A gripping, much-needed memoir about a Black woman, a movement, and people fighting for freedom denied.
In this young readers’ adaptation of the 2018 original, a Black Lives Matter co-founder recounts growing up in a society that sought to punish her mere existence.
Using journal entries, Khan-Cullors recalls with sometimes excruciating detail finding and developing aspects of herself that would cumulatively create her identity. From stories of her biological and chosen family to her wider community, the writing overflows with honesty, compassion, courage, and love. The many unjust interactions she and her community have had with law enforcement make for a heart-wrenching read. Still, the author and activist maintains a message of action-based hope, life-sustaining love, and community support. With assistance from co-author bandele, a noted writer and journalist, Khan-Cullors shares private and public challenges and victories. Readers will understand and connect the traumas experienced by Black people in America for centuries, from Jim Crow to the war on drugs to modern-day slavery in the form of the prison system. Most importantly, the authors share principles and beliefs that speak to what is needed to facilitate and achieve necessary changes to a blood-stained, toxic, fatal disease of American society. Part memoir, part call to action, the message is clear: Black Lives Matter despite systems and inhumane practices that say otherwise. Questions for readers at the end of each chapter will prompt discussion and awakening and even inspire action.
A gripping, much-needed memoir about a Black woman, a movement, and people fighting for freedom denied. (recommended reading and viewing) (Memoir. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-19498-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
In a raw, honest and expletive-ridden narrative, 23-year-old Sheff effectively chronicles the ups and downs of trying to overcome his methamphetamine addiction and pull his life together. Fortunately, the author is not as whiny or narcissistic in this memoir as he was in his first, Tweak (2008), though he still manages to be quite unlikable and astonishingly unsympathetic. Sheff bounces in and out of two detox centers and impulsively into an ill-considered live-in relationship with a girl in Charleston, S.C. (A disclaimer at the beginning indicates that "[c]ertain names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed.") His good intentions are frequently thwarted by bad decisions. Frustration with a dead-end job in a coffee shop leads him to chronic alcohol consumption and pot smoking, once more testing the patience of loved ones. His frequent bouts of self-pity and rationalization, along with the constant use of "fucking" and "goddamn," quickly become tiresome. The author is forthright about the hypocrisy he feels when he speaks at schools about the dangers of drug abuse while still smoking pot daily. When he declares, "I am an asshole," it's impossible to disagree. He manages to end on a somewhat hopeful note: "I've got to hold on, is all," he says. It's painfully honest—but also painful to read, likely guaranteeing avid teen interest. (Memoir. 15 & up)
Pub Date: April 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-316-08082-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
The title refers to disparaging comments made by Nathaniel Hawthorne in a letter to his editor; Hawthorne was convinced...
Spanning the globe and 1,000 years, Jocelyn profiles extraordinary women whose writing offers fascinating insight into their respective places and times.
Of the 11 female writers profiled in this collective biography, the only name most readers are likely to recognize is pioneering investigative journalist Nellie Bly. Jocelyn begins with Sei Shonagon, whose Pillow Book offers vivid insights into 10th-century Japanese imperial court life. The letters of Margaret Catchpole, a convicted thief, provide the earliest record of white settlement in Australia. Doris Pilkington Garinara's Rabbit-Proof Fence and other works explore the terrible consequences white settlement had for Australia's aboriginal people. The intrepid explorer Mary Kingsley chronicled her amazing adventures in West Africa. Other subjects include Ada Blackjack, the sole survivor of a disastrous Arctic expedition, and Dr. Dang Thuy Tram, a North Vietnamese doctor who chronicled in a diary her ordeal treating the sick and wounded in a jungle field hospital. Jocelyn wisely gives readers a sense of these writers' unique voices through generous quotations of their works. Her admiration and enthusiasm for these women is evident, as is her detailed knowledge of the places and times in which they lived.
The title refers to disparaging comments made by Nathaniel Hawthorne in a letter to his editor; Hawthorne was convinced female writers had nothing worthy to say, but this collection consistently proves him wrong. (notes, bibliography) (Collective biography. 14 & up)Pub Date: March 22, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-88776-952-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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