Duchess Harris

Literary Merit: Excellent
Characterization: N/A
Recommended: Yes
Level: Middle Grade and High School

A fair examination of mass shootings coupled with an exploration of possible causes and solutions, "Mass Shootings in America" is an astute overview of its title topic. Dr. Duchess Harris examines mass shootings from a historical perspective, a cultural perspective, a political perspective, and even covers what mass shooting looks like around the world. While this work could be categorized as an overview for a student project as it covers much in the span of only 104 pages, it also provides a jumping point for young readers and researchers to explore each chapter further with its plethora of sources in the back of the book.

This is highly recommended for all nonfiction collections that serve tweens and teens. The book is well researched and carefully handles this heavy subject matter with ease. It is well worth the sticker price.… (mais)

Literary Merit: Excellent
Characterization: Very Good
Recommended: Recommended
Level: Middle School and up

How Journalists Work is a nonfiction book about news literacy and the path to becoming a journalist and what the job entails. It was a really interesting read and provided a lot of information on the schooling it takes to become a journalist, the various majors that can be completed to help get a job in journalism, and the key aspects of performing the job to best ability.

One of the most interesting and relevant aspects of the book is the topic of social media and how it plays a role in our news coverage. Social media makes getting breaking news instantaneous, rather than waiting for something to be printed in a newspaper or discussed on the broadcast evening news, but it also adds more pressure to journalists to fact check and make sure what they are presenting is accurate.

I’m not quite sure how to rate this book because it’s nonfiction and factual, but I had to read it for my review group at work, and overall, it was very interesting and an important read for this day and age especially, as it allows people to really understand the ways journalists work in getting factual news out to the general public.… (mais)

Reading Level: Upper Elementary and lower middle grades

This book is for upper elementary or middle grades
• This book would be a great resource for teachers to use in the classroom. Each of the four chapters has some sort of discussion or writing prompt with additional sources.
• There is also a Stop and Think section at the end of the book with additional discussion questions and writing prompts.
• The book includes numerous full color photos along with diagrams and maps to support the text.
• There is a table of contents, a Fast Facts section, Important dates, a glossary and additional resources including online resources.
• The book addresses some historic protests along with recent protests
• The book seems to be neutral and discusses protests against Donald Trump and his policies along with protesters of Obama and his administration.
I would recommend this book for students doing school projects and research on political protests and social change.… (mais)