ULTIMATE SPORTS
By
A collection of 16 original short stories centered on the theme of sports, with contributions by some top writers for YAs: Chris Crutcher, Will Weaver, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Graham Salisbury, Harry and Norma Fox Mazer, Robert Lipsyte, Chris Lynch, etc. Gallo (Join In, 1993, etc.) explains in the introduction that he hoped for stories ""about believable teenagers involved in challenging activities that. . . show their emotional as well as their physical conflicts."" He got what he asked for and there isn't a dud in the bunch. Covering a variety of sports, this volume is filled with intriguing characters in demanding situations who cope in surprising ways. Readers will be held captive by stories such as Crutcher's ""Superboy,"" in which a retarded boy learns about friendship while in training for the triathalon; Salisbury's ""Shark Bait,"" about a white boy competing on a Hawaiian rowing team; and Lipsyte's ""The Defender,"" set in the future at the Power Thought finals competition. In this collection, everyone's a contender.