Little Brother

Cory Doctorow. 2008. New York: Tom Doherty Associates. 416 pages. ISBN: 978-07653-1985-2.

Plot Summary: Marcus and his friends, high-school-age techno-geeks, are uncomfortably close to ground zero when the next terrorist attack occurs in San Francisco. They are picked up and held three days by the Department of Homeland Security. Horrified by the experience and the continued infringement of civil rights by the DHS, Marcus vows to fight back. He uses his computer skills, with friends’ help, to set up communication links that can’t be tapped. And he tries to throw off government surveillance by changing id tags that are used to track people’s movements. It’s dangerous but he does it because he feels strongly about maintaining freedom and privacy.

Critical Review: Little Brother is a coming of age story set within a larger social issue-—Marcus’s decision on how to react to the DHS is part of his struggle of finding his identity and realizing his values. Little Brother is a great book—a rousing story that raises questions about the meaning of patriotism, civil disobedience and what it means to be American. Marcus is a believable hero.

Reader's Annotation: Just because you're paranoid doesn't meet they're not out to get you.


About the author: Cory Doctorow is a Canadian journalist and science fiction author. He is also editor of the web log boingboing.net and an activist for liberalizing copyright laws. He was formerly director of the European desk of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit civil liberties group. He has published 12 books, including several science fiction novels. He has won the Locus and Sunburst Awards, and been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and British Science Fiction Awards. His latest novel, is the New York Times Bestseller Little Brother and his latest short story collection is Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present. He is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at Open University (UK); in 2007, he served as the Fulbright Chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. He currently lives in London.

Genre: Science fiction, dystopian

Curiculum ties: Freedom of speech

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 10 and up.

Challenge Issues: N/A

Booktalking ideas: What if the government just makes your disappear?