Little Brother

Starred review from April 14, 2008
SF author Doctorow (Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
), coeditor of the influential blog BoingBoing, tells a believable and frightening tale of a near-future San Francisco, victimized first by terrorists and then by an out-of-control Department of Homeland Security determined to turn the city into a virtual police state. Innocent of any wrongdoing beyond cutting school, high school student and techno-geek Marcus is arrested, illegally interrogated and humiliated by overzealous DHS personnel who also “disappear” his best friend, Darryl, along with hundreds of other U.S. citizens. Moved in part by a desire for revenge and in part by a passionate belief in the Bill of Rights, Marcus vows to drive the DHS out of his beloved city. Using the Internet and other technologies, he plays a dangerous game of cat and mouse, disrupting the government’s attempts to create virtually universal electronic surveillance while recruiting other young people to his guerilla movement. Filled with sharp dialogue and detailed descriptions of how to counteract gait-recognition cameras, arphids (radio frequency ID tags), wireless Internet tracers and other surveillance devices, this work makes its admittedly didactic point within a tautly crafted fictional framework. Ages 13-up.

Starred review from May 1, 2008
Gr 10 Up-When he ditches school one Friday morning, 17-year-old Marcus is hoping to get a head start on the Harajuku Fun Madness clue. But after a terrorist attack in San Francisco, he and his friends are swept up in the extralegal world of the Department of Homeland Security. After questioning that includes physical torture and psychological stress, Marcus is released, a marked man in a much darker San Francisco: a city of constant surveillance and civil-liberty forfeiture. Encouraging hackers from around the city, Marcus fights against the system while falling for one hacker in particular. Doctorow rapidly confronts issues, from civil liberties to cryptology to social justice. While his political bias is obvious, he does try to depict opposing viewpoints fairly. Those who have embraced the legislative developments since 9/11 may be horrified by his harsh take on Homeland Security, Guantánamo Bay, and the PATRIOT Act. Politics aside, Marcus is a wonderfully developed character: hyperaware of his surroundings, trying to redress past wrongs, and rebelling against authority. Teen espionage fans will appreciate the numerous gadgets made from everyday materials. One afterword by a noted cryptologist and another from an infamous hacker further reflect Doctorow's principles, and a bibliography has resources for teens interested in intellectual freedom, information access, and technology enhancements. Curious readers will also be able to visit BoingBoing, an eclectic group blog that Doctorow coedits. Raising pertinent questions and fostering discussion, this techno-thriller is an outstanding first purchase."Chris Shoemaker, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 25, 2009
When your government becomes Big Brother, it takes a Little Brother to bring it down. There is another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Marcus (aka "w1n5t0n") is in the wrong place at the wrong time and is swept up by Homeland Security and taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation. When he is released, he is ever more determined to take back his country by bringing down the authorities who have put a stranglehold on his city. Why It Is for Us: This book makes no apologies for its hatred of the Patriot Act and the War on Terror (readers get a first-person account of the horrors of waterboarding). The coeditor of Boing Boing, Doctorow knows his technology. Industrious teens (and others) will be able to use Marcus's techniques to bring down their own school firewalls, thanks to an excellent reading list that also champions intellectual freedom and information equality.-Angelina Benedetti, King Cty. Lib. Syst., WA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2008
Seventeen-year-old techno-geek w1n5t0n (aka Marcus) bypasses the schools gait-recognition system by placing pebbles in his shoes, chats secretly with friends on his IMParanoid messaging program, and routinely evades school security with his laptop, cell, WifFnder, and ingenuity. While skipping school, Markus is caught near the site of a terrorist attack on San Francisco and held by the Department of Homeland Security for six days of intensive interrogation. After his release, he vows to use his skills to fight back against an increasingly frightening system of surveillance. Set in the near future, Doctorows novel blurs the lines between current and potential technologies, and readers will delight in the details of how Markus attempts to stage a techno-revolution. Obvious parallels to Orwellian warnings and post-9/11 policies, such as the Patriot Act, will provide opportunity for classroom discussion and raise questions about our enthusiasm for technology, who monitors our school library collections, and how we contribute to our own lack of privacy. An extensive Web and print bibliography will build knowledge and make adults nervous. Buy multiple copies; this book will be h4wt (thats hot, for the nonhackers).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)

Starred review from July 1, 2008
The encroachment on individual rights by national security is a primary theme of George Orwell's 1984, and, as his title suggests, Doctorow pays homage to that classic with an impassioned, polemical consideration of the War on Terror that dovetails with themes of teenage angst, rebellion, and paranoia. After a major present-day terrorist attack, Marcus Yallow, a.k.a. "w1n5t0n" (as in Winston), is arrested and interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security. Marcus is released, and before he is rearrested and ultimately tortured, he applies his formidable technological savvy to thwarting further efforts to restrict personal liberty, drawing him into a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game with the government, a game that is complicated by issues of friendship, romance, trust, loyalty, and betrayal. The San Francisco Bay Area is an inspired choice of setting, with its history of technological innovation and free-thinking counterculture. While the interesting digressions into history, politics, social commentary, and technology occasionally halt the novel's pacing, Little Brother should easily find favor with fans of M. T. Anderson's Feed, Janet Tashjian's The Gospel According to Larry, and Scott Westerfeld's So Yesterday.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2008
Doctorow's impassioned consideration of the War on Terror dovetails with themes of teenage angst, rebellion, and paranoia. After a San Francisco terrorist attack, teen Marcus is interrogated. Released, he applies his formidable technological savvy to thwarting efforts to restrict personal liberty. The book makes interesting digressions into history, politics, social commentary, and technology; issues of friendship, romance, loyalty, and betrayal add layers.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)