Foleff, Tamara L. Beauty Pageants. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2014. 978-0-7377-6825-1. 93p. $27.00. Gr. 9 and up.
These thin volumes are full of information and statistics about contemporary issues. Following an introduction, the book is divided into sixteen separate opinion articles about the individual topic, beauty pageants. The publisher provides a list of organization’s contact information, bibliography, and index. The At Issue series includes seventy-five different titles and is a good addition to middle and high school libraries.
791.66 (Public Performances) Robin Burns, Salisbury High School
The At Issue: Beauty Queens could be used to extend current events projects, individualized research, and to make connections to the greater issue of beauty in society. The titles in the series provide more than one viewpoint for each issue. High school debate teams would also find the series helpful for the primary source articles contained in each title.
Nardo, Don. Sleep Problems. Detroit. Lucent Books: 2014. 978-1-42051-150-5. 104 p. $27.00. Gr. 5 – 8.
Sleep Problems is part of a series, Nutrition and Health, geared toward middle school and junior high students. The text is easy to read and is augmented with colorful photographs and pop out statistical charts and graphs. Sleep disorders is a growing problem for both adults and children in the United States, and the book gives a good overview of the contributing factors to the often undetected disease. The book has a glossary, web-site resource list, bibliography for further reading, and an easy to use index.
616.849 (Diseases and Disorders) Robin Burns, Salisbury High School
Health classes will find this series and title helpful for student research. However, this is a subject matter that many adults also struggle with and would be applicable for personal use. The ease of the text and setup makes it accessible for both middle and high school students. All of the pictures are credited, and the titles could be used as part of copyright lesson as well.
Johnson, Claudia Durst Ed. Race In The Poetry of Langston Hughes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2014. 978-0-7377-6981-4. 168 p. $30.00 Gr. 9 and up.
This series is a best book selection. The books in this series examine a variety of social issues in literature. The titles are split into three parts with information equally distributed into well thought out sections. Although there are only a few black and white photographs in these books, they are packed full of information and include in depth explanations for each article to engage readers. Each book begins with a section titled, Introduction and Chronology, and concludes with a section listing further discussion and further readings, a bibliography, and index.
818.52 (American Literature) Robin Burns, Salisbury High School
Each year English students conduct literary analysis, and this title touches upon many of the issues students examine for their research. Unlike many other texts, this series does not simply list information about the author and his works. Instead the series provides articles by various authors pertaining first to the author, the social issue (ex: race) and lastly provides a contemporary perspective to the social issue (ex: race).