura Silverman's Creature Capture about finding friends through an AR cryptid collection game. Also, I definitely have to give a shoutout to Kathleen Glasgow's Missing. As you may be able to tell from this blog (once you get past the mermaid stuff), I'm a big fan of horror. It's really hard to scare me, and Glasgow got pretty darn close!

Something I really liked about this book was that there seemed to be a theme in the stories of big moments or transitions. It played well into the overnight theme--things don't necessarily always change overnight, but one night can be life changing. In addition, I think this will really resonate with young readers who are going through similar transitions. I think the story What About Your Friends by Brandy Colbert was really helpful in this way for me. Even though I have graduated now, I was struggling while I was in school to find stories that took place during college, not looking forward to it or looking back with nostalgia. I really appreciated Colbert's take on it, though I recognize that her main character's experience as a Black girl starting college after going to a mainly white high school involves struggles and nuances unlike my own life experiences.

I also commend Silverman as an editor for the variety of stories and representation present in the book. As I stated above, there were stories of many different genres. The authors also took care to represent many different gender expressions, sexualities, and abilities.

Overall, I think most readers should be able to find at least one story they enjoy in this collection. Since I enjoyed all of the stories to some degree, I'm giving this book 4 stars.

Thank you again to Algonquin Young Readers for giving me the book in exchange for blog tour participation. 

Kyra