by P.J. Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2022
Comprehensive, inclusive, and practical.
Profiles of women engineers and coders who overcame obstacles to become leading voices in their fields.
Each profile presents the subject’s challenges and career path while exploring global themes of gender-based disenfranchisement—and empowerment—in STEM fields. The work presents itself as both a guide for girls who want to go into these areas as well as an appeal to those who don’t think they would find them interesting or who might feel discouraged from pursuing them. The chapters, each about 10 pages in length, are based on individual interviews conducted by the engineer author, highlight each woman’s story and accomplishments. The subjects come from a diverse range of backgrounds, highlighting marginalized identities within the field, such as race and disability. Numerous sidebars relating to the women’s backgrounds cover a range of content, some of it broadly useful beyond STEM careers, especially for teens from less privileged backgrounds, such as making a college education financially attainable, understanding the mentor-mentee relationship, escaping an abusive environment, attending college as a young parent, and business card etiquette. The closing chapters offer specific guidance, shepherding readers through preparing for college, different types of engineering and programming jobs, suggested books and movies, and the complexities of advanced degrees. The prose style is friendly, supportive, and informal, making potentially intimidating subject matter less so.
Comprehensive, inclusive, and practical. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64160-638-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
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by P.J. Hoover ; illustrated by Erik McKenney
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by P.J. Hoover
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by Chella Man ; illustrated by Chella Man & Ashley Lukashevsky ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2021
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
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by Shavone Charles ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Leo Baker ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by George Takei & Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott ; illustrated by Harmony Becker ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 16, 2019
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
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A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
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