Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up, this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three times is that your entire household’s access to the internet is cut off for a year, with no appeal.
Trent's too clever for that too happen. Except it does, and it nearly destroys his family. Shamed and shattered, Trent runs away to London, where he slowly he learns the ways of staying alive on the streets. This brings him in touch with a demimonde of artists and activists who are trying to fight a new bill that will criminalize even more harmless internet creativity, making felons of millions of British citizens at a stroke.
Things look bad. Parliament is in power of a few wealthy media conglomerates. But the powers-that-be haven’t entirely reckoned with the power of a gripping movie to change people’s minds….
**
From School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up-Trent McCauley, 16, makes films. The problem is that his films are composed of bits and pieces of other copyrighted material. He's a thief of intellectual property and in this near-future Great Britain, the consequences for this sort of action are severe. He leaves home for London after his online piracy has caused his entire family to lose their vital Internet connection for a year. He soon meets Jem, who shows him the ropes of being homeless, and in no time they are sharing a posh flop with Trent's new mates. Back online, he makes films that are a smash hit on the underground scene where he rechristens himself "Cecil B. DeVil." He falls in love with beautiful and brilliant 26, who opens his eyes to the political ramifications of his filmmaking. Soon Cecil and his entire crew are in a political and artistic fight to dismantle legislation criminalizing their type of creativity, legislation written by film studios and passed by the studios' Parliament lackeys. This amazing book combines young love, terrific humor, great British slang, and crazy parties with astute commentary on intellectual property and emerging modes of creativity. Doctorow's characters are well-defined individuals, all with some facet, quirk, or activity to give them color. Language-arts and civics teachers could co-teach the heck out of this novel, and debaters will find a goldmine of monologues. It's funny, thought-provoking, and glorious.-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WIα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review
“Doctorow is indispensible. It's hard to imagine any other author taking on youth and technology with such passion, intelligence, and understanding.”—Booklist, starred review on For The Win
Praise for *Little Brother:
“Generally awesome in the more vernacular sense: It's pretty freaking cool... He's also terrific at finding the human aura shimmering around technology." —The Los Angeles Times
“A believable and frightening tale of a near-future San Francisco… Filled with sharp dialogue and detailed descriptions…within a tautly crafted fictional framework.” —Publishers Weekly* (starred review)
“Doctorow pays homage to [1984] with an impassioned, polemical consideration of the War on Terror that dovetails with themes of teenage angst, rebellion, and paranoia ... 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.” —Horn Book(starred review)
“Readers will delight in the details of how Marcus attempts to stage a techno-revolution… Buy multiple copies; this book will be h4wt (that’s ‘hot,’ for the nonhackers).” —Booklist (starred review)
Description:
Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up, this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three times is that your entire household’s access to the internet is cut off for a year, with no appeal.
Trent's too clever for that too happen. Except it does, and it nearly destroys his family. Shamed and shattered, Trent runs away to London, where he slowly he learns the ways of staying alive on the streets. This brings him in touch with a demimonde of artists and activists who are trying to fight a new bill that will criminalize even more harmless internet creativity, making felons of millions of British citizens at a stroke.
Things look bad. Parliament is in power of a few wealthy media conglomerates. But the powers-that-be haven’t entirely reckoned with the power of a gripping movie to change people’s minds….
**
From School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up-Trent McCauley, 16, makes films. The problem is that his films are composed of bits and pieces of other copyrighted material. He's a thief of intellectual property and in this near-future Great Britain, the consequences for this sort of action are severe. He leaves home for London after his online piracy has caused his entire family to lose their vital Internet connection for a year. He soon meets Jem, who shows him the ropes of being homeless, and in no time they are sharing a posh flop with Trent's new mates. Back online, he makes films that are a smash hit on the underground scene where he rechristens himself "Cecil B. DeVil." He falls in love with beautiful and brilliant 26, who opens his eyes to the political ramifications of his filmmaking. Soon Cecil and his entire crew are in a political and artistic fight to dismantle legislation criminalizing their type of creativity, legislation written by film studios and passed by the studios' Parliament lackeys. This amazing book combines young love, terrific humor, great British slang, and crazy parties with astute commentary on intellectual property and emerging modes of creativity. Doctorow's characters are well-defined individuals, all with some facet, quirk, or activity to give them color. Language-arts and civics teachers could co-teach the heck out of this novel, and debaters will find a goldmine of monologues. It's funny, thought-provoking, and glorious.-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WIα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review
“Doctorow is indispensible. It's hard to imagine any other author taking on youth and technology with such passion, intelligence, and understanding.”—Booklist, starred review on For The Win
Praise for *Little Brother:
“Generally awesome in the more vernacular sense: It's pretty freaking cool... He's also terrific at finding the human aura shimmering around technology." —The Los Angeles Times
“A believable and frightening tale of a near-future San Francisco… Filled with sharp dialogue and detailed descriptions…within a tautly crafted fictional framework.”
—Publishers Weekly* (starred review)
“Doctorow pays homage to [1984] with an impassioned, polemical consideration of the War on Terror that dovetails with themes of teenage angst, rebellion, and paranoia ... 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.” —Horn Book(starred review)
“Readers will delight in the details of how Marcus attempts to stage a techno-revolution… Buy multiple copies; this book will be h4wt (that’s ‘hot,’ for the nonhackers).” —Booklist (starred review)