A balanced, engaging exploration of a burgeoning trend that combines expert voices, statistics, and personal experience.
A well-researched and up-to-date source for youth interested in or doing reports about teens and e-cigarette use.
The author makes his premise clear in the introduction: The controversy surrounding teens and vaping is that the nicotine in e-cigarettes is addictive and more research is needed to determine whether the use of e-cigarettes carries other health consequences. This is of particular concern to young people who appear to be a target market for e-cigarette companies and who, as evidenced by recent statistics, are increasingly using e-cigarettes. Chapters build consecutively and cover topics such as “What is Everyone Worried About?” “Do E-Cigarette Companies Target Teens?” and “The Crackdown on Teen Vaping,” but each can also be read independently. Because of this, those reading the book cover to cover will notice the repetitious nature of some facts, commentaries, and positions. Although the chapters are only about 12 pages long and feature photographs, some readers may find them dense with statistics. For this, more charts would have been helpful. Inserts that provide additional information and share personal narratives from teens and adults enliven the text. Bubble insets highlight selected quotes.
A balanced, engaging exploration of a burgeoning trend that combines expert voices, statistics, and personal experience. (source notes, organizations, further reading, index, picture credits) (Nonfiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68282-755-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: ReferencePoint Press
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 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
Unhappy teens in need of a lecture on thinking positively and being more in touch with one’s emotions need look no further.
Mangan presents in as many chapters a 20-point strategy that ranges from “Have a Positive Attitude” and “Cut Your Problems Into Pieces” to “Practice Being Patient” and “Appreciate the Value of Your Hard Work.” She blends private exercises like visualizing forgiveness with comments on selective attention, “problematic procrastination” and other bad habits, reframing situations to put them in different lights, “changing shoes” to understand others better and subjecting feelings to rational analysis. Though the author has a graduate degree and years of practice in clinical psychology, she offers generalities and generic situations rather than specific cases from her experience, and the book is devoid of references to further resources or even an index. Superficial advice (“If you are unsafe or are around kids that you know are bullies, just walk away”) combines with techniques that are unlikely to interest readers (“Make a song verse out of your list of helpful thoughts”). The author also makes questionable claims about the mind-body connection (“When you smile, your body sends a signal to your brain that you are happy”) and fails to make a case for regarding side forays into food habits and environmental concerns as relevant to her topic. Obvious issues and common-sense advice, unpersuasively presented. (Self-help. 12-15)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4338-1040-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: Aug. 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
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