Here are seventeen short stories that reflect young adult views on friendships and prejudice, expectations and disappointments, happiness and pain, connections and confrontations. The characters come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, among them Puerto Rican, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Japanese, Cuban, Lebanese, Chinese, African American, Laotian, Chicano, and Pueblo Indian.

But most of all, they are American teenagers—interested in having friends, wanting fair treatment, studying for SATs, playing their music, getting a driver's license, dealing with adult authority figures, playing baseball, and falling in love.

These are stories about people who want to be accepted yet need to be recognized as individuals.

Edited by Donald A. Gallo.

Contents:

• Expectations
  • Into the Game by Rita Williams-Garcia
  • Fox Hunt by Lensey Namioka
  • Eagle Cloud and Fawn by Barbara Beasley Murphy
  • Next Month...Hollywood! by Jean Davies Okimoto
• Friendships
  • Viva New Jersey by Gloria Gonzalez
  • No Win Phuong by Alden R. Carter
  • A Daughter of the Sea by Maureen Crane Wartski
• Dilemmas
  • Dead End by Rudolfo Anyana
  • Bride Price by Linda Crew
  • My Sweet Sixteenth by Brenda Wilkinson
  • The Child by Julius Lester
• Connections
  • Rima's Song by Elsa Marston
  • Godmother by Sharon Bell Mathis
  • Blues for Bob E. Brown by T. Ernesto Bethancourt
• Confrontations
  • The Alley by Danny Romero
  • Coming of Age by Kleya Forté-Escamilla
  • The Winter Hibiscus by Minfong Ho