Put down your phone and pick up this valuable and accessible read for everyone navigating the digital age.
A comprehensive guide designed to help readers understand and improve their relationship with technology and “make space for joy.”
This engagingly crafted book, written by two psychologists from the Screens & Gaming Disorder Clinic in Sydney, Australia, decodes the mechanisms behind smartphone dependency and offers practical strategies for cultivating a healthy relationship with technology. The authors explain the physiological and psychological feedback loops that shape developing brains and reveal the strategies that tech companies use to manipulate the brain’s reward and warning centers, hooking the user’s attention. Marshall and Hassock divide their material into 10 chapters, each covering one step that’s supported by a toolkit packed with clear questions and advice delivered in digestible, bite-size bullet points. The ideas include tracking time spent on apps, developing emotional regulation skills, and fostering offline connections with friends and family. Infused with warmth and optimism, this approachable, nonjudgmental work blends clinical insights with scientific evidence. Bohémier’s cheerful full-color spot art and background illustrations, which include depictions of racially diverse young people, amplify the friendly tone without undermining its seriousness. This book isn’t anti-technology; it’s a user-friendly guide for teens who are heavily invested in electronic devices and seeking a healthier balance. It will also serve as a useful resource for adult caregivers who are tackling the challenges of supporting technology-addicted teenagers.
Put down your phone and pick up this valuable and accessible read for everyone navigating the digital age. (author’s note, glossary, resources) (Nonfiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781419776984
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Magic Cat
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
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
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future.
An adaptation for teens of the adult title A Queer History of the United States (2011).
Divided into thematic sections, the text filters LGBTQIA+ history through key figures in each era from the 1500s to the present. Alongside watershed moments like the 1969 Stonewall uprising and the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, the text brings to light less well-known people, places, and events: the 1625 free love colony of Merrymount, transgender Civil War hero Albert D.J. Cashier, and the 1951 founding of the Mattachine Society, to name a few. Throughout, the author and adapter take care to use accurate pronouns and avoid imposing contemporary terminology onto historical figures. In some cases, they quote primary sources to speculate about same-sex relationships while also reminding readers of past cultural differences in expressing strong affection between friends. Black-and-white illustrations or photos augment each chapter. Though it lacks the teen appeal and personable, conversational style of Sarah Prager’s Queer, There, and Everywhere (2017), this textbook-level survey contains a surprising amount of depth. However, the mention of transgender movements and activism—in particular, contemporary issues—runs on the slim side. Whereas chapters are devoted to over 30 ethnically diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer figures, some trans pioneers such as Christine Jorgensen and Holly Woodlawn are reduced to short sidebars.
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future. (glossary, photo credits, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8070-5612-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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