This riveting collection of poems and short stories by award-winning African and African-American writers shares the complexities and surprises of living between two cultures and sometimes of one’s own culture. At the heart of many entries is the search for identity and, in many cases, identity derives from where characters find themselves at the moment, such as “Ella’s Dunes,” in which a South African girl feels more at ease with the Bushmen she has just met. Although the collection represents various African cultures, including those of Tanzania, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Liberia, and Ethiopia, it also reveals the elements that unite all cultures—family struggles, coming of age, and the need to belong. These are best seen in “Soldiers of the Stone,” in which recent California immigrant Kulaja, a former rebel soldier in Sierra Leone’s civil war, shares much in common with Marco, a gang member originally from Mexico. Whether tender, adventurous, or heart-wrenching, these poems and stories stir readers to experience Africa—its pain and its beauty. (Poetry/short stories. 11-15)
