3.5 stars


This book is important but this book did not work for me.

1. eBook was not the way to go for this. This is a workbook, which implies that it wants to be written in and torn up...could not fully interact as intended with the media that I was given.

2. The book's tone was slightly condescending; the sarcasm did not work. I felt like being talked down to which made me angry and not want to listen. I have read other articles, books and listened to people talking about similar histories and advice, that tone was better. I know the authors state that I should not be defensive when the topic of race comes up, but I need to be treated like a functioning adult.

3. The authors state this book is for everyone, however, I disagree. My education and training to be a teacher cover many of these topics. This circles back to issue number 2. The authors also suggest reading and doing the activities as a family, but I would only do that with a mature middle schooler or a high school student. There are many other books geared at the elementary student.

4. The activities were fun and interactive. I could see enjoying them if I had a physical copy but since I didn't I can't give it 4 stars.

If i could recommend one book for white people to learn how to be better, this would be it. Its great for kids and adults alike, The information provided here was so simple to understand and so easy to apply. I loved the stories, the back and forth banter and the thoughts on the page from the authors. Brilliantly done.

"Do the Work!" is an interactive workbook that helps readers to recognise privilege and systemic racism.

The book has a clear focus on the United States of America so several of the activities and situations noted weren't known to me and/or relevant to my country, HOWEVER, I still found this book to be extremely relevant and useful.

In order to get the best outcome from this book, people, in particular white people, will need to put aside their defensiveness and be open to accepting that we don't have to be actively racist in order to promote racist systems and beliefs.

The format is exciting and engaging and will appeal to a lot of young adult readers. I personally found it too busy and chaotic for myself but I believe it will be very appealing to many.

I really loved all the further reading recommendations shared throughout the book and the "Do the Work" boxes that give suggestions on how to be 'active'ly anti-racist.

Thank you to NetGalley, Workman Publishing Company, and W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz for giving me a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Links to reviews will be updated the week of publication.

This is more a novelty book about race. I admit there is some interesting parts, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this topic in this format.

This book was AMAZING! I'm sure it helped that I am the target audience - a white person who wants to be anti-racist and tries to be in daily life, but sometimes doesn't know where or how to start. This book was both informative and funny; I learned a lot about the history of racism in the US, people who "did the work" in the past and the present, and more details about topics that I already knew a little about, like redlining and gerrymandering. The book being written as a dialogue between Bell and Schatz makes it approachable and charming; their differing backgrounds and experiences of racism help illustrate the points that they're making, and they strike a great balance between meeting people wherever they are while also giving you a gentle, but firm push to start doing the work. Then, they give you tons of ways that you can do just that! The activities were also great; they were fun, kept you engaged, and forced you to do more than just read the book and think, "Yep, I agree with all that. Sounds great!"

Do the Work! made me think about more things I want to do in my own life and work, and I can't wait to purchase a copy for myself and the other aspiring anti-racists in my life.

Bell and Schatz have delivered a wonderfully actionable book that can take those interested in racial justice from wondering how to confront issues they see to taking steps in their lives towards doing anti racism work. It is accessible but doesn’t hesitate to call out the reader and make them look at their life and consider their privilege and how committed they want to be to dismantling white supremacy. An excellent tool for racial justice work.

Do you fondly remember doing activity books when you were a kid? Are you still working out how to turn your antiracist aspirations into a life of action?* W. Kamau Bell ( a Black American man) and Kate Schatz (a white American woman) have put together an antiracist activity book that is perfect for adults and older teens. It is US focused, so while antiracism is necessary around the world, the specifics of history and law won’t apply.

Not everyone will appreciate the nostalgic format of crossword puzzles, word scrambles, fill in the blanks, and pages for coloring. But I did! The exercises are not just for fun. I thought the coloring pages to illustrate redlining were a brilliant way to take knowledge from abstract to visceral. I really enjoyed it, though because I had a locked PDF advance reader copy, I couldn’t actually interact with the book as intended. Still, I will really enjoy coloring the Audre Lord quote:

To acknowledge privilege is the first step in making it available for wider use.

The book does a great job of walking the reader step by step through concepts and linking those concepts to direct action. I particularly appreciated that Bell and Schatz presented history as choices that were made, those choices were driven by desire to create and protect wealth, and they link those choices to the world we live in today. There was a lot of information that wasn’t new to me, but it was really nice to have it all in one place and used as context for the current state of affairs.

This would be a good companion book to any antiracist library. I think it’s important to have many tools in your toolbox, and this one is nice for people who find journaling hard. It’s me, I find journaling hard.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Workman Publishing Company and NetGalley. My opinions are freely and honestly given.

*That’s a trick question, achieving perfect antiracism is nearly impossible, the point is to keep working at it.

Easy, accessible, understandable (for all), and entertaining. Better than I thought it would be. I wasn't able to get the full version but look forward to getting it and sharing it. We all need this!

I loved this book. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. Five stars for making the sometimes challenging topic accessible and somehow fun - not to mention funny. Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

I’m obsessed with this book. I really wish it would have been easier to actively participate in this workbook. I can’t wait to get the book to actually do that. But without that aspect of it, I still loved this book. There was so so much information about race and racism, and how to be better especially as a white person. I loved the conversations between the authors. Since one is a Black man and the other a white woman, even in those parts of the book we were being shown ways to be antiracist (ex. LISTENING TO BLACK PEOPLE!) I would definitely recommend this to all the white people I know. There’s always more work to be done in order to combat racism

LOVE THIS BOOK! I was unable to fully interact with it, as it was a digital copy, but plan to buy a copy to work through with my middle grade kids. Super accessible but also not pandering.

ARC from publisher via NetGalley, but the opinions are my own.

I thought the intention of this book was to help all readers identify racism and fight against it or work toward ending it--depending on your methodology.

I expected something constructive. I did not find it. I am very disappointed; I had high hopes that this would bridge the gap between "you'll never understand us" and "how can we understand"?

Upon opening this book, you will find one very long opinion piece (broken up into pieces) on all that is wrong with white people, and how they continue to oppress and live on the the labors of others (basically). Everybody's problems were caused by white people, and someone said a Caucasian skull was most beautiful, so that's why white people check that box at the DMV. (I'm laughing here, because it's written by two comedians, and they're obviously having fun with this.)

The problem is that it is very unclear where the joking begins and ends. Our hosts, a Black man and a white woman (small "w" explained in the book because white people didn't have to work for a capital letter), are of the same opinion about how nice living in America is in general, but it's filled with terrible places where white people live. Because they're all supremacists to one degree--too much--or the other. (Except for the white lady helping write the book, obviously.)

Between "down with white people" comments, there are disheartening historical facts and stories about things that were done--that certainly should not have been. I welcomed the education. I wish it had been presented with an attitude of of education. That alone--presented in this format--would have been powerful and helpful.

Blacks, people with non-white skin color (so I won't miss a color someone prefers), and people from thousands of cultures, have been discriminated against, treated differently, as "less than," (and worse), and still are, in areas of America. It's true.

What this book fails to do is show how to overcome prejudice--against white people OR prejudice against Blacks and others. Not one single word. It just says how terrible one predominant "race" is. (Although one comeback about race says "Are you a biologist? No? Then sit down.")

Because white people are not all bad, they're not all condescending, and they're not all supremacists. But they only get a very short paragraph or two and a hashtag. #NotAllWhitePeople.

How is anger against a nation of mostly white people going to help? The book's response: When Black people talk about oppression, say "I hear you." Don't talk about personal experiences or pretend to be clever. Don't say what YOU feel. It's THEIR turn to talk. That's not a dialogue.

The activities and games were represented in the book summary to be family or class activities to encourage understanding and open conversation. Unfortunately, they are so heavy-handed I believe many of them present a skewed view of the world.

Yes, learn about the past. Absolutely. Do I disagree with the bad (understatement) things done then and now? YES! Hate everyone for what was done in the past? No. Change how things are done now? YES!

2/5 Stars
Explanation:
5 Stars = History and facts
-1 Star = Condescension and negativity
-1 Star = Race vilification
-1 Star = Unbalanced presentation

Thanks to Workman Publishing and NetGalley for the preview of this ebook in pdf; the review is voluntary.

#DotheWork #NetGalley


Note to the publisher:
"We swear sometimes."
"That's right. Because sometimes the only way to express how we feel is to $#@*%!!"

This is ridiculous. Teaching children that it's impossible to express themselves without swearing, artificially limits them. It prevents them from learning to identify their feelings when everything is expressed by a few crude or obscene words. It leaves them unable to deal with how they feel (anger, frustration, helplessness, etc.). And that leads to depression and violence. We need fewer inarticulate people, not more.

It's also laughable. They are swearing about sending d** flowers or the smell of s**. How exactly is this necessary to expressing outrage regarding white supremacy? It isn't. They just wanted an excuse to use coarse and low-brow language instead of expressing actual feelings. It's embarrassing.

They will say, "You didn't like our book or the language we used? It's because you're too white." But the truth is that crude language isn't based on skin color. It's a choice.

Everyone needs this book. I found it to be thought provoking, helpful, and encouraged me to exercise my critical thinking muscles. This book would be beneficial for so many people grappling with information overload when it comes to antiracism. It's great!

Let me start by saying that the content in this book is a wonderful way to have conversations and examine yourself. Because it is so interactive, it will not make a great library book. I feel like I missed out on a lot by having a digital version of the book instead of paper version. To truly get all of the goodness out of this book, you would need to be able to do the activities. So, I recommend that every interested parent get two copies: one for them and one for their teen. Do the Work together. Build relationships and make the world a better place together.

I recommend this book highly. It is very thought provoking. I want it to be available to teens/ in schools, and parents!

I might just buy this for myself. Seems likes its YA+, good for teens and adults. Educational, accessible, fun, and funny. I think the authors achieve the goal of making tough things easier to work on in this format.

W. Kamau Bell has a way about him, a sense of humor that is paired with logic and easy to understand explanations. I really really enjoyed reading this, even as an e-book, so I can only imagine that the physical book will be that much better.

I want everyone to read this book, discuss this book and own this book.
I want this to be part of every curriculum around the world, in every classroom and university.
I'm totally blown away by how amazing this is put together. Let's start putting theory into practice!

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted this to be amazing, but I couldn't get it to format in a way to really read it. I thought that was just me, but I think it might be an impediment to others trying to follow along. I love this idea, and wanted it to be successful, but it fell a little flat, format-wise.

Thanks to NetGalley for the early look.

I loved this book. I’m always looking to educate myself and this book make doing so really enjoyable!! I loved all the different methods of learning about the subject of racial injustice. Highly recommend everyone picks up this book.