Prom Nights from Hell for Constructive use of time

Oooh, Prom Nights from Hell! I should have read the subtitle first, because I expected teen romance here. Nope, the subtitle is “Paranormal prom stories by five extraordinary authors!” Even Stephanie Meyer writes a story here, but no Edward Cullen, unfortunately. In fact, if I hadn’t checked to see which story was hers, I would have never chosen “Hell on Earth.” I loved reading this, even though I don’t generally enjoy short stories. I’ve read that they are a good medium for reluctant readers, but I haven’t seen anyone pick up our library’s short stories, even when promoted. One story seemed like the beginning to a book, and I’d love to see the rest of Kim Harrison’s book. What happens to Madison?, what is a dim reaper? I almost recommended this book to a couple students today, before realizing I had only borrowed it from another library. One of the students left her copy of Twilight home, and had to read something during DEAR time; this would be a perfect book to read while or after reading Twilight. I could recommend this easily to girls, but very few boys, although there is one boy who might like this. (Speaking of vampires, I just had to make my cat drop the bat she just found amidst our construction project!) It would be a good book after a teen read other fantasy books; it’s lighter than Tolkien, more fantastical that The City of Ember, maybe perfect after Searching for Dragons – certainly a little older. I guess it would be good after Buffy, Darren Shan, Peeps, Atwater-Rhodes, David Almond (a little young) or John Bellairs.

But constructive use of time? The characters don’t use their time well, or poorly; they don’t really get a chance in the space of the story. I don’t see that the stories fit in with Creative activities, Youth programs, Religious community (Some might have a real problem with supernatural stories.), or Time at home; except that a teen would enjoy their time reading these stories. That said, I really enjoyed reading these stories, which came as no surprise since I love fantasy and supernatural. I would love to put this in my library collection!