Specific advice and meaningful context make this a strong introduction to online safety.
An accessibly written guide that helps readers confront the epidemic of online falsehoods with tips on information literacy.
This compact volume covers a number of critical topics. Teens learn that while software filters are designed to screen for hate speech, violence, and pornography, when it comes to bald lies, they are largely on their own. Steffens proffers helpful advice, explaining how bots often spread false information that proliferates due to malice, attention seeking, or commercial interests. He explains ways in which disinformation threatens democracy, individual well-being, and social cohesion and notes that advances in AI might help combat the flood of deepfakes and other AI creations that could potentially have a huge impact on commerce, politics, and security. An entire chapter is devoted to avoiding financial scams and phishing. In the chapter entitled “Recognizing Bias,” Steffens includes important information about cognitive biases and how they interact with algorithms to lead us into dangerous echo chambers; he points readers to media watchdog sites and explains lateral reading strategies to bolster awareness. Another chapter warns against hazards such as catfishing, romance scams, and sextortion. Up-to-date sources and brief summaries of memorable cases bolster this concise but thorough overview.
Specific advice and meaningful context make this a strong introduction to online safety. (sources, further research, websites, index, picture credits) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781678208141
Page Count: 64
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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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