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School Library Journal Review

Gr 6-12-- The complex and diverse world of media is heavily illustrated, departmentalized, and lightly treated in this series. The books are designed as reference materials for young readers, but the bland writing and sometimes tacky formats detract from their credibility. The texts have similar organization and style, beginning with a history and development, then expanding into the production and categories pertinent to the particular form of media, all neatly fitted into six chapters each. However, some important data has been omitted from several of the books. Television and Video lacks video attention, offering only nine lean paragraphs at the end of the book. Pop Music is entertaining, but groups come and go so rapidly that it will soon appear dated. Advertising begins with a chapter titled ``The Debate , '' but never clearly presents material for the said ``debate.'' The book ends with a three-quarter page advertisement for Marlboro cigarettes which, even with the surgeon general's warning, is still an endorsement of smoking. The subjects of censorship, freedom of information, and individual rights in Newspapers receive a limited but welcome treatment. Magazines features sections on comics, teen-age, music, and women's magazines, but lightly skips over the wide variety of other types, including news (although Newsweek and Time grace the cover). In most of the series, clearly half of the information and photographs are on British media, making them of limited use to American students. --Judie Porter, Media Services Center, Portsmouth School Department, RI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.