I just read Cory Doctorow's Little Brother. If you don't know anything about Cory Doctorow look here. His webpage gives you tons of info, links to his book, how to donate a copy to your favorite teacher or librarian...
I'm not sure how I came across the donation program...perhaps it was on BoingBoing, maybe on Creative Commons...anyway, I came across the book (the e-book, actually), started reading it, started loving it (the ideas, anyway) and applied for a free copy for my library.
I wasn't sure anyone would care about a little branch library in Alaska. I was certain that anyone on the list had already contacted several people who would definitely buy books to donate to their cause. I was sure that I wouldn't receive a copy anytime soon.
I'd like to thank Dan B for his generous donation of Little Brother to my branch. May it be on the shelves as little as possible.
Now, my review. Being insufferably leftist, I tingled with excitement when I read a the description of Little Brother. Kids using open source/hacker/computer programming skills to fight back against the gross abuses of power of the Department of Homeland Security after a fictional terrorist attack in the not-so-distant future. Great.
Here's the story at-a-glance: 4 kids are in the wrong place at the wrong time and are held for questioning by the DHS, separated from one another, separated from their families, and threatened nearly into submission. 3 of the kids return to their homes unable to tell anyone of the abuses they suffered. So they start to fight back. They use secret networks to form connections and start a movement that is considered by the older generations (the DHS, their parents, their teachers, etc) to be sympathetic to the terrorists.
It's exciting and scary. It's funny and it's touching. It's filled with techno-babble. That I loved. I learned so much. It's also full of political stereo-types. That I didn't love so much but it was easy to ignore. Overall I could really relate to the characters. It touched all the my fears about the September 11th reactions (in the government and in society), it took me back to memories of my first love, and it rooted an incredibly adventurous tale in the real world.
Or close to real.
