The number of books written by authors who do not hail from a White Anglo-Saxon American heritage has increased over the last twenty years, but it remains low enough that many teens of diverse backgrounds still cannot find stories that showcase people like them as other than stereotypical sidekicks. Fresh Ink stands as a concerted effort to increase the number of stories available, not only for these readers but for everyone. Twelve stories of all types are told, with the common theme of having the main character as someone not often portrayed in young adult literature.
In Eraser Tattoo, Shay and Dante have loved each other since they were five and in the same class together. Shay is now moving away from Brooklyn to North Carolina, and Dante's world is collapsing. In Meet Cute, Two girls meet at the Denver Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. Nic is cosplaying a gender-flipped Sulu from Star Trek, while Tamia is dressed as an African-American version of Agent Scully. Both are attracted to each other, but neither wants to volunteer that they are queer. Don't Pass Me By features a Native-American boy who attends school off the reservation, and has trouble recognizing himself in the White culture that surrounds him. In Be Cool for Once, the main character is Muslim, and she confesses her love to a boy at a concert.
Tags is a one-act play that discuss how four boys died. In Why I Learned to Cook, a Persian-American girl is wondering about how to introduce her girlfriend to her grandmother. A Stranger at the Bochinche tells a science fiction story about a stolen book and the people who want to retrieve it. A young artist in A Boy's Duty has left the farm life and hopes to join the Navy and fight Nazis, and finds refuge in a big city cafe. Racial slurs undermine the college experience of an Asian-American girl in One Voice. Paladin/Samurai is an illustrated short story about boys involved in a roleplaying game and the girl next door. Tommy just came out as a boy to his swim team, and find himself in the boy's locker room for the first time in Catch, Pull, Drive. Finally, in Super Human, X, a superhero, has decided to destroy the world unless someone can talk him out of it.
Each of these stories feature a message that is most often well executed about race and belonging. Fans of paths less traveled will appreciate the range of emotions and stories featured and will connect all of them to the humanity that we all share.
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