Getting Ready to Drive

May 1, 2012

Gr 7-10-The quality of these titles varies from book to book. Drive includes an outstanding parent-child driving contract and cites pertinent research to emphasize the importance of conscientiousness behind the wheel without resorting to scare tactics. It has solid advice on being a responsible car owner and handling police stops. Thoughtful discussion questions round out this essential volume. The title of the next book is misleading. The first five chapters are devoted to the history of youth fashion and its intersection with marketing, the next one is an incongruous look at sweatshops, and only in the last chapter are dress codes discussed. Streissguth's itemized descriptions of modern styles vacillate between value judgments and plays at hipness. Wroble takes a wordy approach to the biological and social aspects of stress. Balancing Work and Play (Amicus, 2010) covers the same information in half the pages. While Driving excels, explaining in well-organized detail the entire process of becoming a responsible driver, all three volumes have stock photos with dull captions and arbitrarily placed clip art images.-Rebecca Dash Donsky, New York Public Library

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2012
Grades 6-9 The bright, cheerful design of the Life: A How-to Guide series helps make it seem as if life skills are something to look forward to rather than suffer through. The tone is upbeat without being overly enthusiastic, and the advice offered is generally very sound. The format varies slightly with topics, but each book includes around eight chapters with text broken up courtesy of sidebar sections and well-chosen quotes. Bold, unevenly shaped boxes set off the illustrations nicely. Getting Ready to Drive is a particularly welcome topic, well developed here with a good balance of practical tips and warnings worded so as not to sound hysterical. Each book includes notes, suggestions for further reading, websites, and an index.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2012
Apelqvist provides a concise yet thorough overview of the considerations made when preparing to drive. Chapters touch on large issues (e.g., rules of the road) along with smaller sub-topics, from learning disabilities to how to take a good driver's license photo. Personal stories interspersed throughout add a human face but often sound canned; stock photos are similarly hit-or-miss. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)