WITHIN REACH

The editor of Short Circuits (1992) and other anthologies for YAs offers ten stories for a slightly younger audience. In Constance Greene's ``Saturdays Is Peppermint,'' two children flying alone to meet divorced parents find comfort in a discussion of thumbsucking; in Ardath Mayhar's poignant ``Secret Among the Stones,'' a hiker finds a small skeleton and a primitive doll; two students' ``Foolproof Plan'' (Steven Otfinoski) to share answers for a history test goes hilariously awry. Time machines create more problems than they solve in Lensey Namioka's ``LAFFF'' and Robert Lipsyte's ``Future File'' (a glimpse into a newsroom of the next century); in the collection's only ghost story, Judie Angell's ``I Saw What I Saw,'' a dead grocer helps his young stock clerk foil a robbery. Rather than creating exotic literary or atmospheric effects, the authors—all experienced writers for young people—test their characters in familiar surroundings; these are ``stories about kids who take risks, try new things, reach out to others,'' writes Gallo, but seldom in life-or-death situations. Each tale ends with an explanatory paragraph and a thumbnail biography. A pleasingly diverse collection, with only hints of the supernatural. (Short Stories. 10-12)