Twice Told is a collection of 18 stories from popular YA authors, inspired by 9 original drawings by Scott Hunt. Some of the authors chose to use the drawings as illustrations of key scenes in their stories, while others incorporated them as pieces of artwork that appear within their stories. Perhaps the best part of this collection was the way it 'illustrated' how differently two people can interpret and imagine the same image. Some of the stories were more compelling than others. I especially liked Ron Koertge's and Bruce Coville's contributions which both centered on friendship and the difficulties of life in very creative ways. Some stories were less memorable, but all were highly readable. This book is highly recommended for high school libraries and teen sections of public libraries. Some themes, e.g. suicide, rape, and fratricide, may be too mature for younger readers. ( )

Really neat idea. Selected authors were shown a charcoal sketch and had to create the short story that arose from that picture. There are two stories for each sketch. Authors include Sarah Dessen, Bruce Coville, Nancy Werlin, Margaret Peterson Haddix, David lubar, and Neal Shusterman. Stories however, are mature, and not all suited to a middle school.
I liked the idea of creating the story to match the picture however. ( )

One of my tags says, "2 Authors." While this collection of short stories is by more than 2 authors, each picture is viewed and interpreted by 2 different authors. In some sense, the editor of this collection asked one author to write a short story about a picture and then called in another author for a second opinion.

This collection has an artfully unique premise—a premise that writing teachers may easily use in their own classrooms. This collection is edited by Scott Hunt. Hunt created nine charcoal illustrations. Each illustration was given to a pair of great YA authors (Nancy Werlin, Ellen Wittlinger, M.T. Anderson, …). Each pair composed a short story based on their individual interpretation of Hunt’s illustration. Although it is disappointing to have the illustrations placed in the middle of the two authors (instead of including the illustration at the beginning of the story and repeating it for the other member of the pair) and disappointing that Penguin did not use a higher quality of paper, nevertheless this is a great collection of stories.

My favorite interpretations were written by Nancy Werlin and Alex Flinn; M.T. Anderson and William Sleator. This collection belongs in high school libraries and some of the story pairs work fine in middle school libraries. ( )

Usually, a story is written and then illustrated. In this book, it’s the other way around. Illustrator Scott Hunt created nine drawings, which were then given to 18 authors (two for each picture). The result is a different kind of anthology.
Authors are used to writing from their imaginations, leaving clues in the story that the illustrator must pick up on when creating a drawing or painting. In Twice Told, it is the writers who must fit their stories to the clues hidden in each picture. What’s most interesting is how the same drawing can inspire two entirely different stories.
The stories are written some of the best young adult authors: Sarah Dessen, Ellen Wittlinger, Ron Koertge, M.T. Anderson, William Sleator, Nancy Werlin, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Neal Shusterman, Jaime Adoff and more. If you have enjoyed books by any of these authors, or you’re just interested in an eclectic mix of stories with some great illustrations, give Twice Told a try. ( )