Dancing Pink Flamingos and other stories

by Maria Testa

115 pages Hardback

For Grades 8-12

Price $6.00 and includes shipping.

Review:
Gr. 8^-12. Hard times in the life of urban teens is the theme of this promising but uneven short story collection. Among the weakest in the roundup is the title story, with one-dimensional characters and a predictable ending, and the stories featuring male protagonists are neither particularly successful nor subtly written. But at their best, the tales, which deal with terrorism, sexual harassment, crime, and other unpleasant subjects, feature fine, unsentimental portrayals of young women facing ugly realities and rediscovering optimism. One outstanding story, "Math Genius," concerns a math-music prodigy who witnesses the murder of the teen who mugged her. In "The Corrupting of Fouad," a young artist helps a lost and confused Iraqi boy use art to express his turmoil over the Persian Gulf War. A mixed bag, to be sure, but when Testa writes about teens using art and music to understand their difficult world, her prose is as beautifully moving as it is straightforward. A collection worth sampling.