Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real about Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America

 This book will make you stop to think and reflect about this country and how people treat each other. It contains a collection of 21 essays written by authors, some more famous than others) and a couple essays from (as of the publication) unpublished authors. These essays cover a wide range of topics from racism, sexism, rape culture, sexuality and gender roles, among others. These authors share their experiences growing up female, black, white, gay, straight, rich, poor, stereotypically beautiful, and stereotypically not. These essays all tell their experiences of when someone, or many people made them feel as though they were "other" or "less than." 

This anthology is very honestly written, and by that I mean the authors are blunt and to the point. Most of the essays spare no details and do not gloss over the difficult experiences they had or were witness to. These are real, mature subjects that make even some adults extremely uncomfortable. Also, there is a definite political slant to this book. Not saying I agree or disagree with this viewpoint, but the political slant does support the overall message of the book which is everyone needs to be mindful of how they act, speak, and view other people who may be different than you in some way or another. So, if you have ever felt like someone has diminished your worth or not valued you as an equal, these essays may help shouw you that others experience similar things. You're not alone. These essays may give you the tools to handle those situations differently in the future so you never have to feel "less than" ever again.    -TK



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Image
  The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Famed macabre author Neil Gaiman tells the story of Nobody “Bod” Owens. The story starts in a very creepy way, as a baby, Bod is orphaned after his family is murdered. He has no remaining family left, so he is “adopted” by the ghostly residents of the graveyard across the street. Bod is raised by ghosts and The Graveyard Book tracks the strange and creepy happenings of day to day graveyard life. This book is a modern, spooky retelling of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. You have probably all seen the movie. If you like the supernatural and adventure, then this is the book for you! -LG
Read more

The Cousins by Karen McManus

Image
  Karen McManus is one of my favorite authors. She writes awesome mystery/thrillers that are full of twists and turns. Her debut novel, One of Us is Lying is still by far her best (think the 80's movie The Breakfast Club only with a murder). That book has a sequel titled Two Can Keep a Secret, which is also very good.  In her third novel, which is completely separate from her first two, the readers sees three cousins get called to their grandmother's island home for summer jobs. They have no idea why they have been summoned because, after all, their grandmother disowned their parents years ago. Each cousin receives a note that says "You know what you did"which adds to the oddity of why they are there. Upon arrival, it quickly becomes clear that their grandmother has no idea they were even invited. Thus, the three cousins, who haven't seen each other in years, join up to figure out just what the heck is going on. The secrets the three cousins begin to dig up leads
Read more

The Violent Season by Sara Walters

Image
  This book is crazy! In a small town that is seemingly beset by violence every November, Wyatt begins to question just what is really behind all of these deaths. Upon stumbling on her mother's murdered body, and seeing some townsfolk die and classmates kill themselves, Wyatt is convinced there is a sickness afflicting the town. Wyatt also worries this sickness is starting to affect her boyfriend Cash, who seems to genuinely want to kill their classmate, Porter. Once Wyatt and Porter become partners for a class project, Wyatt's attention (and affection) is split between the two and she becomes more and more concerned that something terrible is going to happen to someone close to her and she might be in the most danger of anyone! Is there really something terribly wrong in Wolf Ridge or is Wyatt imagining everything? Is the sickness real or are people just naturally prone to doing bad things? Can Wyatt and her friends come out of the Violent Season unscathed or is one of them go
Read more