Before I can comment on this book, I feel it important to tell where I came from - my brothers and I had no religious background whatsoever. My father grew up in strict Catholic corn farm Iowa and ran away as soon as he could; my mom's parents had overbearing religious parents, so they had no interest in any religion to pass to their children. I never heard any talk of people's religion - it wasn't that we looked down on it, we simply had no interest in it.

I went to the poorest schools in the Las Vegas valley in the 60's and 70's and never even thought about the religion of others. I eventually found out in high school that many of my classmates were Mormons, but it didn't mean anything to me. Nearly half of my school was black but until the riots of the early 70's, I didn't think about the color of a person's skin.

With that said, this book evoked many emotions. The essays by the various authors are quite often heart wrenching- and yet many give such good memories of family and strength of community, something of which I can honestly say I don't have many.

I can't imagine kids beating up on other kids just because of their religion. I guess I am naive enough to hope that it doesn't happen as often, but it does make me glad I wasn't burdened with religion or prejudice as a child.

I would highly recommend this book- no matter your religion or the color of your skin.

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