Open Your Eyes: Extraordinary Experiences in Faraway Places - Hardcover

Grade 7 Up-Sometimes the most life-altering moments in young people's lives come as a result of being exposed to another culture. Davis seeks to explore these changes by gathering stories and memoirs from noted authors, among them Lois Lowry, Susie Morgenstern, Katherine Paterson, Graham Salisbury, and Jean Fritz. While most of the selections focus on evolved thinking while on foreign sojourns, two of the best are set in the United States. In a story guaranteed to make readers laugh, howl, and then cry, Piper Dellums, the privileged daughter of an African-American congressman, looks forward to making a sister of a South African exchange student. However, the teen who arrives at her doorstep is white and makes the mistake of thinking that her host family must be the congressman's servants. In "Looking for America," Elizabeth Partridge spends some time in the South and is astonished to find that a black cook who prepares the food can not drink from the family's glasses, but must use a mason jar. At his evocative best, Harry Mazer takes readers back to when he was a teenaged GI, bailing out of a flaming World War II bomber and wondering what happened to a friend who never returned. In this time of rising xenophobia, the message of these stories assumes new importance. It is best summed up by Davis's choice of a Mark Twain quotation: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness."-Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY
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Gr. 7-10. This unusual anthology spotlights 10 people whose lives were changed by living or traveling abroad during their youth. Editor Davis introduces the volume with a vivid memoir of her own experiences in France and follows up each of the main selections with a two-page introduction to the writer. The contributors range from Lois Lowry and Elizabeth Partridge to Graham Salisbury and Jean Fritz. The ages of the travelers and the adventures they describe vary greatly: Henry Mazer's experiences as an 18-year-old gunner shot down over Czechoslovakia during World War II; Lowry's encounters as an 11-year-old communicating with Japanese neighbors without a common language. Probably the most memorable entry is Piper Dellums' story of a bigoted South African exchange student who is stunned and distressed to realize that her host family in Washington, D.C., is African American. Though not every piece is excellent, the overall quality is uncommonly high. The best contributions are riveting, and the voices, vivid and distinctive. At least one black-and-white photo accompanies each selection. A fine collection of memoirs to read, savor, and share. Carolyn Phelan
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