School Library Journal

Gr 7-10– Unfortunately, this exhaustively researched series is also exhausting to read, and teens hoping for a sympathetic explanation of adolescent issues will be disappointed with its clinical, textbook style. Combining first-person narratives, opinions from specialists, and myriad statistics, these titles seem to have been written specifically for reports. The narratives and professional opinions, which are often conveyed through primary source quotes sections, appear to be selected solely for their scare-tactic qualities, while the fact pages are so verbose that the data loses its impact. Many of the charts and graphs are inadequately labeled or visually busy and, thus, quite confusing. Each volume contains a few color photographs.