by Jeff Fleischer ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2020
Not exactly evenhanded but still a solid and timely foundation.
Updated edition of a frank, left-leaning 2016 guide.
The past four years have brought significant changes to electoral practices and procedures—on local as well as national levels—and there is an acerbic tone to the fresh examples and observations that Fleischer incorporates into his wide-angled overview of how elections work…or are meant to. Building around chapters on registering to vote, casting ballots, and getting involved in the political process as a volunteer or candidate, he offers broad looks at how the U.S. government has been organized and reorganized as well as relevant topics from the development of political parties to how primaries, the Electoral College, the legislative process, and campaign finances have been gamed (mostly by conservatives) through the years. His brave effort to encompass the widely divergent rules of down-ballot elections as well as state and national ones does here and there force him into generalities, but he has plenty of illuminating stories to tell. Moreover, along with frequent sidebar glances at third-party races, the long history of voter suppression, fake news and ways to counter it, and more, he appends refreshed, annotated lists of helpful information sites, both nonpartisan and otherwise. If, as he argues, just showing up is the key to making the electoral process more democratic, this searching study makes an effective spur.
Not exactly evenhanded but still a solid and timely foundation. (source notes, additional resources, index, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5415-7896-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Zest Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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by Chella Man ; illustrated by Chella Man & Ashley Lukashevsky ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2021
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
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by Shavone Charles ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Leo Baker ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Mignon Fogarty & illustrated by Erwin Haya ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 5, 2011
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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