Best American Short Stories 2021 (The Best American Series ®)

It must be a difficult task to select the most outstanding published short stories of the year, but guest editor Jesmyn Ward undertook that assignment and included here are a medley of twenty imaginative narratives. A few enthralled this reader, especially the sensitive story of the troubled preadolescent and his kinship with his enigmatic teacher in the story entitled “Biology.”

Other topics dealt with include the problems of drugs, minority inequities, gender approval, and of course, the mysterious trips triggered by the imagination. One writer views the last days of Rodney King, another takes the reader on a frightening escape from a California wildfire. There is an amusing yet sympathetic observation of human interactions by a friendly canine through the olfactory intake of human and environmental effusions. Some writers carry us to foreign lands and immerse the reader into stories of their homelands.

The variety of imaginative details will attract different readers to different stories. I must admit that only a few captured my interest, but other readers will find their own favorite topic depending on age, taste, and past experience. This is the sort of book where the reader can turn the pages to find their own appealing narrative.