• Age: 13 to 17
• Grade: 8 to 12

font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=-1>Award-winning author R.P. MacIntyre provokes his YA following with another round of masterful story telling. Rife with themes of bewilderment, menace, and transformation, Macintyre_s fiction and fables invade in the big questions of youth, revealing in the answers, snapshots of life at the crossroads of adulthood - what we give up and what we gain, and what we must become.
Award-winning author R.P. MacIntyre offers his teen following another round of masterful, provocative storytelling. With themes of bewilderment, menace, and transformation, Macintyre_s fiction and fables reveal snapshots of life at the crossroads of adulthood _ what we give up and what we gain, and what we must become.
Whether confronting the death of strangers, tempting fate in defying the supernatural, or aching with dangerous vulnerability in the shadows of violence, the players in Feeding At Nine share their astonishment and confusion at life_s ambushes, and offer a fresh take on the charm and brutality of growing up.

 

 

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Feeding at Nine

In Rod MacIntyre’s latest collection of short stories, readers are presented with a compelling series of vignettes that leave a lasting impression. Thoughtprovoking, wise, often heartbreaking yet also hopeful, each story is an opportunity to ponder the little mysteries of life and of growing up, and to recognize firsthand the myriad profound and small truths in everyday life. Several of them capture that huge and oftentimes life-changing moment when a young person first sees a parent as a true, and utterly separate, person – one with their own insecurities and fears. In “Solo” (one of my favourites!), the author beautifully depicts powerful relationships, between sisters and between friends, that nurture and strengthen and heal. Meanwhile, “Pink Bike Black” portrays a friendship between a little boy and an old man, and the bitterness of a truth learned too late. A few have a mystical flavour, although each one nonetheless touches on some aspect of real life in all its mundane glory.

This is a fresh, strong collection that will satisfy readers of the genre while also perhaps luring those who are normally less drawn to the short story format in general. The stories here are subtle but frank, giving readers ideas to reflect upon without leaving them thinking “what have I missed?” It is an impressive mix that will speak to young adult readers in a quiet but truthful and determined voice.