Going Where I'm Coming From: Memoirs of American Youth

Brief Description: 14 short memoirs about growing up in America's diverse society by Susan Power, Luis Rodriguez, Willie Ruff, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Ved Mehta, Gary Soto, Naomi Shabib Nye, Lee Daniels, Graham Salisbury, Lensey Namioka, Helen Epstein, and more. Brief Description: This anthology uses fourteen entries to explore a range of cultures, including Sioux, Polish, Japanese, Hispanic, African American, Jewish, Indian and Chinese. Publisher Marketing: This anthology of fourteen autobiographical narratives about growing up in America's diverse society takes us all across the United States: to the Watts barrio and idyllic Hawaii; to rural Alabama and the urban centers of New York and Boston; to neighborhoods in San Antonio, Cleveland, and Paterson, New Jersey; to North Dakota's Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and into the grape and cotton fields of the San Joaquin valley .... Some are true stories by and about recent immigrants, others focus on young native-born Americans from a particular cultural background. Gary Soto tells about being a teenager who worked as a farm laborer; Helen Epstein explores the unusual tensions surrounding an ordinary dinnertime with her parents, both concentration camp survivors; Thylias Moss and Judith Ortiz Cofer discover the power of the individual voice to transcend racial and cultural barriers; Lensey Namioka recounts her "weird" childhood as a girl who excels in math (expected in China, but unusual in the U. S.); Luis J. Rodriguez and Graham Salisbury examine images of manhood, one in the Watts barrio and the other in Hawaii. Also included are powerful narratives by Lee A. Daniels, Tracy Marx, Ved Mehta, Naomi Shihab Nye, Susan Power, Willie Ruff, and Hisaye Yamamoto. Whether lit by humor or darkly intense, these true accounts tell us that who we are has much to do with where we've been. Review Citations:

Booklist 01/15/1995 pg. 910 (EAN 9780892552061, Paperback)

School Library Journal 07/01/1995 pg. 101 (EAN 9780892552061, Paperback)

Publishers Weekly 12/05/1994 pg. 78 (EAN 9780892552061, Paperback)

Kirkus Review - Children 02/15/1995 pg. 229 (EAN 9780892552061, Paperback)

Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/1995 pg. 375 (EAN 9780892552061, Paperback)

Booklist 03/15/1998 pg. 1235 (EAN 9780892552061, Paperback)

Booklist 09/15/1999 pg. 254 (EAN 9780892552061, Paperback)

School Library Journal 07/01/1995 pg. 101 (EAN 9780892552054, Hardcover)

Publishers Weekly 12/05/1994 pg. 78 (EAN 9780892552054, Hardcover)

Kirkus Review - Children 02/15/1995 pg. 229 (EAN 9780892552054, Hardcover)

Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/1995 pg. 375 (EAN 9780892552054, Hardcover)

Booklist 03/15/1998 pg. 1235 (EAN 9780892552054, Hardcover)

Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/1997 pg. 441 (EAN 9780892552054, Hardcover)

Booklist 09/15/1999 pg. 254 (EAN 9780892552054, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Mazer, Anne Anne Mazer is the author of The Salamander Room, The Sister Magic series, and the bestselling Abby Hayes series. She lives in Ithaca, New York.