Prejudice: Stories About Hate, Ignorance, Revelation and Transformation, edited by Daphne Muse

(hb; 1995: children's story anthology)


From the inside flap:

"Prejudice.  It can be as subtle as a look, or as blatant as a fist in the face.  It's befriending an outcast only so long as no one finds out.  Or realizing that your teachers' expectations of you are based on your gender or the color of your skin.

"This collection of thought-provoking stories reveals many facets of prejudice.  In Fran Arrick's Chernowitz!, a young boy is bewildered by the hatred of an anti-Semitic schoolmate - and by his best friend's desertion.  In Jacqueline Woodson's Maizon at Blue Hill, a teenager begins to recognize her own ignorance when she confronts her assumptions about white people.  And in Flannery O'Connor's 'Revelation,' a moment of self-realization transforms a woman's complacent view of herself and her world.  Among the other selections are works by Lynda Barry, Sandra Cisneros, Chris Crutcher, and Ntozake Shange. . ."


Review:

Good, theme-focused, kid-friendly and instance-diverse collection that reveals prejudice - and sometimes its answer - in an entertaining, if often sad and/or provocative manner.  Stories/novel excerpts that stood out for their excellence: Lynda Barry's "from The Good Times Are Killing Me"; Mavis Hara's "Carnival Queen"; Marie G. Lee's "Finding My Voice"; Jacqueline Woodson's "from Maizon at Blue Hill"; and Chris Crutcher's "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune".

Worth checking out, this.