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This title in other formats:

Little Brother

by Cory Doctorow

Little Brother Cover

Synopses & Reviews

From Powells.com:

Little Brother, Cory Doctorow's acclaimed YA science fiction novel, has been optioned for film by producer Don Murphy (Natural Born Killers, The Transformers). Long before the cameras roll on that feature, however, Little Brother has been adapted to the stage by Chicago's Griffin Theatre Company.

Publisher Comments:

Marcus, aka "w1n5t0n," is only 17 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.

Review:

"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." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

In "Little Brother," Marcus Yallow and three tech-savvy friends skip school to play an alternate reality game that requires finding clues around San Francisco. But "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" soon morphs into a 21st-century take on George Orwell's "1984" when terrorists blow up the Bay Bridge. Because of the high-tech gear they're carrying, the four are picked up, brutally interrogated and detained... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)

Review:

"Cory Doctorow tackles timely issues, including the erosion of civil liberties in the name of national security." The Washington Post

Review:

"This smartly written novel has the potential to launch powerful classroom discussions and change the way young people think about government." Children's Literature

Review:

"As with 'Big Brother' in George Orwell's 1984, this book will motivate the reader to contemplate free speech, due process, and political activism with new insights." Voya

Review:

"Teen espionage fans will appreciate the numerous gadgets made from everyday materials." School Library Journal

Synopsis:

Big Brother is watching you. Who's watching back?

Video

About the Author

Cory Doctorow is a coeditor of Boing Boing and the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He writes columns for Make, Information Week, the Guardian online, and Locus. He has won the Locus Award three times, been nominated for the Hugo and the Nebula, won the Campbell Award, and was named one of the Web's 25 influencers by Forbes magazine and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He hopes you'll use technology to change the world.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 5 comments:
Shoshana, April 11, 2009 (view all comments by Shoshana)
A fun young adult dystopia, though it doesn't seem like enduring fiction of the sort that warrants a Hugo nomination. Marcus, a 17-year old gamer, has trouble with an authoritarian school and culture. However, these difficulties pale beside those he encounters when terrorists blow up a bridge in the Bay Area, providing the grounds for Homeland Security to swoop in and begin abrogating civil liberties. Subjected to the sorts of intrusions, threats, and indignities with which Americans have become increasingly familiar, Marcus vows to take down Homeland Security. His attempts to do so are engaging, though sometimes for a smart adolescent he doesn't think through consequences well. The narrator's tone never seemed quite natural to me, and the concluding sequence was fast enough to be somewhat flat. If you like to learn your science from hard science fiction, you should be reasonably satisfied with this quick but entertaining read.
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zenninja, March 25, 2009 (view all comments by zenninja)
1984 has always been my favorite book. Now all of the sudden a new book comes at me with full force, I now have a new favorite book "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow, its a Cautionary tale about what could happen if we let our government get to much power and take away all of our rights. It's Genuinely frighting and believable. I finished the book in one sitting and want more.
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(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
jlgrand1, November 10, 2008 (view all comments by jlgrand1)
Aimed at teen readers (I'm not), it will open your eyes to "Big Brother's" intervention into our lives through technology and constitutional abuse. Made me explore ways to protect myself from over zealous authorities.
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(2 of 9 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780765319852
Author:
Doctorow, Cory
Publisher:
Tor Classics
Subject:
General Juvenile Fiction
Subject:
General
Subject:
Terrorism
Subject:
Civil Rights
Subject:
Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General
Subject:
United states
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade Cloth
Publication Date:
April 2008
Binding:
Hardcover
Grade Level:
- Up
Language:
English
Pages:
382
Dimensions:
8.52x6.55x1.23 in. 1.05 lbs.
Age Level:
13-UP

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