MG/YA – Cyberattacks and Cyberscams: Is There an End in Sight?

Stephan, Jennifer. Cyberattacks and Cyberscams: Is There an End in Sight? ReferencePoint Press, 2023. $33.05. Grades 6-12.

Unfortunately, avoiding phishers and scammers has become part of everyday life for those who are connected to technology. Cyberattacks and Cyberscams: Is There an End in Sight? offers an introduction (Cyberscams and Cyberattacks Surge) followed by five chapters – Cyberscams, Ransomware Attacks, Nation-State Attacks, Defending Against Scams and Attacks, and What More Can Be Done? Viewpoints are included in the text such as Ransomware Payments Should Be Banned vs. Ransomware Payments Should Not Be Banned, making this title a solid choice for researchers to gather information. Some basic background or vocabulary would be helpful for readers to comprehend the complex technology jargon. Colorful photographs, section headings, and call out boxes enhance the text. Additional backmatter includes Source Notes, Organizations and Websites, For Further Research, and an Index. Though the protect yourself section is brief, its mention of utilizing secure passwords on all devices may encourage readers to think twice before using basic, easily compromised passwords.

THOUGHTS: Though timely, this title may become quickly outdated. Recommended for secondary libraries with a need for updated books on technology crimes.

364.16 Offenses Against Property

YA – The Girls I’ve Been

Sharpe, Tess. The Girls I’ve Been. Putnam, 2021. 9780593353806. $18.99. 356 p. Grades 9 and up.

Two armed men enter a bank in a sleepy rural California town assuming they’ll find the bank manager and easily coerce him into taking them to their target – a safe deposit box. The manager hasn’t arrived yet though, and who they DO find is teenager Nora O’Malley. She’s not just any teenage girl. She’s not even Nora O’Malley – depending on how you look at it. Nora spent most of her life playing the roles of different girls with her con-artist mother until her half-sister extracted her from the situation four years ago. As she tries to adjust to a “normal” life and put her past behind her, her biggest problem has been the current awkwardness between her and her ex-boyfriend but now best friend Wes because she’d been lying to him about her new relationship with their other friend, Iris. Thrust into a serious hostage situation with her friends, Nora is forced to resurrect her old identities if she wants any chance of getting them out of this alive.

THOUGHTS: A wild page-turner for fans of the thriller genre. The well-crafted plot alternates from Nora’s past to the present, and it all ties together in the end. It also tackles domestic abuse from multiple angles as all of the three teenage main characters have struggled with it in some form.

Realistic Fiction          Sarah Strouse, Nazareth Area SD