Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.
But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.
When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.
Little Brother owes a very obvious debt to George Orwell's 1984, just like in 1984 someone is always watching... or trying to anyway. Little Brother does an excellent job of providing a realistic update to 1984. It offers a plausible worst case scenario for the a possible United States of the near future in which the Department of Homeland Security is allowed to run rampant while a do nothing president plays golf rather than defend the civil liberties of his citizens.
This book made me so paranoid! At one point I even considered making the hidden camera detector which the book described (most of the cool gadgets and hacks described in the book are real) and I thought the book made some excellent points about security (does taking off our shoes at the airport really make us safer from a determined terrorist?) Do I think this will really happen to America? No, but I do think it's a good cautionary tale and any book that reminds Americans of the importance of our liberties gets an A+ from me
Give this one to older teens, especially the tech-savvy. Grades 9+
But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.
When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.
Little Brother owes a very obvious debt to George Orwell's 1984, just like in 1984 someone is always watching... or trying to anyway. Little Brother does an excellent job of providing a realistic update to 1984. It offers a plausible worst case scenario for the a possible United States of the near future in which the Department of Homeland Security is allowed to run rampant while a do nothing president plays golf rather than defend the civil liberties of his citizens.
This book made me so paranoid! At one point I even considered making the hidden camera detector which the book described (most of the cool gadgets and hacks described in the book are real) and I thought the book made some excellent points about security (does taking off our shoes at the airport really make us safer from a determined terrorist?) Do I think this will really happen to America? No, but I do think it's a good cautionary tale and any book that reminds Americans of the importance of our liberties gets an A+ from me
Give this one to older teens, especially the tech-savvy. Grades 9+
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