CYBILS 2019 SENIOR HIGH NONFICTION NOMINEES: High : Everything You Want to Know About Drugs, Alcohol, and Addiction/Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
ABOUT THE BOOK
Just Say Know! With drug education for children more important than ever, this nonfiction book draws on the experiences of the NY Times bestselling father/son team of David and Nic Sheff to provide all the information teens and tweens need to know about drugs, alcohol, and addiction.
From David Sheff, author of Beautiful Boy (2008), and Nic Sheff, author of Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines (2008), comes the ultimate resource for learning about the realities of drugs and alcohol for middle grade readers.
This book tells it as it is, with testimonials from peers who have been there and families who have lived through the addiction of a loved one, along with the cold, hard facts about what drugs and alcohol do to our bodies. From how to navigate peer pressure to outlets for stress to the potential consequences for experimenting, Nic and David Sheff lay out the facts so that middle grade readers can educate themselves.
REVIEW
This isn't really the kind of book you read for fun. It is the kind of book that you read to be informed. David Sheff and his son, Nic, set out to inform readers about drugs and they do a thorough job of it. They start off by sharing Nic's story which revolves around his struggles with mental illness and drug addiction. This leads to an explanation for why they wrote this book: giving readers the facts and science that will help them make their own decisions about drug and alcohol use. The rest of the book talks about what leads to drug use and abuse, personal stories of pain and addiction as well as recovery, the consequences of drug use and abuse, and numerous statistics from various studies and reports. Part two focuses on specific drugs and their effect on the body. Part three looks at addiction, how it happens, who it effects, and how to get past it. The last part of the book provides charts and graphs about various drugs as well as resources to go to for more information and/or help. I found this to be an important source of information on a topic of great concern to young people. Drug use and abuse can have catastrophic consequences and often occurs because of ignorance and stress. The Sheff's don't shy away from discussions about mental illness and the struggles that go with it either. While the chapters about specific drugs got a bit technical, the book, overall, if fairly readable. An important resource that needs to be available for high school students especially.
ABOUT THE BOOK
As an adult book, Sam Quinones's Dreamland took the world by storm, winning the NBCC Award for General Nonfiction and hitting at least a dozen Best Book of the Year lists. Now, adapted for the first time for a young adult audience, this compelling reporting explains the roots of the current opiate crisis.
In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital center of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland. Quinones explains how the rise of the prescription drug OxyContin, a miraculous and extremely addictive painkiller pushed by pharmaceutical companies, paralleled the massive influx of black tar heroin--cheap, potent, and originating from one small county on Mexico's west coast, independent of any drug cartel.
Introducing a memorable cast of characters--pharmaceutical pioneers, young Mexican entrepreneurs, narcotics investigators, survivors, teens, and parents--Dreamland is a revelatory account of the massive threat facing America and its heartland.
REVIEW
Dreamland does what all good narrative nonfiction does. It pulls the reader in, making them want to know more. I found the book compelling and powerful, as well as informative. Quinones does an excellent job of highlighting the history of the opiate epidemic and the many different sides of the situation. In addition to providing a general overview, he makes the story very personal by focusing on real towns, real people, and real events. The story of how OxyContin became such a commonly prescribed pain medication through lies and miscommunication and how it lead to it and other opiate medicines lead so many uses into a life of addiction is a powerful and tragic one. I was impressed with all the different angles that the author looked at. He starts with the doctors who first started prescribing the pills which then lead to pill mills. He gives the reader a look at how pills lead many addicts to heroin and the Mexican region that helped supply the drug and create and fill the demand. He looks at the difficulties law enforcement has had trying to stop the epidemic and some of those being held responsible for it's spread. This is a powerful story of a tragedy and the efforts being made to combat it. It's an eye-opening story that needed to be told and it helps that it was researched and told in such a powerful way.
I am excited to read your reviews as I am judging 2nd Round this year and would love to get started on favorites "just in case." Also you have something wrong with your blog and a big PHOTOBUCKET Store icon is splattered all over your pages making it very difficult to read anything. Hope you can find a solution to fix it.
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