Taking on what was a chapter or two in recent books about animal rights, Daniel Cohen's Animal Rights: A Handbook for Young Adults (1993) and Marna Owen's Animal Rights: Yes or No? (1993), Day manages to create detective thriller out of the dilemmas. While stating attempts at balance were ``impeded by wild claims, questionable photographs, unlikely explanations,'' she nevertheless manages to tread on the seesaw, capturing, on one hand, the intense passion of protesters trained to break into buildings and disable police cars and presenting, on the other, some of the valid criticisms and suggestions of the animal rights movement. Likewise, she deftly handles shortcomings of the pro- experimentation camp, as well as the pluses and minuses of others on the continuum, e.g., the animal welfarist who shuns suffering and might use computer or cell-culture models. Unique features include a history of animal experimentation over 2,000 years and a challenging chapter about experimentation on humans, detailing Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary's recent exposÇs of involuntary radiation. Readers will have to make up their own minds, as Day suggests: Is animal experimentation an environmental issue? Are we all equal? List of abbreviations; glossary; notes; bibliography; index. (Nonfiction. 12+)
Pub Date: July 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-89490-578-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Enslow
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Beautiful and important.
When Death tells a story, you pay attention.
Liesel Meminger is a young girl growing up outside of Munich in Nazi Germany, and Death tells her story as “an attempt—a flying jump of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.” When her foster father helps her learn to read and she discovers the power of words, Liesel begins stealing books from Nazi book burnings and the mayor’s wife’s library. As she becomes a better reader, she becomes a writer, writing a book about her life in such a miserable time. Liesel’s experiences move Death to say, “I am haunted by humans.” How could the human race be “so ugly and so glorious” at the same time? This big, expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. Even at its length, it’s a work to read slowly and savor.
Beautiful and important. (Fiction. 12+)Pub Date: March 14, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83100-2
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
A book that seamlessly brings readers along on a journey of impact and empowerment.
A manifesto for budding feminists.
At the core of this engaging novel are besties Chelsea, who is Irish- and Italian-American and into fashion and beauty, and Jasmine, who is African-American, loves the theater, and pushes back against bias around size (“I don’t need your fake compliments, your pity. I know I’m beautiful. Inside and out”). They and their sidekicks, half-Japanese/half-Lebanese Nadine and Puerto Rican Isaac, grow into first-class activists—simultaneously educating their peers and readers. The year gets off to a rocky start at their progressive, social justice–oriented New York City high school: Along with the usual angst many students experience, Jasmine’s father is terminally ill with cancer, and after things go badly in both their clubs, Jasmine and Chelsea form a women’s rights club which becomes the catalyst for their growth as they explore gender inequality and opportunities for change. This is an inspiring look at two strong-willed teens growing into even stronger young women ready to use their voices and take on the world, imploring budding feminists everywhere to “join the revolution.” The book offers a poetic balance of dialogue among the main characters, their peers, and the adults in their lives. The exquisite pacing, which intersperses everyday teen conflicts with weightier issues, demonstrates how teens long to be heard and taken seriously.
A book that seamlessly brings readers along on a journey of impact and empowerment. (resources for young activists, endnotes) (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0008-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2019
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