Though Andraka’s test and other inventions remain years away from real-world use, his evident delight in science and his...
Meet the gay geeky high school genius who won top prize at the world’s most prestigious science fair with a revolutionary test for early signs of pancreatic cancer.
Andraka organizes his memoir around two main strands. One is the string of middle and high school science-fair triumphs in various fields leading to and beyond his 2012 win at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. The other is his progress from “What is wrong with me?” to inner acceptance and public coming out. For the former, he points to supportive parents and sibling competition as initial influences, and the death of a revered family friend from pancreatic cancer is the impulse for his interest in finding a cheap and reliable diagnostic test. For the latter strand, he charts a familiar course, in which growing confusion and self-doubt exacerbated by bullying in middle school led to a suicide attempt—but culminated in an announcement and enough self-possession to cope with the resultant flack. Having described his major projects and research before and after 2012 with the glib clarity of a true science-fair veteran, he leaves off partway through his junior year with a stimulating flurry of further notions. He then tacks on ten low-tech science experiments, several math tricks, and quick leads to anti-bullying, LGBTQ, and suicide-awareness resources.
Though Andraka’s test and other inventions remain years away from real-world use, his evident delight in science and his rocky adolescence furnish plenty of role-model material—and not just for STEM savants. (Memoir. 11-15)Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236965-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
In 1910, Pascal D’Angelo and his father left the harsh Abruzzi region of Italy to escape its impossible poverty and journey to the United States; Pascal was 16 years old. Murphy, a graceful narrator of history, presents the life of the peasant as he journeyed through life in the new country. He never became wealthy or even comfortable, but did leave an impression with his poetry—and this from a man who became literate in English as an adult, largely self-taught (and librarians will be delighted to know that they helped him). D’Angelo also wrote an autobiography, Son of Italy, relating to life as an immigrant and the hard—largely pick-and-shovel—work he did to earn a scant living. Such a telling should resonate when readers think about why people come to a new country where they do not speak the language, do not know the customs, and too often are alone, even (or especially) today. The protagonist does not come through as a sharp personality; he is somewhat shadowy against the times and places of his life. He stands out as a symbol rather than a full person. But his accomplishments are certainly large. Archival photos are interesting but sometimes captions are non-indicative; what do they mean? When and where were they taken? There are two photos of D’Angelo. As usual, Murphy provides details that help set the story. A biography of a common man that is also the history of a civilization and its times. (index and bibliography) (Biography. 9-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2000
ISBN: 0-395-77610-4
Page Count: 162
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
If only Benedict Arnold had died sooner. Had he been killed at the Battle of Saratoga, he’d be one of the greatest heroes of American history, and “we’d celebrate his life as one of the best action stories we have.” Instead, he survived and went on to betray the colonies and die in shame. Sheinkin sees Arnold as America’s “original action hero” and succeeds in writing a brilliant, fast-paced biography that reads like an adventure novel. Opening with the hanging of Major Andre, the British officer who plotted with Arnold to turn West Point over to the British, the story sticks to the exciting illustrative scenes of Arnold’s career—the invasion of Canada, assembling America’s first naval fleet, the Battle of Valcour Island, the Battle of Saratoga and the plot with Andre, whose parallel narrative ends in a bungled mission, his execution and Arnold’s dishonor. The author’s obvious mastery of his material, lively prose and abundant use of eyewitness accounts make this one of the most exciting biographies young readers will find. (source notes, quotation notes, maps [not seen]) (Biography. 11-14)
Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59643-486-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
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