‘My True Love Gave to Me,’ Edited by Stephanie Perkins

Beyond “The Hunger Games” and “The Fault in Our Stars” lies a rich, varied landscape of young adult literature. In this new collection of holiday-themed tales of young love, 12 popular Y.A. authors skillfully demonstrate its breadth of styles and differing depths. Both genre and contemporary fiction are represented, making the slightly uneven terrain fascinating. Winter solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s Eve serve as backdrops, but relationships are central, reminding readers that while the season can be painful, it’s also a time of hope.

In a short story, pacing is at times difficult, as is emotional connection to the characters within so few words. In “Your Temporary Santa,” David Levithan masters both. This very short story, about how far a guy will go to please his boyfriend, illustrates the power of making every word count. And the remarkable final paragraph (“Outside, there may be reindeer that fly across the moon. . . . Outside, it may be cold. But I am here. . . . and he will hold me until I am warm again”) defines the book’s holiday spirit.

Amid increasing calls for greater diversity in children’s books, three stories serve it up in satisfying ways. Gayle Forman’s “What the Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth?” sends Jewish Sophie to a small country college. At a Christmas caroling concert, where they definitely won’t be singing “I Have a Little Dreidel,” she meets Russell, one of the few designated “Black Guys on Campus.” Forman’s intricate details bring this tale of misassumptions-turned-inside-out to vivid life, as Russell shows Sophie that holiday miracles do exist.

Kiersten White’s intelligent storytelling elevates “Welcome to Christmas, CA.” There, in a dying mining town just off the freeway, Maria, who is Latina, works in a diner, saving every penny to escape from her stepfather’s duplex in “the bosom of the ugly brown desert.” But the cute new cook’s uncanny ability to intuit what customers are hungry for reinvigorates the community, filling Maria with Christmas spirit and reminding her that home and heart are inextricable.

“Angels in the Snow” invites us to Brooklyn, where “just regular-old Mexican” Shy, at New York University on a scholarship, can’t afford a Christmas trip home, so he’s cat-­sitting for his boss. A winter storm hits, and Shy is snowed in with only vodka, yogurt, a chocolate bar and cat food. When the pretty upstairs neighbor has plumbing woes, she enlists his help, setting the stage for connection. Matt de la Peña gives Shy’s Latino voice a touching authenticity, and his affection for Brooklyn shines through as he walks readers up an empty Seventh Avenue to Prospect Park, where Shy and his possible new love spend Christmas Day.

In “Midnights,” Rainbow Rowell poses the question, Is best-friendship the key to romance, or an obstacle in its way? Rowell’s accessible lilt paces the story, spanning four New Year’s Eves as Mags and Noel experience the complexity of love.

On the genre side, in “Polaris Is Where You’ll Find Me,” Jenny Han introduces us to Santa’s human foster daughter, Natty, who crushes on an elf, something frowned upon at the North Pole. Though Han’s writing is solid, this one skews younger and feels misplaced, especially in comparison with Holly Black’s “Krampuslauf.” Black, who often delights her devotees with glimpses of the netherworld, nudges readers toward horror when Hanna bargains with the universe and what appears at her New Year’s Eve party is much more than requested. This is smart, dark and mature.

The anthology displays a few weaknesses. There are too many “biggest, bluest eyes” kinds of descriptions. The “first kiss” theme becomes obvious. (Other than Rowell’s, where are the long-term relationship stories? Is new love always true love?) And the voices might be too dissimilar for some. But all told it’s a marvelous collection, certain to earn a treasured spot on many Y.A. bookshelves.