In her first novel for teens, Take the Stairs, Toronto author Karen Krossing attempts something very difficult – to write a young adult novel in 13 voices. She comes tantalizingly close to succeeding.

The 13 voices belong to the occupants of a building that’s almost a character itself – a rundown apartment block that
“tightens around the secret hopes of those within.” The stories stand alone but are loosely tied together by chronological order, by internal references to each other, and by a teen who figures in the first and last.

Each protagonist is facing a crisis that must be resolved. The crises are real issues facing many teens: abuse, unwanted pregnancy, fitting in, and homosexuality. The reader might wish for a longer treatment of some of the more complex issues but, generally, they are dealt with seriously and thoughtfully, and few punches are pulled. For example, the abused teen watches her father as he beats her mother and realizes that soon her father will turn to the teen herself.

Krossing’s significant achievement is to create an utterly believable, complex teen world. The writing is strong and the 13 characters are distinct and well drawn. The problem with the book is that every teen finds edemption at the end of his or her story: the abused child escapes, the pregnant girl decides not to remain tied to the uncaring father, the misfit resolves to be happily different, the gay girl comes out. This is a little too pat, and the realization that a happy ending is coming weakens the later tales.

Despite this, Take the Stairs will appeal both to teens experiencing any of these problems and to parents who want to support them.