Young Teen Comedy

When Harold Ross founded The New Yorker in 1925, he described it as a “comic weekly.” And although it has become much more than that, it has remained true in its irreverent heart to the founder’s description, publishing the most illustrious literary humorists of the modern era. This anthology gathers together, for the first time, the funniest work of more than seventy New Yorker contributors.

Set and written in 1726, This is a marvelously imaginative tale of the four voyages of Lemuel Gulliver. He finds himself shipwrecked and the prisoner of captors ranging in size from 6 inches tall to 60 feet tall and of various other persuasions. But this is just the beginning of a story written, strangely enough to satirize the foolishness and vices of modern men as they were perceived at the time. No one, young or old, can ever forget the Lilliputians and the Yahoos that starred in these wonderful and riveting stories of long ago.

When the popular crowd at Brentwood High votes me Most Likely to Marry a Math Book, I’m ready to put my ruler into the eye of any egotistical jock who comes near me. Including the idolized Bobcats quarterback, Connor Bray, when he asks me to tutor him. His only requirement? Our tutoring sessions must be secret—meaning that because Connor is too embarrassed to be seen with the resident math geek, I can’t even tell my boyfriend I’m helping Brentwood High’s all-star player. And when Connor begins to give me lessons in love, it starts to feel like I’m the one getting schooled.

If you asked seventeen-year-old Cass Williams to describe herself, she’d happily tell you she’s fat, a lesbian, and obsessed with the Tide Wars books. What she won’t tell you—or anyone in her life—is that she’s part of an online Tide Wars roleplay community. Sure, it’s nerdy as hell, but when she’s behind the screen writing scenes as Captain Aresha, she doesn’t have to think about her mother who walked out or how unexpectedly stressful it is dating resident cool girl Taylor Cooper.

Do you ever feel like life isn’t going the way that you thought it would? That’s what Sebastian Bradford is realizing as he tries to figure out how everything went wrong so quickly. He’d never expected things to end like this, but then again, he’d never expected a lot of things, and that was the problem. He just needed to figure out how to fix this before it was too late. There’s only one problem with that...he’s about to learn a life lesson that he will never forget.

Star hockey player Daniel Sacachelli wants only two things: 1) for the Falcons to win next season, and 2) for his secret—the fact he's actually the prince of Eldonia—to never make its way to Chicago. But if Daniel keeps avoiding his crown, their family will lose their kingdom forever. Madison Myong can't believe that her will-they-or-won't-they best friend Daniel is really a prince! He's always seemed more rebel than royal. But now, he needs to clean up his image, fast. Posing as his long time girlfriend, Madison accompanies him back to Eldonia.

Clementine Chan believes in the power of the written word. Under the pseudonym Hibiscus, she runs a popular blog reviewing tea shops and discussing larger issues within her Chinatown community. She has a loyal, kind following, save for this one sour grape named BobaBoy888. Danny Mok is allergic to change, and the gentrification seeping into Chinatown breaks his heart. He channels his frustration into his internet alter ego, BobaBoy888, bickering with local blogger Hibiscus over all things Chinatown and tea.

Sloane McKinney feels like a background character in her own life. But this summer will be different, because she’s spending it with her childhood best friend, Liam Daniels, in her dream city, Los Angeles. Sure, she’s surprised to find that Liam just happens to have had a Hot Guy glow-up since she last saw him, but so what? A little attraction won’t ruin her plans for their fun—and completely platonic—reunion. What might, however, is that Liam has been roped into working for his producer dad’s new teen reality dating show, Aspen Woods’s Future Leading Lady.

It all started at our small private school, Hidden Shores Academy, on the first day. The new kid was texting as he came down the stairs. His longboard slipped out of his fingers, smacking me right in the face. Of course, he ended up in almost all my classes. No matter what I do, he keeps finding ways to talk to me. But I’m not interested in him. I’m trying to stay focused on my position as head editor of my high school’s newspaper. I have dreams to chase. I’m applying for a journalism scholarship. I don’t have time for a know-it-all boy like Justin.

When Brooks volunteered to be a stand-in for Burdette's cousin who got stood up for homecoming, it was with the noblest of intentions - helping a fellow human being, free of charge. But when he gets a tip of more than 300 bucks, word spreads quickly and Brooks seizes the opportunity to offer his impeccable escort services to super-wealthy parents who want their daughters to experience those big social events of senior year. So what if along the way he goes along with a few minor deceptions and cuts a few moral corners? What could be the harm?

Life is hard. Change is difficult. But adjusting to being a ghost? Well, that is just darn near impossible. And Bridget Sway is struggling. It's not just the job, the uniform, the housemates, the rules, the community service. It's everything. And now she's facing a week-long group assessment to evaluate her adjustment.As if that isn't bad enough, some inconsiderate soul has shoved another dead ghost in her locker. Things are looking bleak for Bridget. If she fails the assessment, she'll be "re-educated."

In this hourly time-stamped, action-packed tween comedy of errors, Abby Gray, feeling weighed down by her secrets and lies, lets five balloons float into the sky with her deepest secrets attached to them in a desperate attempt to clear her conscience. Her relief is short-lived, though: the next day, those balloons start dropping one by one at her school, revealing Abby’s innermost thoughts to both friends and frenemies and creating hilarious misinterpretations of crushes amongst her peers.

Every May 7, the students at Coffee County High School take a class trip. And every year, Lulu's relationship with Alex Rouvelis gets a little more complicated. Freshman year, they went from sworn enemies to more than friends after a close encounter in an escape room. It's been hard for Lulu to quit Alex ever since. Through breakups, makeups, and dating other people, each year's trip class brings the pair back together and forces them to confront their undeniable connection.

Sidney and Asher should have clicked. Two star swimmers forced to spend their summers on a lake together sounds like the perfect match. But it's the same every year - in between cookouts and boat rides and family-imposed bonfires, Sidney and Asher spend the dog days of summer finding the ultimate ways to prank each other. And now, after their senior year, they're determined to make it the most epic summer yet.

Some people bomb auditions. Sadie Ramirez throws up during her tryouts on TV show America's Top Talent. Her performance is so bad, it earns her a fairy godmother through the Magical Alliance's Pitiful Damsel Outreach Program. Enter Chrysanthemum Everstar: a gum-chewing, cell-phone-carrying, high-heel-wearing fairy godmother in training.

Gael Brennan is about to have his heart broken when his first big relationship crumbles on the heels of his parents' painful separation. Love intervenes with the intention of setting things right - but she doesn't anticipate the intrusion of her dreaded nemesis: the Rebound. Love's plans for Gael are sidetracked by Cara, Gael's hot-sauce-wielding "dream girl". The more Love meddles, the further Gael drifts from the one girl who can help him mend his heart.

Eighteen-year-old Brooke is the kind of friend who not only remembers everyone's birthdays, but also organizes the group present, pays for it, and politely chases others for their share. She's the helper, the doer, the guarder-of-drinks, the minder-of-bags, the maker-of-spreadsheets. She's the responsible one who always follows the rules—and she plans to keep it that way during her first year of university. Her new share house is rules-lite. But ‘no unnecessary drama' means no fights, tension, or romance between housemates.

Chloe Kwon can't stand Peter Li. It's always been that way. Their families don't get along either: their parents operate rival restaurants in the Riverwood Mall food court—Korean food for the Kwons and Chinese food for the Lis. Now it's the holiday season and it's all Chloe can do to avoid Peter's smug, incredibly photogenic face. But it turns out the mall is about to be sold to a developer and demolished for condos. Eviction notices are being handed out right before Christmas. Soon Chloe and Peter realize that the two of them need to join efforts to try to save the mall.

Fifteen-year-old Fancy Augustine is a Haitian American girl with simple desires. She’d like to trade in her floppy, oversize boobs for cute, perky ones. She’d love a boyfriend. And she’s desperate for an invite to the biggest event of the school year: Imani Park’s birthday party. When Fancy learns her BFF, Tilly, has received a coveted invite and has a secret boyfriend, she is (understandably) devastated and wholeheartedly determined to do whatever it takes to get her own happily ever after.

Meet River Langston-Lee. In the past 24 hours, he’s dumped his girlfriend, walked out of his SATs, and quit his job at his parents’ cafe in spectacularly disastrous fashion—even for him. Somehow, he manages to talk his way into a gig at a failing Korean cafe, Bingsu for Two, which is his lucky break until he meets short, grumpy, and goth: Sarang Cho. She’s his new no-BS co-worker who’s as determined to make River’s life hell as she is to save her family’s cafe.