Well, call me biased, but this was a lot greater than I thought it was going to be. I thought we might get some worthy tract about "stereotypes = bad, prejudice = badder", or something along those lines, clearly designed to rap some people across the metaphorical knuckles in social studies. But it's so much richer, deeper and better-built than that. It manages to cite so many studies regarding prejudice, racist thinking and the mentality of the crowd that you'd never guess the author has over two dozen titles to her name. This has the completist feel of a specialist writer, and not someone doing research to bulk up a written lecture. Pleasantly (if slightly repetitively) illustrated, it has the word-per-page count of a primary school text, but packs such a punch it deserves to be in all educational libraries for all ages and all groups. There is so much here about how (and why) stereotypes are formed, and what we might be able to do to counteract some of those, even internally in amongst us who would always declare to never be homophobic, racist or blinkered in any other way. I'm now prejudiced, however – prejudiced against all other volumes in this subject category.

This was a fantastic book about biases and stereotypes. It shows the injustices that can be caused and how to try to minimize those. It was an engaging and informative read.

This is a really thoughtful, really well written book about stereotypes and bias written for a youth audience. I think it's a well written book for any audience (adults included), and it's certainly a well-written book for older kids and teens. Tanya Lloyd Kyi condenses a very tricky topic into a very readable text, touching on so many different aspects of identity, discrimination, culture, and action. The book moves at a good pace throughout, but manages to delve into a lot of different topics without getting bogged down. One reason I think this book is so successful is that Kyi uses a lot of human stories. She uses a lot of stories that are scary and upsetting, but also many that show kindness and belonging. All of those stories give you a good picture of bias in a scientific and a human context.

I think this book will become a staple of my book talks for older kids. In particular the chapter that touches on toy marketing will be an easy entry point. A lot of this book looks at ways that prejudice and discrimination affect people's lives, and since the author uses so many sources and tells stories from all across history and the world it might seem a little distant. Older kids may or may night still play with LEGOs (I myself almost dropped way way way way way too much on a LEGO architecture set like yesterday) but they all likely remember their favorite toys from when they were little. What did they look like? What color were they? That is a really easy way to help kids frame how bias gets into every single aspect of our lives, before we even know it's happening.

PLUS it's very well indexed.

Interesting middle-grade book on how prejudice works, even if we are not aware that we are prejudiced. The book contains a bunch of studies that detailed and explained.

Really interesting read, but long, and a little lectury. Not sure if the target audience will finish the book, but even if they don't there is os much to learn by reading only a bit it might spark debate and wonder.

Good use of studies from around the world, and calling out all kinds of "unintentional bias" that happens all the time.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This is a very informative and well-made non-fiction book! I like the way the book is divided into chapters, and it explains the topics well for older children/teens to understand. I also really liked that there are examples from all over the world, instead of only from the US or only from Europe etc. Would recommend this!

This Is Your Brain on Stereotypes is a unique non-fiction novel aimed towards kids.

Books like these are what I needed during my childhood. I wanted to read non-fiction, but interesting ones! Reading the same one about bears or plants got tiring, so having a book like this would have made me jump with joy!

This is a middle grade novel that's probably closer to grade four and up. There is lots of information packed tight in this book, so I wouldn't necessarily leave it only in children's fiction. It's definitely a chapter book and goes into some rich and deep subjects. I can easily see middle grade readers pick this book up! Even educators and parents teaching their kids - in a time like right now (you know, the whole pandemic thing), books like this could help with learning, especially if kids are interested in unique topics like this one.

There is many facts scattered throughout this book. Honestly, it's like a little textbook but way more fun and better pictures. For example, my home country Canada is called out early in the book for First Nations reserves receiving less money for children's expenses for government and health care. The stereotyping problem is a big reason why some communities have social issues. This book tries to explain and find a way to eliminate it and show children the issues with stereotyping.

Stereotyping is described in easy to understand ways and then it leads into a topic of deception. Definitions, examples and history is taught throughout this book. Eager learns will absolutely love it (and man, did I ever love it! I love learning! And children's books have way better pictures). Comments are brought up, like would a young girl see herself as a math teacher if we only stereotyped nerdy white men to that role. Honestly, this book is smart and makes you think, I love it! This book even goes into Rwanda's history. There's so much packed into this little book! So much history, facts, research and commentary!

Honestly, I adore this book. It's smart and a great way to learn!

Five out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.