Cover Image: Power On!

Power On!

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Member Reviews

Is computer science racist? How can that be when the first "computers" were black women working for NASA and doing complicated math? Turns out that racism can pervade new systems when they fester from the days of slavery. Oppression exists in many forms and doesn't go away in one night.

Four teens become interested in AI and computer science when faulty police AI leads to a black man being killed in their neighborhood. Cynthia is terrible at math but still interested in doing the right thing and finding out the skills that can apply to tech, like design and fashion. The classes in their different schools, however, seem reserved for white boys, with few resources for coding clubs.

The story in this comic is great. While the art style takes some adjustment, finding out information about tech, especially as someone who has trouble coding, is very eye-opening. We have to take charge of the strengths we have, and play them to the best possible assets.

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Thank you NetGalley for an Arc

This is a graphic novel that follows a group of diverse teenage friendship as they navigate their world. Hey are following the injustices that happens within their STEM group.

The different demographics that were talked about in this book was great. The book touch on sexuality, race, sexism, racism and how the group battled such.

Although this had a great message it was difficult to even read the novel because I couldn’t access it on any of my reading devices. It led me to giving up. Now coming back to read it I think these messages are great to get out there, however, the topic of which it followed was not of interest to me leading to my rating.

Also a lot of the time the hook felt rushed and the topic felt more like words on paper than something to actually get a feeling on.

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A wonderful book and a wonderful message. I loved the art style and I feel that this is a book everyone should read.

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Power on is about a group of teenage friends from diverse backgrounds, learning about computers and how it can aid personal and political developments. The book shows why students need education on computer science.

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SO GOOD! This will be in my classroom for sure! Love that tech can be accessible to everyone,
the story was so fun and so good, love everything about it

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I didn't get a chance to read this when it was on NetGalley, but I did read it with a comic club I run. The kids really loved this. A lot of them are into STEMs, and they loved seeing characters that looked like them with the same interests as them.

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POWER ON! is an energetic, fun story with beautiful art. I especially appreciate that it is not a superhero story or a retelling. It's going to be a lovely addition to my graphic novel examples and I look forward to sharing it with students.

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A diverse group of high school friends all decide to take computing classes, with mixed results. One of the girls can't get into the class she wants, and her counselor suggests "Tourism and Hospitality" might be more helpful; she finds an after school program instead. Another class seems to be only typing. The friends decide to pool what they're learning by sharing with each other in study sessions, and by summer, they've each found aspects of computing that fit with their future goals. Along the way, they learn about issues like racial bias in algorithms, and misogyny in the tech fields. The text does a good job of explaining without being info-dumpy, and there are little educational asides strewn throughout, as well as profiles of people of color and women who are prominent in the field. I think this is a great book for middle school and high school readers, as it shows how varied computing jobs can be, and how learning about computing can help in most career paths, and it shows the need for representation of all kinds to correct racially-biased A.I. programs and such.

#PowerUp #NetGalley

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Love love loved this. The diversity! The story! This was just amazing. The art in this was incredible I’m definitely gonna check out the illustrator again in the future!
5 stars

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This was an awesome read! The stories are important, the information is crucial, and the art was amazing! I learned a lot while really enjoying the story - and this is an issue that should hit home for everyone. The characters are right - computers (and therefore computer science) is part of every aspect of our lives, so we need to do more to level the playing field.

Can't recommend this enough to everyone, seriously - go read it!

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Student-centered look into computer science and student voices. Looking at the importance of computer science and people of color and women who have made inspirational impacts. A great look into challenges that young adults face while dealing with friendship, life, and injustices that surround them.

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An enjoyable and informative graphic novel with a solid concept and fittingly spirited storyline and artwork.

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I absolutely loved this graphic novel! I think It appealed to me because I'm going through the phase right now. It preaches about importance of learning computer science, its direct and indirect influences in our lives, how racism and sexism are now common in artificial intelligence, inadequate facilities, unfair biases and the lack of diversity in the field. It is packed with information and will give you a lot of topic to research and gain knowledge. However, though I admire the concept and everything, their personal stories and struggles seemed more intriguing to me and I can read a whole book focused on their lives. Antonio, Jon, Taylor and Christine share beautiful, heart-warming friendships. The supporting characters - their parents and teachers, are also inspiring and considerate ( Not all of them tho). Recommended!

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YES!!! I adored Power On! This graphic novel from MIT Press does an amazing job of contextualizing technology and social justice issues. The embedded references and bios of marginalized leaders in the tech and tech/justice work elevate this work from a fun, fictional read to a powerful instructional tool. This graphic novel will empower and inspire youth and adults to engage with technology on a deeper level.

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Big shout-out to netgalley for sending me an e-arc!

The artistic style was beautiful and I would like to personally thank the artist for learning to use proper toning for varying skin colors and how to draw differing facial features without the characters going into caricature category.

The comics were very well written and I cared a great deal about the characters and how different societal struggles were showcased while offering us readers resources so we can research these topics ourselves if we need to.

The stories were educational and important and respectfully done, I would have loved to see this available when I was a kid but I'm glad that middle-graders these days are getting it.

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This was a fun, informative, and inclusive graphic novel~

This graphic novel touches on all kinds of cool devices, people, and methodology of Information Technology. It focuses on a group of friends that all come from different backgrounds that are all into IT/ the digital space. It ends up being more than a graphic novel that inspires more kids to join IT and get more involved in it. The main characters go through adversity in many different ways.

There is also a meta component to IRL that touches on the global pandemic as well as the BLM movement of 2020 and beyond. It involves real-world issues and scenarios - it also demonstrates that more women and minorities are needed in this field.

I liked that there were a lot of interesting facts throughout, such as various key figures in IT and different technological facts.

Thanks to NetGalley and MIT Press, The MIT Press for providing a digital ARC for review!

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This was more of an educational graphic novel. The group of teens were sweet, and each of them had their own struggles and worries with starting high school.. but the story mainly focuses on computer science education. It highlights the racism we see in media and also introduced me to Joy Buolamwini- who founded the Algorithmic Justice League, which looks into challenging the racial bias in decision-making software.

The story shows the difference in what each friend is learning in computer science and how some are unfairly advised to try other subjects they'll find more 'useful'. A lot of the courses just teach to fill the technical arts quota with typing or floristry. It also mentions the lack of enrollment in California in computer science courses, despite being home to huge tech companies, and the shortage of women in computing jobs (even less that are Asian, African American or Latina).

Altogether an informative, insightful read. The drawing style is quite simple (because it's more focused on bringing awareness to all these issues). The only thing that bothered me was that I found the font very narrow and a bit uncomfortable to read.
I did find it wholesome that the story was based on real students from rural Mississippi and LA that approached MIT with this issue.

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This is an interesting graphic novel it is kind of a cross between an information brochure and more traditional graphic novel. I found this to be an engaging way to present the information but do wish there had been a little more to the overall story line. That said the characters were still well written and kept the story interesting. I really liked how the statistics and other information were sprinkled through the book between chapters. It was nice to have the facts that supported the story line presented in a clear way outside the story but without disrupting the flow of the story. Overall this is a cool way to share this important information.

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I didn't know anything about this but I'm so happy I read it! Power On! is a fun but educational graphic novel about computer science and how it relates to social issues. This book managed to write likable characters with important information about computer science. It was clever and well done, and will be an asset to any school library.

While there is so much that works in this one, I do think the artwork could be a little more refined. At the same time, the likability of the characters and the important topics overshadow the art style. These characters were diverse and unique. There's so many ethnicities represented, as well as a gay character. I loved that they read like actual pre-teens, learning about the world. It felt like the audience is learning with them and it really works.

Overall, this is a great graphic novel that can double as an educational essay. Its a great way to learn about computer science, and how the field can be prejudiced against certain minority groups. I learned about things like racist AI, women in computer science, and why it needs to be taught in schools. Get this book and give it to teens everywhere.

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I love the message this graphic novel was saying. However, comic style wasn't for me. I got confused often of the order I was suppose to read it. The flow was not there also. I felt maybe a little more editing would have helped this book.

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