2024 The Other: Stories of Difference by Anand, Paro NEUF

One of the most challenging voices in contemporary young adult literature.-Anthony Horowitz

Who is the Other? Is it you? Is it me? Is it all of us?

Childhood and teenage years-adults insist they are the best time. They cotton wool adolescence in soft lights, ignoring the heartaches and shadows. In this collection of stories, award-winning writer Paro Anand exposes the secrets and sorrows-and courage-that are part of todays life.

A girl dealing with grief; another who is witness to a horrible assault on a woman in broad daylight; a boy who pushes himself to the brink of extinction; teenagers coming to terms with their otherness. Her stories ask, how do you tell a friend that you are different from everyone else in a deep, fundamental way? How do you go back to school and face friends and teachers when your own family has betrayed you? And when you put your faith in Superman, does he deliver when the bullies come calling?

Dark yet uplifting, unflinching yet deeply positive, these stories are a searing portrayal of the minds of todays teenagers. In Paro Anands The Other, we are forced to examine our actions and inactions and every reader will find a fragment of themselves in the stories. It is a 2024 book every young adult and adult must read.

Paro Anand has been honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar Award, 2017 for her book Wild Child, now published as Like Smoke with additional content. Her book, No Guns at My Sons Funeral was on the IBBY Honor List and has been translated into German and Spanish. The Little Bird Who Held the Sky up with His Feet was on 1001 Books to Read Before You Grow Up, an international gold standard of the worlds best childrens literature. BBC Hindi selected her for their #100Women Project, a project highlighting the challenges and achievements of women in India.