NONFICTION - July 7, 1996

40 WAYS TO RAISE A NONRACIST CHILD by Barbara Mathias and Mary Ann French (HarperCollins: $10, 176 pp.). Journalists Mathias and French deserve to be commended for honestly confronting a topic as thorny as racism. “40 Ways to Raise a Nonracist Child� is clearly a courageous, worthwhile project. Criticizing it feels almost unfair. Yet the book has problems.

Taken individually, many of the “ways� listed are quite useful, even if all one does is think about them. “Examine what holds you back from interracial friendships, avoid cultural tourism and beware of your nonverbal messages,� are three especially intriguing suggestions. Yet there are other ideas that seem overwhelmingly difficult or, for some people, downright impossible: “Involve the community, help broaden your child’s social circle, select a diverse middle school.�

Mathias and French address some important issues, yet remain silent on others. Is racism embedded into the human psyche? How exactly do we define a racist? Does the perception of differences automatically involve stereotyping? When is that line crossed? Ultimately, this book may leave many readers with more questions than answers.