Offering a powerful-but-playful portrait of urban teens-especially teens of colour-this collection of poetry is at once rife with contemporary issues as well as the timeless challenges of high school. Whether focusing on topics such as troubled families, racism in the streets, and depression or boy-girl obsession, the joys of graduation, sports triumphs, and personal achievement, Angela Shelf Medearis writes with wry humour and a direct honesty with which young readers will immediately identify.

This is an excellent resource to engage adolescent readers and writers in a discussion of issues they will recognize from their own lives.