Julie Orringer participated in a panel discussion at 826 Valencia, what must have been almost two years ago now. While most of the participants offered positiive encouragement and refried tips, Orringer brought handouts. Very practical. Even better, the looseleaves were useful. On one, a list of reputable literary agents; on the other, hints for revising. Though I’ve not used (nor abused) the agent list yet, it was a thoughtful gesture, something she probably cooked up for her students at Stanford but was kind enough to pass along to the aspirational crowd. The revising tips have proved invaluable.

So, Julie Orringer’s probably a fantastic teacher. And she seems like a real nice person. Now that I’ve finally gotten around to reading her first collection of stories, I can assert that she’s a good writer as well. Every piece in How to Breathe Underwater betrays the same practical craftwork I noted in her handouts. It’s also the perfect strategy to trigger the nerve of pre-adolescent menace that runs through many of the stories. Just as neatly trimmed hedges fail to hide the messy lives they hem in , Orringer’s composed, graceful prose increases the dramatic impact of each aberration. Bookended by “Pilgrims” and “Stations of the Cross”, Orringer captures a world where adults are always watching from a distance, naive to the vicious plots their children dream up. Though people often assume that children do stupid things because they don’t know any better, here the world is ominously different. These children are in control of their actions, even as they lack the emotional maturity to deal with the outcomes.

While a few of the stories, particularly “Note to Sixth-Grade Self”, are compelling for their execution if not their impact, the majority are simply stunning. In “The Stars of Motown Shining Bright” an adolescent girl’s heartbreaking jealousy transforms a flirtation with violence to an awkward, emotional moment of feminine bonding. “The Smoothest Way Is Full of Stones” published in Zoetrope, and “When She Is Old and I Am Famous” from The Paris Review are both thrilling reads .

For those interested, check out these excerpts from her notebooks published on the Knopf website.