This Is Not a Test : Stories of Disaster

Twenty-nine high school students from Crown Heights, Brooklyn were each given the assignment to write a story that deals with disaster.

It turned out that they knew a lot about this subject, and not only in the way the term is typically understood.

The result is more than two dozen snapshots of disaster in all of its forms, from epic events like earthquakes, to smaller-scale family problems such as divorce, to more personal but equally dramatic happenings involving drugs, failed romance, and shame.

Dameon James' "Urination in the Train Station, or, To Pee or Not to Pee" is a typical example.

Here the narrator recounts with a mix of humor and horror an embarrassing episode from childhood involving a teacher and two of his best friends who refuse to take him seriously.

These writers offer inventive takes on common human problems, reflecting both the innocence and worldliness of today's teenagers.