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Reviewed by:
  • Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices ed. by Mitali Perkins
  • Thaddeus Andracki
Perkins, Mitali , ed. Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices. Candlewick, 2013. [144p]. ISBN 978-0-7636-5866-3 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-12.

This slim collection of ten contemporary stories—most published here for the first time—brings together familiar and new voices in YA literature to talk candidly about race. Perkins' smart introduction lays her framework for using humor as a method to broach a touchy subject (complete with ground rules like "Good humor pokes fun at the powerful—not the weak"), and although some stories are more humorous than others, the approach is effective. The stories vary in tone, from Cherry Cheva's chuckle-inducing entry about a Jewish boy's perspective on an Asian girl's stand-up comedy routine, to Francisco X. Stork's amusing but poignant tale of a young Mexican-American boy's conversation with his sister in which he first recognizes that he's gay. In addition to standard prose fare, there's Gene Yuen Yang's [End Page 109] graphic-novel-style story of his reaction to whitewashing in the casting for the Avatar film, G. Neri's free-verse, hilariously told account of a black father's ability to clear a German subway bench for his mixed-race family, and Naomi Shihab Nye's elegy to her Palestinian father's exuberance, which is also a recognition of how public perceptions of him would have been tainted by news headlines. It's often said that good literature for young people can act as a mirror to one's own experiences and a window into others'—this anthology fills the bill, providing an accessible assessment of contemporary race relations, while also being as honest, refreshing, and frank as the titular open mic suggests. It also offers myriad uses: a potential readaloud in a social science classroom, a pick-me-up text for a teen of color in a tough environment, or a book-club selection that's sure to spark conversation.

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