About.com Rating
One-story-per-issue magazine One Teen Story continues to publish quality short fiction for young readers. So far, every issue I've read has contained a tale that will both satisfy adult readers for its literary quality, and keep teen readers interested in its characters and situations. (For my thoughts on another issue, see my review of "The Freshwater Mermaid.")
Publication Information
- Full Title: "The Bearded Girl" (One Teen Story Vol I, Issue IV)
- Author: Aimee Bender
- Publisher: One Story
- Publication Date: December 2012
Devilworm
Thirteen-year-old Molly is a bearded girl. Before she was even properly through puberty, the soft red hair began growing in on her chin, jaw, and upper lip. Naturally, life is not easy for a girl with a beard -- even if it is a pleasant, well-behaved, curly beard -- and the kids at school take to calling Molly "devilworm."
One day Molly's mother buys her a razor, but the beard just grows faster. The only answer, as far a Molly can see, is to run away and join the circus. Luckily, though, Molly's mom is supportive, and gets Molly a tutor for the mornings, and picks her up from her job at the local circus in the evenings. When a boy from school turns up to see Molly perform, she has a chance to teach him a lesson, of sorts.
Introspective
"The Bearded Girl" is a quiet story, introspective rather than action-oriented. It's not an especially emotional story, either, but Molly's quiet dignity has a definite effect on the reader.
Like the best short stories, it's a brief gem that will leave many readers wishing for more. The writing is simple, but powerful, and left me wanting to look for more work by Aimee Bender. Interested readers will find a short Q&A with the author on the One Teen Story website.
One of the things I love about One Teen Story is that it is a small zine, with each issue having only a single story, and each volume fits comfortably in the hands. Even though it's a stapled booklet with a cardstock cover, its size, the fabulous two-color covers, and the clean-but-quirky interior design make it feel like a precious object, something to be treasured and read in secret, curled up beneath the covers or under a tree in the forest.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
About In Short Reviews
They say good things come in small packages, and that can be true for writing, too. For fiction, those small packages are short stories, and for non-fiction, they're essays and articles. And thanks to the increasing popularity of e-books, readers can now purchase and read single stories, without having to read a whole book. Since short stories and essays aren't always substantial enough to write a full-length review (who wants to read a review that's almost as long as the story it's reviewing?), I started a series of "In Short" reviews in which I'll mostly look at short stories (and some not so short), but also non-fiction when I come across something worth noting.