Deep Girls

No one at school knew that fifteen-year-old Aggie and her mother were hoarders until the Idiot Boys. That made her even more a target of bullies than she was before. ​ At home, aka The Dump, her loneliness and despair are further punctuated by her mother's alcoholism, neglect, and paranoia. ​ But Aggie is a warrior and she devises a plan to fight back —–a plan that enlists a few of the other misfits at school. The plan isn't an easy one, though, and when she is beaten by a group of girls, she finds strength and encouragement from some unlikely sources.Deep Girls tells stories that defy the conventions of young adult literature. The clichés of fictional relationships are tossed aside, and instead we read about girls whose relationships with their families are like the real relationships readers see in the world around them. There are stories showing family members at their worst: a girl must stand up against expectations put on her by her parents and boyfriend; a sibl Deep Girls tells stories that defy the conventions of young adult literature. The clichés of fictional relationships are tossed aside, and instead we read about girls whose relationships with their families are like the real relationships readers see in the world around them. There are stories showing family members at their worst: a girl must stand up against expectations put on her by her parents and boyfriend; a sibling's assault on a parent drives a young woman to dark thoughts, and admiration for a rule-bending classmate; an ill grandmother is cruel to her daughter. There are stories about the search for strength: a father and daughter try to survive as a family after a tragedy; a family friend who was victimized by violence returns from a mental hospital; a mother shows her daughter the heart that lies beneath a passive exterior. And there are stories about young women adjusting to their emerging sexuality (while reluctantly caring for a neighbour's children, a teen turns her eyes to the kids' father), and that of their parents (a father and daughter take a trip to a bar, and each turns their attention elsewhere). Deep Girls is an astonishing collection of stories that are rich in tone and emotional complexity. Deep Girls tells stories that defy the conventions of YA, sweeping aside the clichs of life, love and family, giving us stories of girls whose lives mirror the world that young readers see around them. The young women in these stories, on the verge of adulthood, start seeing their parents and families in a new light of vulnerability. We see family members at their worst, we witness the search for strength, and we see girls becoming women as their worlds change around them. "There are lands we can only brush with our imagination. This collection of 19 short stories paints heroines from worlds unexplored. Draegynns soar above castles housing legendary warriors who can command the fabled beasts. Animal-morphing teenagers living on a post-World War III Earth are threatened by returning humans from space as they also struggle with many issues adolescents to today."--Page 4 of cover A collection of stories focuses on real family relationships, including tales of a sibling's assault on a parent, an ill grandmother being cruel to her daughter, and a girl standing up to her parents' expectations "Short stories about young women who, maturing towards adulthood, start viewing the world, and their parents, in a new light."-- Provided by publisher Short Stories About Girls And Young Women Who, Approaching Adulthood, See Their Parents For The Complex, Flawed And Vulnerable People They Are.