8 Plus 1 (by Robert Cormier)

Short stories offer an excellent way to get teenagers reading. While this collection has little action and may not appeal to reluctant readers, its sensitive views about growing up in families do appeal to more avid readers. In two of the stories, "The Moustache" and "Guess What? I Almost Kissed My Father Goodnight," boys realize that their parents are individual people just as the boys are. Two stories deal with prejudice, religious and racial.

Perhaps the most heartwarming of the stories is "President Cleveland, Where Are You?" in which a boy and his friends become obsessed with collecting trading cards of presidents during the Depression. His older brother wants to take a girl to the dance, but has no money for shoes and a corsage for his girl. The boy sells his cherished President Cleveland card, and his brother goes to the dance. Readers must infer what has happened.