"I constantly questioned myself as a child. All of the positive images of poeple I'd seen were white. To be beautiful, ou not only had to be stick-skinny, with no behind, you had to have long silky blong hair and blue eyes, a thin nose, and thin lips. I just didn't measure up."

-- Charisse Nesbit, Maryland

These true stories from every part of America tell what it was like growing up in world where the color of people's skin set them apart.

How do you feel when a teacher doesn't believe that you wrote the story he thinks is great?

How can you make friends and belong in a black school when your father is black and your mother is Puerto Rican?

What do you do whn you're working in the kitchen o a summer camp in Vermont, but you're not allowed to swim in the camp lake?

All the writer's pain, confusion, humiliation, and rage are vividly expressed. but many of them went on to struggle against overwhelming odds and realize their dreams. Their voices offer hope, inspiration, and a challenge to us all.