A vivid account that will leave readers feeling there should have been lessons learned.
A narrative nonfiction account of a 1920s trial that gained international attention.
On April 15, 1920, in South Braintree, Massachusetts, the paymaster for a shoe factory and the security guard accompanying him were shot dead in the street. The money they were carrying—the wages of 400 employees—was stolen. Witnesses disagreed on the particulars, but about two weeks later, on a flimsy, speculative pretext, police arrested Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for robbery. They were later charged with murder. The two men had nothing to do with the crime but were in fact anti-capitalist anarchists, part of a growing post–World War I movement to secure workers’ rights and improve the lives of the poor. The government had begun a harsh campaign against these so-called radicals, and Sacco and Vanzetti fit right into the established narrative. The judge at the trial was known for hating anarchists. Not only were the men found guilty, but, despite international protests, the recanting of several witnesses, and a confession from another inmate, they were executed. Florio and Shapiro document the story well, including historic photographs and letters the defendants wrote. They put events into historical context up until the moment of execution but fail to show what, if anything, changed as a result of the deaths of innocent men, making the story feel incomplete.
A vivid account that will leave readers feeling there should have been lessons learned. (author’s note, map, source notes, bibliography, image credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-62193-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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
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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