Leaving Home: Stories

Leaving home for the first time is a rite of passage. Fifteen of the most respected authors of our time contribute their perspectives to this masterfully crafted anthology. From fear to desire, joy and hope, the mixed emotions that accompany each journey--physical and metaphysical--are conveyed in a manner that both stimulates the mind and satisfies the heart. Everyone eventually goes on a journey. "I remember packing a suitcase and carrying it out to the kitchen, standing very still for a few minutes, looking...

"Rochman and McCampbell have created not a standard first-kiss, coming-of-age road map, but a mosaic of uniquely shaped, cross-cultural perspectives written with grit and grace, leaving readers with the satisfying sense that something shattered has been pieced back together."

> Everyone eventually goes on a journey. "I remember packing a suitcase and carrying it out to the kitchen, standing very still for a few minutes, looking carefully at the familiar objects all around me. The old chrome toaster, the telephone, the pink and white Formica on the kitchen counters. The room was full of bright sunshine. Everything sparkled. My house, I thought. My life. I'm not sure how long I stood there, but later I scribbled out a short note to my parents." What I said, exactly, I don...

Leaving home for the first time is a rite of passage. Fifteen of the most respected authors of our time contribute their perspectives to this masterfully crafted anthology. From fear to desire, joy and hope, the mixed emotions that accompany each journey--physical and metaphysical--are conveyed in a manner that both stimulates the mind and satisfies the heart. Everyone eventually goes on a journey. "I remember packing a suitcase and carrying it out to the kitchen, standing very still for a few minutes, looking...

A house of my own /Sandra Cisneros. Saturday at the canal /Gary Soto. The first day /Edward P. Jones. Dancer /Vickie Sears. A gift of laughter /Allan Sherman. Rules of the game /Amy Tan. The circuit /Francisco Jimâenez. Bad influence /Judith Ortiz Cofer. Dawn /Tim Wynne-Jones. Beautiful & cruel /Sandra Cisneros. Trip in a summer dress /Annette Sanford. On the rainy river /Tim O'Brien. The setting sun and the rolling world /Charles Mungoshi. Little Saigon /David St. John. Zelzah : a...