Shelf Life: Stories By the Book
Paulsen, G. (2003) Shelf
life. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Shelf Life is a
compilation of short stories ranging from science fiction to historical
fiction, written by a collection of well-known authors, and published in one
book by another well-known author, Gary Paulsen. Paulsen published this collection of stories
to benefit the charitable reading organization, ProLiteracy Worldwide. In his introduction, Paulsen details how and
when books became such an important aspect of his life and how that prompted
the need for him to write. All of the
short stories, in spite of having very different elements, shares one thing in
common and that commonality is a book.
Each story contains characters who have either experienced a traumatic
event or some type of developmental struggle, from Katie’s father suddenly
dying at the age of 41, Georgie’s grandmother being diagnosed with cancer while
she is living on Mars, to Henrietta’s father being held prisoner on suspicion of
being a spy, to Jolene and Karly having a typical girl spat, and each of the
major characters finds resolution or experiences a shift because of a book—a different
book for each story with each book used in a different way. Also included in Shelf Life are short snippets about each author which include other
titles by the authors as well as awards they have won. Because the stories are so varied and the
vocabulary is very basic, readers from middle grades on up to grad students J can enjoy and learn
from this book.
