Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America

Pooja Makhijani's Under Her Skin is an excellent non-fiction look at the complex way girls experience race in America. With short essays from women from all walks of life and all different races, this is a stunning and thought-provoking book. I don't know if I could think of a better book to keep in a classroom, especially in today's high schools. Race is a card often played, rarely understood, and hotly contested. The raw truth and honesty in the stories in Under Her Skin will get to just about anyone and everyone - no matter what race they consider themselves to be - will find something to identify with. After all, we've all felt left out, right? We've all had moments of doubt, of disbelief, of confusion. For me, the stories from Asians were particularly poignant - being half-Chinese and having lived for a brief time in Mississippi (where our family was the only remotely ethnic family for three counties), I can definitely relate. Perhaps those middle states in the U.S. are the places where this book would be most useful. Recommended for readers of all ages, especially women, but also anyone searching for a little truth in their life. Definitely recommended for classroom use--use the stories together or singly. Kimberly Pauley, The YA Books Goddess @ YoungAdultBooksCentral.com

I enjoyed reading these stories, some of which reflected my thoughts and feelings about race and color. They were not simple recountings of events, rather each author dug deep into her heart and returned with a pearl of understanding. It takes courage to write honestly about these topics.

The essays in this book make the textures of America's racial problem palpable by a careful buildup of detail, observed by about 20 female writers before they were writers at all. The results are rich -- you get a sense of what's been gained in the last few decades, of what's been lost, and of what's still missing.