I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Benjamin Zephaniah, Non Pratt, Marcus Sedgwick, Cat Clarke, Kevin Brooks, Holly Bourne, Juno Dawson, Sita Brahmachari, Tracy Darnton, Tom Becker, Katy Cannon, Melvin Burgess, Julie Mayhew, Lisa Williamson • contains 377 pages • published September 22, 2016 by Stripes Publishing, Little Tiger Group • classified as Holiday, Contemporary, Fantasy, Young Adult • obtained through purchase • read as paperback • shelve on Goodreads Synopsis:
The UK’s top Young Adult authors join together in this collection of new stories and poems on the theme of home.
Contributors include: Tom Becker, Holly Bourne, Sita Brahmachari, Kevin Brooks, Melvin Burgess, Katy Cannon , Cat Clarke, Juno Dawson, Julie Mayhew, Non Pratt, Marcus Sedgwick, Lisa Williamson and Benjamin Zephaniah.
£1 from the sale of every book will be donated to Crisis, the national homelessness charity. To find out more about Crisis, see www.crisis.org.uk
Home means so many different things to different people, and I’ll Be Home For Christmas definitely captured that through the various short stories. Although, anthologies usually leave me with mixed feelings. I’ll Be Home For Christmas was no different. While I adored most short stories and the poem at the beginning, there were a few that I didn’t enjoy, and a couple of which that even left me confused.
My favourite part of this anthology was the push for diverse voices and stories. As much as the stories revolved around Christmas, it had different meanings for the protagonists, particularly because not all of them celebrated Christmas to begin with. It was interesting to read about how Christmas time affected them as locals, as immigrants, as Christians, as non-Christians, and so on.
The book also contained a good mix of stories — from heart-warming, to sad, to entertaining. With that, readers are bound to find something that suits their moods.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas is a lovely book to pick up around this time of the year. Amidst the busy preparations, it’s nice to slow down a bit and to take time off to relax. Short stories aren’t quite as demanding and can be interspersed throughout the lulls during of the celebrations.
