Judicious but rushed; suitable for research assignments.
An early overview of what went right and what didn’t.
Drawing on surveys, official reports, and news stories from 2019 to the first months of 2022, Stephan sketches a picture of a confused, rapidly politicized response to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. Notwithstanding some dramatic language and frequent quotes from experts and victims, the narrative makes dry reading. It seems mostly to be a catalog of failures, as the author records then-President Donald Trump’s skeptical early statements, points to racial and political divides in vaccination rates, lists the impact of diverted attention and funds from other pressing social and medical issues, and questions how beneficial school closures were. On the plus side, she does highlight the speed with which vaccines were developed (if not distributed, particularly to people in low-income countries) and successful efforts to reach the unvaccinated. She also ends with a reference to the soaring recent enrollment of Black and Latino students in Brown University’s public health program. Considering that Covid is still very much with us and that many of its effects are going to be of the long-term sort, this overview is almost certainly premature. Still, students will find it a sobering record of the United States’ lack of preparedness to cope with a (long-predicted) public health crisis.
Judicious but rushed; suitable for research assignments. (source notes, resources, further reading, index, picture credits) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-67820-346-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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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