A well-written, succinct summary covers the major controversies over use or preservation. Distinguishing among conservationists who support ``multiple use'' (including recreation, logging, and mining), preservationists who want to keep wild land untouched, and environmentalists who link preservation to global environmental problems, Dolan presents the history of national parks, forests, and wilderness areas and the threats they face. To personalize the issues, he includes italicized examples: e.g., smog might keep the reader from seeing much at the Grand Canyon. But Dolan's ideas for avoiding crowding problems suffer from somewhat patronizing phrasing, and parts of the book are already dated: some species of salmon have been declared endangered (Dolan does mention the effects of this decision), and no mention is made of Bush's attempt to redefine wetlands to allow housing development, a major flip-flop for the ``environmental president.'' In general, though, Dolan fairly presents all sides, calling in the end for compromise. Extensive source notes and bibliography; b&w photo insert and index not seen. (Nonfiction. 12+)
Pub Date: April 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-531-11062-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
Decades after the events of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009), teenager Gabry lives in relative safety. Despite the Barrier keeping the ravaging zombies out of town, Gabry is a terrified homebody who wants only to stay sheltered with her mother, the refugee heroine of Forest. Her nervousness is justified; when Gabry is peer-pressured into sneaking past the Barrier for a night of adolescent rebellion, several of her friends are zombified. (One wonders, if teens sneaking out for a snog is so dangerous to society, how there any humans left at all.) The ensuing chaos sends Gabry into the wilderness where, encumbered by revelations about love and family, she encounters zombie-worshiping cultists, the dangerous remnants of the army and her own past. Whatever comes between Gabry and her mother, there’s one thing they definitely have in common: Like her mother, Gabry experiences an angst-ridden, gloomy love triangle while fleeing from zombie hordes in the forest’s depths. Fast-paced despite the mawkish romance, it will be gobbled up by fans of the first volume like brains. (Horror. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 9, 2010
ISBN: 970-0-385-73684-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
This story presents an alien invasion from two unique viewpoints. Megs is 12, trapped alone in the parking garage of a Los Angeles hotel, forced to scrounge for food and water while avoiding alien spaceships outside and security guards who have taken over the hotel with vicious disregard for the safety of their “guests” inside. Josh is about to turn 16, trapped in his house in Washington state with his father and dog, watching their world being slowly but surely destroyed, day after day, from his living-room window. Both have to deal with supplies that shrink with every rationed meal. No phones, no radio or television, no electricity and no ability to step out of shelter without being “deleted”—this is a new world that only the truly brave can exist in. Written in short chapters that alternate between Megs and Josh, this masterful debut grabs readers by the throat from the first page and never lets go. It is clear at the end that there’s a lot more story to tell, and one can only hope that a sequel is not far behind. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60898-011-6
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Namelos
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
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