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UNACCOMPANIED

STORIES OF BRAVE TEENAGERS SEEKING ASYLUM

Powerful text and images honor young people’s suffering and strength.

A documentary-style account dramatizes the situations of many teen asylum seekers.

Spare, striking, black-and-white illustrations portray five teens fleeing dangerous situations and making hazardous journeys to the U.S. Bookish Guatemalan Vilma, 13, was beaten and sexually abused by her father. Burdened with guilt for speaking up and precipitating the flight of her mother and younger sister too, she struggles with depression and self-harm but gets therapy and an education in the Chicago area. At 12, Rosa from Honduras worked to support her family; at 16, her narco boyfriend threatens her, and after reaching the U.S., she learns that she is HIV-positive. In El Salvador, Ricardo, 17, and his sister, Karen, 13, are preyed upon by gangs. A coyote drops them in the desert, and they’re picked up by border patrol. But Ricardo ages out of the U.S. facility for minors and is deported. Fanta, a girl from Guinea, underwent female genital mutilation and was married at 12 to an abusive 40-year-old man. At 16, she left her children with her mother, embarking on a challenging journey to the U.S., where she entered inhospitable foster homes. Carefully researched composites, these harrowing accounts are representative of cases seen by the Safe Passage Project, which provides pro bono legal support to young people like these. This fast-paced, relatable work is informative and enlightening, treating its subjects with respect.

Powerful text and images honor young people’s suffering and strength. (author’s note, notes, glossary, further reading, study guide questions) (Graphic nonfiction. 15-adult)

Pub Date: June 20, 2023

ISBN: 9781951491208

Page Count: 168

Publisher: Street Noise Books

Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023

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THE NEW QUEER CONSCIENCE

From the Pocket Change Collective series

Small but mighty necessary reading.

A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.

Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.

Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)

Pub Date: June 2, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Penguin Workshop

Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020

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BEYOND THE GENDER BINARY

From the Pocket Change Collective series

A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.

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Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.

The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.

A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)

Pub Date: June 2, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Penguin Workshop

Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020

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