(3) 4-6 Freedom's Promise series. Cleanly designed and supported with lots of photos, these books feature clear texts that help contextualize pivotal episodes in African American history. The treatments don't shy away from the violence and hatred that the fight for civil rights unleashed in America. Bloody looks at how the U.S. civil rights movement inspired Catholic activists in Northern Ireland. There are eight other spring 2019 books in this series. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these Freedom's Promise titles: Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine, The March on Washington and Its Legacy, Ruby Bridges and the Desegregation of American Schools, and Two Bloody Sundays.

Reviewer: Monique Harris

(3) 4-6 Checkerboard Library: STEM Superstar Women series. Each volume provides a succinct overview of a trailblazing woman in STEM. The subjects' childhoods, education, numerous obstacles (many times because of their gender), and achievements are explained in readable prose. Archival photographs, sidebars, and fact boxes help to highlight each woman's importance in her field. Timeline. Glos., ind. Review covers these Checkerboard Library: STEM Superstar Women titles: Grace Hopper, Hedy Lamarr, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Katherine Johnson, Rosalind Franklin, and Ada Lovelace.

Reviewer: Rita Soltan

(4) 4-6 This second adventure (The Ministry of SUITs) finds Jack--operative for Northern Ireland's top-secret Ministry of Strange, Unusual, and Impossible Things--and "business partner" Trudy up against zany new challenges, including monstrous crabs and exploding bath products. Again employing clever storytelling techniques (footnotes and excerpts from the SUITs handbook), the series should continue to appeal to readers who like frenetic action.

Reviewer: Rebecca Kirshenbaum

(4) YA Sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. Lili remembers her seventeenth year playing bass in a band with her boyfriend and falling in love with another bandmate involved with the dangerous Irish Republican Army. The memoir-like narrative uses insider details to bring 1976 London's nascent punk scene to life. Readers looking for an empowering story about a female bass player will be disappointed with the book's shallow (and few) female characters.

Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester

(4) 4-6 In Northern Ireland, new recruits Jack and Trudy use their insatiable curiosity to further the mission of the Ministry of Strange, Unusual, and Impossible Things. Silliness abounds as the story--which integrates (not always smoothly) humorous footnotes and S.U.I.T.s Handbook excerpts--unfolds in wacky capers involving pirates and missing Belfast kids. Readers tolerant of a frenetic pace will relish the adventure's quirky, clever humor.

Reviewer: Rebecca Kirshenbaum

(4) K-3 SportsZone: Playmakers series. Each athlete profile written for newly independent readers begins with a short action anecdote. After some brief family and childhood background, the bulk of each adulatory biography deals with the development of the athlete from rookie to seasoned professional; charitable and community-building behaviors are briefly mentioned. Color photos help to personalize the rather bland narratives. Facts and quotes are appended. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers these SportsZone: Playmakers titles: Michelle Wie, Maya Moore, Mike Trout, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Rory McIlroy.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Michael Dooling. In the midst of Northern Ireland's "Troubles," two young girls--one Catholic, the other Protestant--reach out to each other on a crowded street and exchange peaceful tokens and honest words. While hopeful, Bunting's lengthy and purposeful text is more lesson than story. Dooling's subdued paintings convey mood, but figures sometimes look posed.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(4) YA Modern Peacemakers series. These biographies of Nobel Peace Prize winners provide windows into worldwide political and social issues. Triumphs and controversies surrounding the winners (e.g., inaccuracies in Menchú's autobiography) are covered using primary and secondary sources. More photographs would have been useful to break up long discussions of complex issues. There are six other spring 2007 books in this series. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Modern Peacemakers titles: Desmond Tutu, Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Mother Teresa, Elie Wiesel, and Rigoberta Menchú Tum.

Reviewer: Laura A. Woollett

(2) 4-6 Eddie & the Gang with No Name series. When Eddie Malone's dad leaves his mum, his mum has to get a new job at a hospital in Belfast, where Eddie doesn't know anyone and the streets are ruled by gangs, including the ruthless Reservoir Pups. Eddie, a courageous if luckless hero, bravely rushes into danger as the yarn winds up tighter and tighter en route to the dramatic finale.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2005

(4) 4-6 Witness to History series. After an introduction that defines primary and secondary sources, left-hand pages superficially discuss historical events and right-hand pages provide firsthand accounts from a range of people (Hitler's family's Jewish doctor, a farmer in southern Ulster). The primary source material is this series's asset. The captioned photographs extend the text. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Witness to History titles: The Troubles in Northern Ireland and The Rise of Hitler.

Reviewer: Kate Murphy

(4) K-3 Checkerboard: The Countries series. These flat, factual country surveys include information for school assignments: history, land, people, economy, holidays, and cities, among other topics. The trim size and the typeface indicate that the books are for younger readers; the vocabulary and political concepts often seem more advanced. Clear photos and some word translations are included. Maps, recipe, timeline. Glos., ind. Review covers these Checkerboard: The Countries titles: Denmark and Northern Ireland.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) 4-6 Visual Geography series. Color photographs, maps, and sidebars combine with a dry but informative text to introduce the geography, history, government, people, culture, and economy of the featured nation. The books are intended to be used with a designated website with up-to-date information for the report-driven reader. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Visual Geography titles: United Kingdom in Pictures and Spain in Pictures.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(4) 4-6 Headliners series. Gottfried does a reasonable job making the complex history of the conflict in Northern Ireland understandable for middle school readers. However, the dry text outlines the issues but never makes them personal and the textbook style layout also keeps readers at a distance from the subject. This serviceable book ends with a chronology. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) YA Nations of the World series. In two books in this series, wide-ranging overviews of Italy and the countries that constitute the United Kingdom, include information on their histories, present political and economic conditions, and prospects for the future. The clear texts are accompanied by color photos, sidebars, charts, graphs, maps, and time lines, which give an overcrowded appearance to the volumes. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) K-3 Visit To series. In each book, thirteen double-page spreads with one full-color photo per page cover topics such as landmarks (one natural; one man-made), dress (traditional and modern), homes, transportation, and leisure activities. Unremarkable texts, consisting of a few large-type sentences under each picture, point out similarities to American customs, while introducing cultural traditions. Pronunciation guides for simple foreign words are included. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Gail Hedges

(3) 4-6 Photographs by Alan O'Connor. This slice-of-life photo essay follows eleven-year-old Liam as he attends school, spends time with his family, and intensely prepares for a boxing match. That Liam is a Catholic boy living in a city long divided by "the Troubles" is evident throughout the present-tense text and in the sharp color photos, but the book's emphasis is on how normal childhood activities abide, even when restricted and somewhat shaped by social conflict.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) YA Black-and-white photos illustrate this compendium of compellingly honest first-person narratives from disenfranchised youth in Thailand, Ukraine, South Africa, Northern Ireland, and the United States. Shorter narratives by adults from grassroots mentoring organizations give a well-rounded view of the global scope of problems youth and society face with drugs, violence, and HIV/AIDS. The stories are bleak, but all contain real hope and inspiration for change.

Reviewer: Jennifer Polshek