In the book Bronx Masquerade, by Nikki Grimes, eighteen indifferent teenagers in Mr. Ward's English class start an open mike Friday, at which they share their inner most thoughts and personal lives through poetry and rap. The school at which the story takes place in is a mix of mostly African-Americans (Brothas and Sistahs) and Latinos, with a minority of Caucasian people thrown in, and of course the other small minorities that aren't really observed in the book.

Through the poetry they write, the students learn to have hope about the future and not to judge a book by its cover. They learn not to give into stereotypes and lives that others seem to have pre-determined for them, but to follow their own dreams to look past their judgmental and stereotypical opinions of the students of other nationalities, and to not take anything for face value. They learn...