Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise
Edited by Laura Silverman
Algonquin Young Readers
Published July 13, 2021
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About Up All Night
When everyone else goes to bed, the ones who stay up feel like they’re the only people in the world. As the hours tick by deeper into the night, the familiar drops away and the unfamiliar beckons. Adults are asleep, and a hush falls over the hum of daily life. Anything is possible.
It’s a time for romance and adventure. For prom night and ghost hunts. It’s a time for breaking up, for falling in love—for finding yourself.
Stay up all night with these thirteen short stories from bestselling and award-winning YA authors like Karen McManus, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nina LaCour, and Brandy Colbert, as they take readers deep into these rarely seen, magical hours.
Full contributor list: Brandy Colbert, Kathleen Glasgow, Maurene Goo, Tiffany D. Jackson, Amanda Joy, Nina LaCour, Karen M. McManus, Anna Meriano, Marieke Nijkamp, Laura Silverman, Kayla Whaley, Julian Winters, Francesca Zappia.
My Review
I’ve read stories by about a third of the authors with stories in this book. Lots more of them have been on my TBR list for a long time, so I was excited to read this collection in order to sample some of those authors and some new ones, too. Here’s what I thought about some of my favorites from UP ALL NIGHT:
“Under Our Masks” by Julian Winters
This is the first time I’ve read anything by Julian Winters, and I feel like I’ve been missing out. I loved this casual super hero story. In just a few pages, I felt like I knew the characters and had a sense of the city where they were. I also loved the anticipation as it built up toward the end of the story.
“Missing” by Kathleen Glasgow
I feel like I’m kind of on a roll with Kathleen Glasgow’s storytelling. I just finished THE AGATHAS, which I loved, and YOU’D BE HOME NOW tore out my heart in the best possible ways. So my expectations for her work were really high, and this story absolutely delivered for me. It’s intense, creepy, and powerful. I think it’s my favorite from the whole collection.
“Old Rifts and Snowdrifts” by Kayla Whaley
This story took advantage of some of my favorite romance tropes and centered them around a wheelchair-bound character. I loved the aching romance and the swirling snowstorm blanketing the world outside the flower shop. Also, it was a perfect nighttime, snowed-in-together story.
“The Ghost of Goon Creek” by Francesca Zappia
This is another one that had expert setup, so that in just a few words, I felt like I knew the main character and could understand how she felt about a troop of outsiders stomping through a grief-bound tradition of hers. And yet… I loved watching the relationships morph and change, and seeing her realize she had an opportunity for new friendships, and to wrestle with how to move into that. Great stuff. I loved this one, too. Francesca Zappia is another author that I am new to, but now really want to read more of.
I liked lots of the other stories in this collection, too. The first couple were the weakest for me in terms of hooking me into reading, but there are so many really good ones here. I’m super glad I had a chance to read UP ALL NIGHT.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Representation
Rep varies per story, but the collection is pretty diverse, featuring LGBT+, black, Latinx, and disabled characters.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Varies per story. Extreme profanity appears in some stories, used somewhat frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kiss between boy and girl. Kiss between two boys.
Spiritual Content
One story features ghosts. Another features legends about a ghost.
Violent Content
Situations of peril. In one story, girls explore an abandoned mental institution and face danger and harm.
Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol in at least one story.
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