Choice 评论

This work claims as its focus the subject of children's picture books as visual, not literary, art. The 451 annotated entries for books, articles, theses, ERIC documents, and some media are grouped into 6 broad subject categories. Other than this, there is no subject access; artist, author, and title indexes are provided. The brief section describing 15 research repositories would have been greatly improved by adding addresses and phone numbers. The coverage is more retrospective than current, with nothing published after 1987. Some foreign-language materials are included. One of the chief frustrations encountered is lack of access. Someone who is interested in Japanese picture books must skim through the entire work. The title index lists only titles of items in the work. Thus, in checking the index one would assume that there were no references to Beauty and the Beast. However, there is an essay on illustration of that tale, but it is indexed under the essay title "What Manner of Beast?" It is difficult to define the parameters of this work, for it includes many entries that deal with children's literature generally, and it stretches so far as to include a filmstrip on Charles Schulz. Those who want a truly comprehensive collection of bibliographies on children's picture books may wish to add this relatively inexpensive title--if they can overlook loose selection criteria and no subject access. -M. R. Pukkila, Colby College