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The four stories and one poem I have selected to work with from Thomas Kral's "Being People" are all illustrative of this principle—but so are other writings in this collection, some in even more extreme ways, and my selection should not imply any sense of "superiority" of these works over others in the anthology.

The study by Toni Cade Bambara—Raymond's Run—which gives the edition its title, and the story by Ray Bradbury—I Sing the Body Electric—are just two examples that are both splendid and should not be missed. Superficially they seem to deal with very different worlds; but in fact they are both about children struggling to find ways to find themselves and survive in a complex and often tragic world.

And in doing so, both stories touch upon common human fears and needs. Each story and poem in this collection has its particular angle of vision, and its particular special insight, but I don't believe readers will find these insights idiosyncratic, lurid or false. If anything, the collection stands as a firm rebuttal to the idea that modern literature drowns in its own ambiguities and has nothing essential to say to us. Reading these stories and poems should in fact, prove immensely rewarding.