One of the best collections of 2019: Take the Mic should be at the top of your TBR. There's no better day but today to get started.


A young adult anthology featuring fictional stories of everyday resistance.

You might be the kind of person who stands up to online trolls.
Or who marches to protest injustice.

Perhaps you are #DisabledAndCute and dancing around your living room, alive and proud.

Or perhaps you are the trans mentor that you wish you had when you were younger.

Maybe you call out false allies, or stand up to loved ones.

Maybe you speak your truth and drop the mic, or maybe you take it with you when you leave.

This anthology features fictional stories--in poems, prose, and art--that reflect a slice of the varied and limitless ways that readers like you resist every day. TAKE THE MIC's powerful collection of stories features work by literary luminaries and emerging talent alike, including Newbery-winner Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestseller Samira Ahmed, anthologist and contributor Bethany C. Morrow, Darcie Little Badger, Keah Brown, Laura Silverman, L.D. Lewis, Sofia Quintero, Ray Stoeve, Yamile Mendez, and Connie Sun, with cover and interior art by Richie Pope. 



As always, a copy of this book was provided by the publisher or author in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

This year has been full of many thought-provoking, realistic forms of fiction, but this anthology is one of the biggest standouts in YA. This isn't fictionalized idea of resistance--this is the very sort of fiction that inspires, gives us hope, and is highly insightful. Take The Mic succeeds in all the ways that so many other collections fails; never once treating its audience as if they were watching a watered down after school special. Instead, it all feels very organic and brilliantly honest.

The stories and poems featured in Take the Mic are each thought-provoking, emotional, hopeful and at times heartbreaking in their own rights. Everything in Take the Mic reflects the world we live in and it is definitely an engaging, beautifully written collection for all ages. It should be at the top of everyone's TBR list, because it will certainly strikes a chord in its readers.

I think that the biggest reminder, and message to take away from Take the Mic, is that as individuals and as groups: resistance comes about in many forms. What resistance means to you, is not always what resistance means to others. Much like with our emotional complexities and coping mechanisms, it's all subjective to the person or the situation. Whether you're raising your voice or marching for your life, there are countless ways to resist the cruelty of our world.

Overall, the messages within Take the Mic are too good to pass up on and timely given our political climate. By the end of the anthology you will be left feeling optimistic and completely enamored with the writers featured in its pages.