Fresh Ink

June 1, 2018

Gr 9 Up-This collaboration with We Need Diverse Books features 13 standalone stories from award-winning and best-selling authors including Melissa de la Cruz, Sara Farizan, Eric Gansworth, Malinda Lo, Daniel José Older, Jason Reynolds, Aminah Mae Safi, Gene Luen Yang, and Nicola Yoon. The stories are distinct in themes, subjects, genres, and formats, creating an inclusive, authentic, and incredible collection. Each entry features realistic, well-rounded characters and plots. The protagonists identify across a spectrum of races, ethnicities, gender identities, and sexualities without being reduced to stereotypes or tokenism. Timely topics such as the U.S. 2016 Presidential election and DACA are addressed, but other stories are historical, comedic, and even include science fiction. The entire anthology is strong, but there are a few showstoppers. Safi perfectly captures the angst and awkwardness of teen crushes and romance. Gansworth demonstrates the power of small acts of rebellion through a young Native American in 1975 taking a stand against "flesh" toned pencil crayons. Yoon's contribution is a heartbreaking, beautiful, and thought-provoking entry about Black Lives Matter. While all readers will benefit from this work, recommend to fans of Yoon, Angie Thomas, or those interested in social justice. VERDICT This compelling anthology is an excellent choice for YA collections.-Kaetlyn Phillips, Yorkton, Sask.

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2018
Thirteen leading YA voices from diverse backgrounds lend their talents to this anthology of 12 fictional short stories.The collection represents the lives of people of color, immigrants, poor, and nonheteronormative individuals, drawing the reader into narratives that touch on universal themes of love and youth in its many iterations. Whether the reader dives into Eric Gansworth's story of a youth from the rez grappling with racism and identity in high school, Malinda Lo's tale of sexism and gender-flipping costumes at a science-fiction convention, or Melissa de la Cruz's story of an undocumented Filipina student who wants "America to want me because I was already a part of the fabric of the country," each contribution reminds us of the diverse individuals that make up the United States. Together they form a beautiful quilt of marginalized voices that include both bestselling authors, such as Jason Reynolds and Gene Luen Yang, as well as up-and-coming writers. The complexities of intersectional identities are also explored, for example in Sara Farizan's story of a bisexual Iranian-American girl who introduces her girlfriend to her immigrant grandmother. United by vivid descriptions of food, language, and cultural norms, the collection will serve as both mirror and window to teens from all walks of life.This beautiful, moving, and insightful collection is quintessentially American and a valuable addition to all middle and high school classrooms. (Short stories. 12-18)

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Starred review from May 15, 2018
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* This collection of 12 young adult short stories is for the teens who've long had to skim an anthology searching for that so-called hidden gem?the rare story that reflects their world back to them. Giles, a cofounder of We Need Diverse Books, has assembled short stories that feature a wide array of characters, situations, and formats, capturing the diversity found within teen readership. From best-selling author Melissa de la Cruz's One Voice: A Something in Between Story, exploring an act of hateful graffiti that rattles an undocumented Stanford student's college experience, to a WWII-set historical piece, A Boy's Duty, by Sharon G. Flake, to Sara Farizan's story of a bisexual Iranian American young woman learning the ways of the kitchen from her grandmother to impress her girlfriend, each carries its own unique appeal and significance. Two particular standouts come late in the collection, including Catch, Pull, Drive, from Schuyler Bailar, a hapa Korean American and the first out transgender NCAA Division I men's athlete. The final story may linger longest, since it resonates so strongly to this particular cultural moment: in Super Human, Nicola Yoon writes about a masked black superhero, X, whose superpowers were born of his mother's wish for a world where bullets could never break his skin. A powerful and varied collection deserving of shelf space in every library.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)