A well-written, thoroughly supported, and accessible presentation of immigrants’ essential economic role.
Evidence of the many ways that immigrants are not a threat to, but rather a mainstay of, the U.S. economy.
Backing up the subtitle’s claim from the start, Sheen begins with two easily read pages of infographics on areas including taxes and spending, entrepreneurs, occupations, and the wage distribution of immigrants and native-born workers. Although she provides many relevant examples of documented immigrants’ contributions to U.S. productivity and prosperity, she also cites research showing that undocumented immigrants pay far more into the system than they extract from it: “over $30 billion in federal, state, and local taxes annually” that support public benefits they can’t utilize. Immigrants often perform “messy, physically demanding jobs” that otherwise would go unfilled by native-born workers. A brief history of immigration—and anti-immigrant abuses past and present—precedes an overview of immigrants’ contributions to building, revitalizing, and maintaining strong communities. The third chapter explores immigrants’ cultural contributions, explaining how they’ve both enriched the culture and stimulated the economy, for example, through celebrations like St. Patrick’s Day and Lunar New Year, as well as through ethnic food industries and pop culture. In the chapter entitled “Shaping the Future,” Sheen cites the examples of Jan Koum, the Ukrainian-born founder of WhatsApp, and Eric Yuan, the Chinese-born creator of Zoom, among others. Abundant color photos show diversity in race, gender, and religion.
A well-written, thoroughly supported, and accessible presentation of immigrants’ essential economic role. (picture credits, source notes, for further research, websites, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781678208042
Page Count: 64
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Congolese-American Sophie makes a harrowing trek through a war-torn jungle to protect a young bonobo.
On her way to spend the summer at the bonobo sanctuary her mother runs, 14-year-old Sophie rescues a sickly baby bonobo from a trafficker. Though her Congolese mother is not pleased Sophie paid for the ape, she is proud that Sophie works to bond with Otto, the baby. A week before Sophie's to return home to her father in Miami, her mother must take advantage
of a charter flight to relocate some apes, and she leaves Sophie with Otto and the sanctuary workers. War breaks out, and after missing a U.N. flight out, Sophie must hide herself and Otto from violent militants and starving villagers. Unable to take Otto out of the country, she decides finding her mother hundreds of miles to the north is her only choice. Schrefer jumps from his usual teen suspense to craft this well-researched tale of jungle survival set during a fictional conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Realistic characters (ape and human) deal with disturbing situations described in graphic, but never gratuitous detail. The lessons Sophie learns about her childhood home, love and what it means to be endangered will resonate with readers.
Even if some hairbreadth escapes test credulity, this is a great next read for fans of our nearest ape cousins or survival adventure. (map, author's note, author Q&A) (Adventure. 12-16)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-16576-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Unhappy teens in need of a lecture on thinking positively and being more in touch with one’s emotions need look no further.
Mangan presents in as many chapters a 20-point strategy that ranges from “Have a Positive Attitude” and “Cut Your Problems Into Pieces” to “Practice Being Patient” and “Appreciate the Value of Your Hard Work.” She blends private exercises like visualizing forgiveness with comments on selective attention, “problematic procrastination” and other bad habits, reframing situations to put them in different lights, “changing shoes” to understand others better and subjecting feelings to rational analysis. Though the author has a graduate degree and years of practice in clinical psychology, she offers generalities and generic situations rather than specific cases from her experience, and the book is devoid of references to further resources or even an index. Superficial advice (“If you are unsafe or are around kids that you know are bullies, just walk away”) combines with techniques that are unlikely to interest readers (“Make a song verse out of your list of helpful thoughts”). The author also makes questionable claims about the mind-body connection (“When you smile, your body sends a signal to your brain that you are happy”) and fails to make a case for regarding side forays into food habits and environmental concerns as relevant to her topic. Obvious issues and common-sense advice, unpersuasively presented. (Self-help. 12-15)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4338-1040-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
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