A solid, thoroughly readable guide
Just about anything teens would want to know about money and finance but didn’t know enough to ask.
McGuire first makes the often intimidating world of finance—not generally a topic on a teen’s must-read list—approachable by separating the book into four tidy subsections: Earning, Saving, Spending and Protecting. She makes it further accessible by using concrete examples instead of abstractions. She discusses the ins and outs of starting a business, with two entrepreneurial teens describing how they acquired their startup capital and how they juggled their businesses with their school schedules. Oftentimes, McGuire departs from giving purely financial advice and provides counsel that sounds like it comes from a mentor or parent. “Your number one job as a teen is to get good grades, gain experiences from school and community activities, and prepare for higher education.” She advises teens on appropriate dress for an interview—“When in doubt, dress up, not down”—and how to discriminate between wants and needs. She also covers banking and investing, saving for the near and far future, and purchasing car and property insurance. There are scads of helpful websites, as well as a sample resume, budget and W-2 form. Colorful photos and charts and eye-catching graphics keep the pages turning.
A solid, thoroughly readable guide . (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62370-135-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Though none of the issues presented is explored in any great depth, this overview provides readers with a useful starting...
This overview delves into the history of torture, from the flayings, burnings and other brutal methods used in ancient societies to the psychological and sexual torture of the 21st century, and tackles complex ethical and moral questions.
Torture is universally condemned in international law, yet its efficacy as a method of intelligence gathering and controlling human behavior continues to be debated. Marcovitz chronicles how torture has been used since ancient times: in witch hunts and the Inquisition, the suppression of political dissent by autocratic regimes, as punishment for an array of crimes. In the 18th century, the Enlightenment brought the push for human rights and arguments that torture was unacceptable under any circumstances. Despite attempts to prohibit torture through international compacts like the Geneva Convention and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the practice of torture persists to the present day. Marcovitz devotes a good deal of discussion to its widespread use by the United States, citing examples like Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay and the policy of extraordinary rendition. Both sides of the debate on the efficacy and necessity of torture are presented and left to readers to decide if torture is ever acceptable.
Though none of the issues presented is explored in any great depth, this overview provides readers with a useful starting place for further exploration. (glossary, timeline, source notes, bibliography, websites, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4677-5049-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
A chilling exposé.
So very rarely is anything perfect, but when the legal process malfunctions, the result can be the horror of unjust incarceration.
It is estimated that 2 to 5 percent of the American prison population—that is, 40,000 to 100,000 souls—are wrongly behind bars, writes veteran forensic scientist Murray. They are the victims of inept counsel, snitches looking for a payday, judges guilty of official misconduct (“such as bias, corruption, or incompetence”), police bullying, flawed or malicious testimony, and racial prejudice—what one attorney refers to as “legal lynching.” But since the late 1980s, a handful of exoneration organizations have worked to overturn wrongful convictions. As Murray writes, they principally address high-profile cases, such as murder and rape, where the consequences can be the death penalty; over the last 25 years, 1,400 men and women have been exonerated. Murray lays a solid foundation for readers, taking them through the legal system’s long road, from questioning all the way to appeal, while explaining how exoneration is achieved, mostly through DNA testing and fingerprints. More rarely it’s achieved by displaying overwhelming evidence of faulty prosecution (as she writes, “Grave mistakes are often the hardest to admit”). Of exonerated prisoners, notes Murray, the average age of incarceration is 27 and the average age of release is 42.
A chilling exposé. (Nonfiction. 13-18)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4677-2513-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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