Lunch with Lenin and Other Stories

Deborah Ellis's first collection of short stories explores the lives of children who have been affected directly, or indirectly, by drugs. Sometimes touching and often surprising, the stories are set against backdrops as diverse as the remote north and small town America to Moscow's Red Square and an opium farm in Afghanistan.

This is an unforgettable collection of stories that will elicit discussions about the toll drugs take on the lives of teenagers and their families.

Deborah Ellis's first collection of short stories explores the lives of children who have been affected directly, or indirectly, by drugs. Sometimes touching and often surprising, the stories are set against backdrops as diverse as the remote north and small town America to Moscow's Red Square and an opium farm in Afghanistan.

This is an unforgettable collection of stories that will elicit discussions about the toll drugs take on the lives of teenagers and their families.

VOYA

In this collection, Ellis constructs a group of thematically related stories, each of which explores how drugs, including alcohol, affect people. Perhaps wisely, the stories do not focus particularly on drug users themselves but on all those affected, such as the high school boy nervously buying marijuana for his cancer-stricken grandmother, the farmer's daughter in Afghanistan whose livelihood harvesting opium is about to disappear, and the teenaged drug seller in Manila who contemplates selling his kidney to help his family. Ellis's talent lies in the way she believably assumes so many culturally different viewpoints. In fact, although every story except the exquisite Boot is written in third person, the stories feel as personal as though they were individual narratives. The relatively short stories read quickly, offering neither judgment nor solutions but rather the opportunity for compassion and understanding. The most difficult thing about this collection might be getting it into young adult hands. Middle school readers may be more open to it, and the book's length and lack of gratuitous violence make it particularly appropriate for that age level. It is also sophisticated enough for older readers, but a collection of drug-related stories may be a hard sell for teens who might assume they are being lectured. Librarians should try anyway based on the collection's quality, which is high enough to justify placing this book in every library. Reviewer: Amy Sisson

Deborah Ellis is the internationally acclaimed author of more than twenty books for children, including the Breadwinner trilogy, The Heaven Shop, Jakeman, and Bifocal, which she co-wrote with Eric Walters. A peace activist and humanitarian, Deborah has traveled the world to meet with and hear the stories of children marginalized by poverty, war, and illness.