Best for libraries updating resources on an issue that (alas!) isn’t going away anytime soon.
An abbreviated but data-packed overview of a burgeoning health crisis.
The numbers are appalling—over 47,000 suicides in the U.S. in 2017—and it’s growing worse. Through both statistics and anecdotes, this slim volume hammers home the dramatic rise in U.S. suicide rates across all demographic groups, regions, ages, and occupations. The causes are multifarious and not well understood: They range from immediate contributors like easy access to means; proximate factors such as bullying and mental illness; and broader cultural trends, including increasing economic anxiety and social isolation. An entire chapter zeroes in on teen suicides; another examines the often overlooked impacts (sometimes life-threatening) on the bereaved. The work concludes with a brief discussion of prevention and postvention, with heavy emphasis on diagnostic rubrics. The writing style is dry and data intensive, aimed more at report writers than at those seeking emotional help or closure. Still, the inclusion of affecting personal stories and tangential boxed inserts does help break the numbing effect of the constant barrage of dire statistics. All examples and citations are recent, most from the last two years. The phrase “commit suicide” or variations are used multiple times. Color photographs show individuals of various ages and ethnicities.
Best for libraries updating resources on an issue that (alas!) isn’t going away anytime soon. (source notes, appendices, resources, index, picture credits) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68282-741-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Congolese-American Sophie makes a harrowing trek through a war-torn jungle to protect a young bonobo.
On her way to spend the summer at the bonobo sanctuary her mother runs, 14-year-old Sophie rescues a sickly baby bonobo from a trafficker. Though her Congolese mother is not pleased Sophie paid for the ape, she is proud that Sophie works to bond with Otto, the baby. A week before Sophie's to return home to her father in Miami, her mother must take advantage
of a charter flight to relocate some apes, and she leaves Sophie with Otto and the sanctuary workers. War breaks out, and after missing a U.N. flight out, Sophie must hide herself and Otto from violent militants and starving villagers. Unable to take Otto out of the country, she decides finding her mother hundreds of miles to the north is her only choice. Schrefer jumps from his usual teen suspense to craft this well-researched tale of jungle survival set during a fictional conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Realistic characters (ape and human) deal with disturbing situations described in graphic, but never gratuitous detail. The lessons Sophie learns about her childhood home, love and what it means to be endangered will resonate with readers.
Even if some hairbreadth escapes test credulity, this is a great next read for fans of our nearest ape cousins or survival adventure. (map, author's note, author Q&A) (Adventure. 12-16)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-16576-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of all things martial will echo his “HOOYAH!”—but the troubled aftermath comes in for some attention too.
Abridged but not toned down, this young-readers version of an ex-SEAL sniper’s account (SEAL Team Six, 2011) of his training and combat experiences in Operation Desert Storm and the first Battle of Mogadishu makes colorful, often compelling reading.
“My experiences weren’t always enjoyable,” Wasdin writes, “but they were always adrenaline-filled!” Not to mention testosterone-fueled. He goes on to ascribe much of his innate toughness to being regularly beaten by his stepfather as a child and punctuates his passage through the notoriously hellacious SEAL training with frequent references to other trainees who fail or drop out. He tears into the Clinton administration (whose “support for our troops had sagged like a sack of turds”), indecisive commanders and corrupt Italian “allies” for making such a hash of the entire Somalian mission. In later chapters he retraces his long, difficult physical and emotional recovery from serious wounds received during the “Black Hawk Down” operation, his increasing focus on faith and family after divorce and remarriage and his second career as a chiropractor.
Fans of all things martial will echo his “HOOYAH!”—but the troubled aftermath comes in for some attention too. (acronym/ordinance glossary, adult level reading list) (Memoir. 12-14)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-250-01643-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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