Through honest and powerful vignettes, Jewell's latest stitches together a collective memoir of formative experiences of educational racism and American schooling by people of the global majority.Anchored by the author's narrative of navigating school as a "light-skinned Black biracial cis-female" in a working-class neighborhood of a city in New York state, the work incorporates both her experiences of being labeled and othered in school as well as the first-person experiences of people of various ages, ethnicities, races, and genders, who write about how they navigated and were affected by systemic racism in their K-12, college, and postgraduate educations. The contributors include well-known authors of young people's literature including Joanna Ho, Minh Lê, and Randy Ribay; writers and educators such as Lorena and Roberto Germán, Torrey Maldonado, and Gayatri Sethi; and two entries by teens from Portland, Oregon. Alongside stories of segregation, mistreatment by white educators, hypervisibility, surveillance, stereotyping, pigeonholing, and exclusion, this collection asks readers to "envision what freedom in schools might be." These bold tales of truth telling are interspersed with historical facts, definitions, and anti-racist pedagogy that emphasize and contextualize the reality that, while experiences of racism in educational systems evolve with each generation, one constant is that schools are microcosms of larger systems of inequality and institutional oppression in the world beyond classroom walls.Unapologetic and unflinching: a critical read. (resources, recommended reading, references, about the contributors) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Gr 8 Up— A thought-provoking combination of memoir and anthology exploring institutionalized racism. In straight-forward language, Jewell ( This Book Is Anti-Racist ) describes her encounters with racism from elementary school to college, most times not obvious or overt but still insidious and dehumanizing. Able to pass as white, she and her twin sister were able to enjoy the privileges of being tracked into honor classes while witnessing the ways darker-skinned students of color were shut out. She discusses the biased curriculum and standardized tests and the focused military recruitment of BIPOC folks—all factors that cause students to internalize what avenues are open to some and closed off to others. Her thoughtful personal essays are enhanced by statistics and graphs, grounding her anecdotes with undeniable evidence. Entries from other authors, such as Randy Ribay, Torrey Maldonado, and Joanna Ho, are interspersed between Jewell's autobiographical chapters. These poems and essays flesh out the volume, offering more layers to the book's thesis—they touch upon religion, sexuality, and class, and how those elements are often tied into how young people are racialized. The text is accessible for teens to read on their own but would also be an excellent choice for group reads. The narrative is informative, sympathetic, and open, with the feel of a mentor pulling back the curtain. The copy is enhanced by an effective use of bold type and large font. Back matter includes further reading, references for each chapter, and contributor biographies. VERDICT Purchase this for all collections serving teens.— Shelley M. Diaz

This collection of poems and essays shares the experiences of individuals from minority and BIPOC populations during their elementary, secondary, and college years. Contributors include authors, storytellers, academics, and activists, many of whom grew up in the 1980s and '90s. A connecting narrative follows Jewell, author of This Book Is Anti-Racist (2020), through her school years. In segments with titles like "What I Learned about Magnet Schools" and "What I Learned about Tracking," additional contributors talk about being assigned arbitrary designations to help schools reach demographic quotas; witnessing inequities in supplies, opportunities, teacher quality, counseling services, and discipline enforcement; being forced to read literature selections representing only white authors and the white experience, even in gifted and talented programs and A.P. classes; and being made to feel that they were inferior, undervalued, and not as worthy as their white peers. Their shared message is the same: kids deserve better, and students need to know they can stand up for their rights. The back matter includes resources and templates, and the content offers much to ponder.

Through honest and powerful vignettes, Jewell's latest stitches together a collective memoir of formative experiences of educational racism and American schooling by people of the global majority.Anchored by the author's narrative of navigating school as a "light-skinned Black biracial cis-female" in a working-class neighborhood of a city in New York state, the work incorporates both her experiences of being labeled and othered in school as well as the first-person experiences of people of various ages, ethnicities, races, and genders, who write about how they navigated and were affected by systemic racism in their K-12, college, and postgraduate educations. The contributors include well-known authors of young people's literature including Joanna Ho, Minh Lê, and Randy Ribay; writers and educators such as Lorena and Roberto Germán, Torrey Maldonado, and Gayatri Sethi; and two entries by teens from Portland, Oregon. Alongside stories of segregation, mistreatment by white educators, hypervisibility, surveillance, stereotyping, pigeonholing, and exclusion, this collection asks readers to "envision what freedom in schools might be." These bold tales of truth telling are interspersed with historical facts, definitions, and anti-racist pedagogy that emphasize and contextualize the reality that, while experiences of racism in educational systems evolve with each generation, one constant is that schools are microcosms of larger systems of inequality and institutional oppression in the world beyond classroom walls.Unapologetic and unflinching: a critical read. (resources, recommended reading, references, about the contributors) (Nonfiction. 12-18)