Offers sensible steps for foreseeing and minimizing damage to ourselves and others on social media.
Careless posting can produce unpredictably harmful repercussions—and come back to hurt us—say the authors of this adaptation of their 2021 volume for adults on digital ethics, You Are Here.
Two university professors who specialize in communication in online environments offer teens advice on navigating the digital world. Short-term thinking is presented as a central problem. Comparisons of online “information pollution” with elements from nature such as the redwoods and hurricanes and concepts like the biomass pyramid help make the authors’ points accessible. Stressing and sharing can become a vicious circle: Anxious doomscrolling ratchets up worries, and some then share bad news impulsively without checking its accuracy or considering the consequences. The authors advocate shifting one’s perspective, benefiting from what’s known as the overview effect; their explanation of real-life and online context is widely applicable. Media users should also know how their content is monetized, how information is weaponized against marginalized groups, and why the motto “don’t feed the trolls” allows bias and hatred to flourish. The writing strives for a chatty, not-too-serious tone and avoids scolding, but experts and their research are often cited, validating the information. Text boxes labeled “reflection” invite readers to make personal, experiential connections to the authors’ points, as do anecdotes, direct questions, a (somewhat confusing) overarching narrative about fictional teens and their online interactions, and interludes with authorial comments and exchanges.
Offers sensible steps for foreseeing and minimizing damage to ourselves and others on social media. (source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2874-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: MITeen Press/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Skilled and graceful exploration of the soul of an astonishing human being.
Full-immersion journalist Kidder (Home Town, 1999, etc.) tries valiantly to keep up with a front-line, muddy-and-bloody general in the war against infectious disease in Haiti and elsewhere.
The author occasionally confesses to weariness in this gripping account—and why not? Paul Farmer, who has an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Harvard, appears to be almost preternaturally intelligent, productive, energetic, and devoted to his causes. So trotting alongside him up Haitian hills, through international airports and Siberian prisons and Cuban clinics, may be beyond the capacity of a mere mortal. Kidder begins with a swift account of his first meeting with Farmer in Haiti while working on a story about American soldiers, then describes his initial visit to the doctor’s clinic, where the journalist felt he’d “encountered a miracle.” Employing guile, grit, grins, and gifts from generous donors (especially Boston contractor Tom White), Farmer has created an oasis in Haiti where TB and AIDS meet their Waterloos. The doctor has an astonishing rapport with his patients and often travels by foot for hours over difficult terrain to treat them in their dwellings (“houses” would be far too grand a word). Kidder pauses to fill in Farmer’s amazing biography: his childhood in an eccentric family sounds like something from The Mosquito Coast; a love affair with Roald Dahl’s daughter ended amicably; his marriage to a Haitian anthropologist produced a daughter whom he sees infrequently thanks to his frenetic schedule. While studying at Duke and Harvard, Kidder writes, Farmer became obsessed with public health issues; even before he’d finished his degrees he was spending much of his time in Haiti establishing the clinic that would give him both immense personal satisfaction and unsurpassed credibility in the medical worlds he hopes to influence.
Skilled and graceful exploration of the soul of an astonishing human being.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2003
ISBN: 0-375-50616-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2003
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
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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