Comprehensive, inclusive, and practical.
Profiles of women engineers and coders who overcame obstacles to become leading voices in their fields.
Each profile presents the subject’s challenges and career path while exploring global themes of gender-based disenfranchisement—and empowerment—in STEM fields. The work presents itself as both a guide for girls who want to go into these areas as well as an appeal to those who don’t think they would find them interesting or who might feel discouraged from pursuing them. The chapters, each about 10 pages in length, are based on individual interviews conducted by the engineer author, highlight each woman’s story and accomplishments. The subjects come from a diverse range of backgrounds, highlighting marginalized identities within the field, such as race and disability. Numerous sidebars relating to the women’s backgrounds cover a range of content, some of it broadly useful beyond STEM careers, especially for teens from less privileged backgrounds, such as making a college education financially attainable, understanding the mentor-mentee relationship, escaping an abusive environment, attending college as a young parent, and business card etiquette. The closing chapters offer specific guidance, shepherding readers through preparing for college, different types of engineering and programming jobs, suggested books and movies, and the complexities of advanced degrees. The prose style is friendly, supportive, and informal, making potentially intimidating subject matter less so.
Comprehensive, inclusive, and practical. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64160-638-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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