Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices - Hardcover

Various

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763658669 ISBN 13: 9780763658663

Publisher: Candlewick, 2013

Synopsis

Using humor as the common denominator, a multicultural cast of YA authors steps up to the mic to share stories touching on race.

Listen in as ten YA authors -- some familiar, some new -- use their own brand of humor to share their stories about growing up between cultures. Henry Choi Lee discovers that pretending to be a tai chi master or a sought-after wiz at math wins him friends for a while -- until it comically backfires. A biracial girl is amused when her dad clears seats for his family on a crowded subway in under a minute, simply by sitting quietly between two uptight women. Edited by acclaimed author and speaker Mitali Perkins, this collection of fiction and nonfiction uses a mix of styles as diverse as their authors, from laugh-out-loud funny to wry, ironic, or poignant, in prose, poetry, and comic form.

About this title

About the Author

Mitali Perkins (mitaliperkins.com) is the author of numerous books for teens and younger readers, including Bamboo People, Monsoon Summer and Secret Keeper. She was born in India and immigrated to the United States with her parents and two sisters when she was seven. Mitali Perkins lives with her husband and sons in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Reviews

Gr 6-10–More likely to be used with teens pedagogically than recreationally, this collection of short tales in a variety of genres explores the experiences of young people bridging cultures. Perkins's contribution is a memoir about the Guy Game she and her two older sisters played in their secret pursuit of points earned by being asked out, complimented, or kissed by boys. She tells about when a boy the color of deli turkey takes this chocolate-hued Indian girl on a church trip to an amusement park for a memorable three-point experience. Other highlights include Gene Yang's comic about why he boycotted a Hollywood version of the Avatar narratives that celebrate Asian culture in other formats but cast only white actors in this incarnation. A poem tells a wryly humorous story of unsettling white Berliners with a biracial family while another story focuses on a Korean kid who eschews Asian stereotypes until it becomes expedient to experiment with a reputation for math and martial-arts skills for a rung or two on the social ladder. Teachers will find some powerful material here about how the young can become discomfited and find solace in their multifaceted cultural communities. Francisco X. Stork relates unexpected acceptance and support for a gay Latino teen, while in other selections, characters proudly wave a Black Geek flag or grieve the loss of an Arab father who reached out with both hands to overcome prejudices. Purchase where schools seek useful pieces about YAs who identify with multiple cultures.–Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GAα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this anthology that blends fiction and nonfiction, Indian American editor Perkins has assembled 10 original selections about race that have in common a humorous take on an often serious subject. Humor has the power to break down barriers and draw us together across borders, Perkins writes in her introduction. Aside from their humor, these border-breaking stories all share a viewpoint from within the culture that provides the setting and subject. The stories are varied in format: two—by G. Neri and Naomi Shihab Nye—are stories in verse, while a third, by Printz Award–winner Gene Luen Yang, is in the format of a graphic novel. Several of the stories come perilously close to being didactic, but all are, in their respective ways, enlightening. As for humor, David Yoo’s excellent Becoming Henry Lee is the one that will probably elicit the most laughs. But all invite sometimes rueful smiles or chuckles of recognition. And all demonstrate that in the specific we find the universal, and that borders are meant to be breached. Grades 5-8. --Michael Cart

Edition details

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0763658669
• ISBN 13: 9780763658663
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144
• Editor: Perkins Mitali