It’s Not All Black and White: Multiracial Youth Speak Out

Nearly 20 mixed-race teens active with St. Stephen’s Community House, a social services organization in Toronto, contribute poems, artwork, and firsthand stories of racism, self-doubt, and searching for identity. Interviews with parents and other adults, poetry, and photographs are also part of the mix; the varied page layouts and fonts can be busy, but highlight the diversity of backgrounds and perspectives. The results are candid, painful, and most of all authentic reflections from a teenage POV. One boy’s entry unfolds as a conversation between the black and white sides of himself, while another teen remembers her seventh-grade crush telling her “that mixing races would be kind of weird.” “I can’t believe I ever liked him,” she writes, “but it hurt.” A surefire conversation-starter. Ages 13–up. (Nov.)