This slim volume makes clear the grinding reality of the cheapest labor and presents a welcome chance to act.
“At any given time, up to 20 to 27 million people around the world are believed to be victims of some form of human trafficking.” Or you could call it slavery.
Hillary Rodham Clinton might think that modern slavery is “thriv[ing] in the shadows,” but in reality, it is thriving right out in the open. What is in the shadows is paying due recognition to human trafficking, and Behnke’s shattering overview of modern slavery’s many hues will go a long way toward raising the bar of awareness and action. Behnke keeps her tone even; hysterics would only distract from the sheer villainy of the institution. And institution it is, with various departments and subunits: There are labor trafficking and sex trafficking, debt bondage, organ trafficking, and baby and toddler trafficking. Some traffickers are lone wolves, others are members of an extended family, still others are rings with global reach. The book has a number of boxed testimonials of special piquancy, as well as a good number of bell-clear pictures to bring the issue home. Of note is the chapter on how to steer clear of slave-manufactured products and, indeed, how to read the signs that someone may be trafficked. What really zings to the heart of the problem are the roles played by poverty, discrimination and lack of education in the fostering of vulnerability to becoming a slave.
This slim volume makes clear the grinding reality of the cheapest labor and presents a welcome chance to act. (Nonfiction. 11-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1611-6
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Best enjoyed by preexisting fans of the author.
Deaf, trans artist Man meditates on his journey and identity in this brief memoir.
Growing up in conservative central Pennsylvania was tough for the 21-year-old Deaf, genderqueer, pansexual, and biracial (Chinese/White Jewish) author. He describes his gender and sexual identity, his experiences of racism and ableism, and his desire to use his visibility as a YouTube personality, model, and actor to help other young people like him. He is open and vulnerable throughout, even choosing to reveal his birth name. Man shares his experiences of becoming deaf as a small child and at times feeling ostracized from the Deaf community but not how he arrived at his current Deaf identity. His description of his gender-identity development occasionally slips into a well-worn pink-and-blue binary. The text is accompanied and transcended by the author’s own intriguing, expressionistic line drawings. However, Man ultimately falls short of truly insightful reflection or analysis, offering a mostly surface-level account of his life that will likely not be compelling to readers who are not already fans. While his visibility and success as someone whose life represents multiple marginalized identities are valuable in themselves, this heartfelt personal chronicle would have benefited from deeper introspection.
Best enjoyed by preexisting fans of the author. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-22348-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Like many grammar books, this starts with parts of speech and goes on to sentence structure, punctuation, usage and style....
As she does in previous volumes—Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing (2008) and The Grammar Devotional (2009)—Fogarty affects an earnest and upbeat tone to dissuade those who think a grammar book has to be “annoying, boring, and confusing” and takes on the role of “grammar guide, intent on demystifying grammar.”
Like many grammar books, this starts with parts of speech and goes on to sentence structure, punctuation, usage and style. Fogarty works hard to find amusing, even cheeky examples to illustrate the many faux pas she discusses: "Squiggly presumed that Grammar Girl would flinch when she saw the word misspelled as alot." Young readers may well look beyond the cheery tone and friendly cover, though, and find a 300+-page text that looks suspiciously schoolish and isn't really that different from the grammar texts they have known for years (and from which they have still not learned a lot of grammar). As William Strunk said in his introduction to the first edition of the little The Elements of Style, the most useful grammar guide concentrates attention “on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.” After that, “Students profit most by individual instruction based on the problems of their own work.” By being exhaustive, Fogarty may well have created just the kind of volume she hoped to avoid.Pub Date: July 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8943-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
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