A dizzyingly expansive book on cognitive development with some intriguing ideas.
A sweeping view of cognitive development and cultural evolution that attempts to explain kids today.
Parents often complain that today’s youth are slow to grow up, settle down or hold a steady job. Cerridwen, in this debut work, agrees: “Young people drift in and out of school and in and out of a variety of jobs while they try to get their bearings.” Here, she offers an explanation based in psychology, history and literature. She begins with her slant on theories of cognitive development, which divide our lives into periods of increasing mental capacity; infants focus on sensory and motor skills, and in early childhood, humans form the ability for abstract thinking. Cerridwen contends that the “linear period,” in which “people have the ability to step outside their native world view and determine if it is the correct one or not,” begins in late childhood and, until recently, continued through adulthood. She proposes, however, that a new stage of development has emerged over the past 60 years: “the complex nonlinear period.” This cognitive capacity allows people to hold conflicting views, understand open-ended systems and deal with continuous feedback. In the second part of her book, Cerridwen surveys literature from the past 3,000 years in a bid to show that cultural evolution roughly follows the stages of cognitive development. Primitive cultures advanced only as far as today’s 7-year-old, she writes, while classic and modern cultures reached the aforementioned linear period. The book’s final section looks at current cultural and cognitive shifts, which Cerridwen likens to a midlife crisis. Citing such diverse sources as scientist James Lovelock’s earth-system hypothesis and Helen Fielding’s 1996 novel Bridget Jones’s Diary, she contends that ours is the first historical era to have an additional stage—complex nonlinear thinking—before we reach full maturity; hence, we need an extra 10 years to grow up. Intriguingly, she pins this shift on a rejection of authoritarianism rather than on the rise of the information age. Cerridwen’s intellectual scope is impressive; true to her own ideas on complexity, she eschews academic boundaries, mixes scholarly and personal writing, and frequently shifts scales from the historical to the individual. Her point may require more synthesis and fewer examples, but devoted readers will certainly find kernels of wisdom here.
A dizzyingly expansive book on cognitive development with some intriguing ideas.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-0993662102
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Anemone Cerridwen
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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