A useful overview of a hot-button issue.
What’s going on with the current wave of book banning?
Growing attention from parents and politicians to what students read led to unprecedented numbers of book challenges in 2021. Loonin begins her survey of this aspect of the United States’ culture wars with a short history highlighting the role of the American Library Association in spotlighting the issue with Banned Books Week, begun in 1982. She points out that more recent book-banning attempts often come from government officials as well as parents, who previously featured most prominently. Such public attention, she explains, leads to soft censorship by publishers, librarians, and school personnel. The author quotes statistics and describes court decisions. Three middle chapters break down current book challenges by type: books that tackle the subject of race, books about LGBTQ+ issues, and YA books considered edgy for their subject matter or language. The final chapter describes the obstacles teachers face, including controversies over American history textbook content and challenges due to bias, as with some iconic high school literature titles. Loonin’s exposition is straightforward, and she lets individuals from different sides provide the arguments through extensive, carefully sourced quotations, some pulled out in highlight boxes. Occasional color illustrations show a diverse range of teens and adults. Regretfully, teens’ own reactions and protests are relegated to a short final section.
A useful overview of a hot-button issue. (picture credits, source notes, organizations and websites, further research, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781678204747
Page Count: 64
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change.
Testa’s connection to and respect for nature compelled her to begin championing animal causes at the age of 10, and this desire to have an impact later propelled her to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution. Starting with the history of plastic and how it’s produced, Testa acknowledges the benefits of plastics for humanity but also the many ways it harms our planet. Instead of relying on recycling—which is both insufficient and ineffective—she urges readers to follow two additional R’s: “refuse” and “raise awareness.” Readers are encouraged to do their part, starting with small things like refusing to use plastic straws and water bottles and eventually working up to using their voices to influence business and policy change. In the process, she highlights other youth advocates working toward the same cause. Short chapters include personal examples, such as observations of plastic pollution in Mauritius, her maternal grandparents’ birthplace. Testa makes her case not only against plastic pollution, but also for the work she’s done, resulting in something of a college-admissions–essay tone. Nevertheless, the first-person accounts paired with science will have an impact on readers. Unfortunately, no sources are cited and the lack of backmatter is a missed opportunity.
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22333-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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