Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

ISBN: 978-0-7653-1985-2
Tor Teen Book, NY
2008
365 pages

Plot Summary

17-year-old Marcus Yarrow and his 3 friends are held captive after a terrorist attack on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. They are accused of being terrorists themselves even though they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. After his release Marcus finds that his home computer has been bugged so he sets up a system using Xboxes so that he can use his computer without the government's knowledge. He ends up with a whole community of "XNetters" who follow "Mikey's" lead.

Critical Evaluation

Cory Doctorow introduces us to a truly scary American government, one that doesn't trust its own citizens. I am sure, with his technology background, that all of the computer hacking and use of home-made devices, are explained correctly in the book - unfortunately I'm not technologically savvy enough to know this for sure.

Reader's Annotation

17-year-old Marcus Yarrow is a computer whiz who gets caught up in a terrorist attack and then is falsely accused by his own government. How can he get the word out that what the government is doing is simply abridging the rights of its own citizens and not making the world a safer place?

Author Info

Cory Doctorow is the coeditor of Boing Boing and the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He was named one of the Web's 25 influencers by Forbes magazine.

Genre

YA science fiction

Curriculum Ties

American Government class

Booktalking Ideas

1. Marcus decides to ditch school and play Harajuku Fun Madness with his 3 best friends.

2. Marcus realizes that Van has always liked him.

Reading/Interest Level

High school and college

Challenge Issues and Defense

sex scene and the hacker culture

raises a lot of issues that parents can talk to their kids about including privacy, government security and intrusion

Why I Included This Book

Required reading - but I'm glad that it was included because I think it's the only science fiction
book in my list