《学校图书馆杂志》(School Library Journal)书评

Gr 2-4-Four series titles that attempt to show that Creativity, Family, Growing Up, and Play are all part of the human condition. While the books are laudable in their intent, the execution is poor. Each one sketchily explores its theme in 14 cultures or countries by means of a double-page spread that includes one or two facts, a green world map with the featured area highlighted in red, and from two to four paragraphs of description. Unfortunately, the accompanying photographs don't always match the texts. In Family, most of the discussion for the U.S. is on single-parent households, but the photo shows an African American nuclear family. In Play, Lakin states that ``along with a chess set, a Russian child's room most probably also contains a Matreshka doll,'' but the photo shows three young Muscovites playing cards. Creativity has a different problem: it concentrates on traditional arts and crafts of various cultures, but not those generally associated with children. Overall, the series gives an oversimplified view that leaves readers with no real feeling for the children pictured, and no sense of personal connection.-Rosanne Cerny, Queens Borough Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.