School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 4-In an effort to educate young children about the difference between safe and unsafe situations, the YMCA Southern California CARE Services with the help of the production Center at San Diego University and the students in the after-school program at Lafayette Elementary School created this brief video that highlights potentially dangerous situations. The narrator is an adult male who meets with a group of diverse children in a playground setting to discuss several situations that could occur after school for the targeted age group: home alone and someone is knocking at the door, walking home from school and being approached by a stranger in a car, playing at the park and being approached by an acquaintance and asked to leave the park with him/her, and abduction by one parent during a family crisis. The video also tackles the use of the Internet by encouraging children to be cyberspace smart by not giving out any personal information, choosing a non-gender handle, etc. Each topic is reinforced with a cartoon that provides a catchy phrase to help youngsters remember the salient points of the message. The narrator reminds viewers that when a parent is not around to protect them from stranger danger, it is the responsibility of the children to make the best choices to protect themselves from harm. Although viewers will be able to tell that the child actors are being aided by a visual reading aid to help them with their lines, the intended teaching objectives of the video are met. The quality of the video is fair, but the information is up to date and useful. This video will be a worthy addition for school and public libraries.-Alicia Thompson, N. Cheektowaga Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.