"[T]his inaugural title in Houghton's newest 'Best American' series deserves at least as much attention for the remarkable scope and quality of its works [as for Eggers's popularity]....Much of the writing resembles Eggers's, but it doesn't lack originality and the necessary wit. There is enough rareness here to provoke heavy circulation in both public and academic libraries." Library Journal

"While a number of pieces have been included as comic relief, only David Sedaris (unsurprisingly) and the Onion bits...are likely to crack anybody up. Perhaps the truly cool don't want to be caught guffawing....An alternative to the Banana Republic gift certificate for that difficult nephew with a birthday." Kirkus Reviews

Michael Cart is a nationally recognized expert in young adult literature and publishing. Recipient of the 2000 Grolier Award, he has written What's So Funny; My Father's Scar (selected as both a 1997 ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age); and Love and Sex: Ten Stories of Truth. Currently a writer for Booklist magazine, Cart wrote the "Children's Bookshelf" column for the LA Times Book Review from 1994-96 and has been Children's Book Reviewer for Parents Magazine. Since 1981, Cart has been co-producer and host of "In Print," a syndicated cable television program. Long active in the American Library Association, he has served on numerous ALA award committees, including the Margaret Edwards Award, Best Books for Young Adults, Caldecott Medal, and Notable Children's Book Committee. He was a founding judge for the LA Times Book Prize in the YA adult fiction category, and in 1997 was a judge for the National Book Award. He writes regularly for the LA Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and virtually every major professional magazine and journal. He lives in Chico, CA.Dave Eggers is the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, You Shall Know Our Velocity!, and How We Are Hungry, and he is the editor of McSweeney's. He is the founder of 826 Valencia, a San Francisco writing lab for young people.

The pamphleteer / Jenny Bitner — The lost boys / Sara Corbett — Naji's Taliban phase / Michael Finkel — Generation exile / Meenakshi Ganguly — Speed demons / Karl Taro Greenfeld — Hubcap diamondstar halo / Camden Joy — Toil and temptation / Michael Kamber — Snacks / Sam Lipsyte — Stop that girl / Elizabeth McKenzie — The nice new radicals / Seth Mnookin — Local hipster overexplaining why he was at the mall — Marilyn Manson now going door-to-door trying to shock people — Journal of a new cobra recruit / Keith Pille — My fake job / Rodney Rothman — Fourth angry mouse / David Schickler — Why McDonald's fries taste so good / Eric Schlosser — Blood poison / Heidi Jon Schmidt — To make a friend, be a friend / David Sedaris — Higher education / Gary Smith — "Jiving" with your teen / Seaton Smith — Bomb scare / Adrian Tomine — Selections from Please don't kill the freshman / Zoe Trope.