Listen, I’m usually not the biggest fan of anthologies. Most times, there are two short stories that I really love and the rest, I just feel meh about. Sometimes, I feel obliged to review every single story on its own, while other times I feel like the stories only work as a whole. It’s a complicated thing.
But Color Outside the Lines has my whole heart.
This collection of stories approaches interracial and LGBTQIA+ relationships in various ways, addressing a plethora of topics connected to it. Love, culture, family, expectations, prejudice, discrimination, and barred communications are just a few that are explored. There are stories about trying to find common ground between cultures, facing the challenges of the privileges of being “colorblind” and understanding that to be equal is not the same as to simply say the words and be done with the topic. There are stories challenging stereotypical points of views, stories about kids who just want to find themselves in popular culture, stories about fierce people who just want to be heard and seen, who just want to be able to say, “I matter. I deserve to take up space.”. It’s a kaleidoscope of voices that illuminate how much we need more diverse literature and just how important these voices are.
I contemplated reviewing the short stories individually, but I feel like it would be doing this book a disservice. I went into the stories not knowing anything besides the title and it made the exploration of the previously mentioned topics all the more magical. The vibrant mix of stories is what makes this anthology so accessible. Truly, there is a story for everybody within these pages – whether it’s about not being aware of the monumental differences between cultures, the way one kindhearted person can change your life, or the female/female Hades/Persephone reimagination you’ve always wanted. Moreover, every single story left me wanting more – and it is my hope that this anthology is one of the necessary steps to get young readers to pick up diverse stories and find acceptance in them.
So what can you expect to get if you pick up this book? You will get a Jewish girl and an Indian boy discussing their outsider status and the worry of not fitting in. You will experience a world in which everybody has a ghost as their sidekick. A story in which colonialism separates two people who might have had one of the most epic love stories of their time. A tale about a daughter of a poisoner and a boy shunned for his scars finding common ground. And so much more!
What you can expect most of all is finding new authors to obsess over! For instance, I’ve been following Eric Smith on Twitter for ages, but I’ve never read any of his works. After reading his contribution to this fine collection, “Sandwiched in Between”, that tragic mistake will be remedied immediately. These authors put so much soul into these stories and it transpires beautifully onto the page. Whether it’s the lush descriptions of a fantastical land in which a girl gets to decide where and when her story begins or the realistic, no-nonsense prose that follows a boy wanting to find a book at the store that gives a queer character a happily ever after – there is care behind these words. Care to give teens a voice. And it is so, so encouraging, I can’t even find words for the wholesome feeling in my chest, closing this book.
All in all, I’m so happy this anthology exists and my hope is that every young individual who is craving to see themselves represented in stories will find they are very welcome in this world – to quote this anthology: “Stories belong to everyone, not just the ones telling them”.
Color Outside The Lines is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of November 12th 2019.
Will you be checking out Color Outside The Lines? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
This modern, groundbreaking YA anthology explores the complexity and beauty of interracial and LGBTQ+ relationships where differences are front and center.
When people ask me what this anthology is about, I’m often tempted to give them the complicated answer: it’s about race, and about how being different from the person you love can matter but how it can also not matter, and it’s about Chinese pirate ghosts, black girl vigilantes, colonial India, a flower festival, a garden of poisons, and so, so much else. Honestly, though? I think the answer’s much simpler than that. Color outside the Lines is a collection of stories about young, fierce, brilliantly hopeful people in love.
—Sangu Mandanna, editor of Color outside the Lines
