(4) K-3 First Facts: Staying Safe series. An easy-to-read text presents some of the ways children should behave on or around school buses. Some of the tips are common sense while others are a little ominous ("Once you leave the bus, keep walking") or unrealistic ("At the bus stop, wait in line quietly. Don't push others or run around"). Photographs of kids demonstrating the tips accompany the text. Reading list. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Barbara Barstow

(4) K-3 Character Education series. Each book comprises nine two-page "chapters" featuring a concise main paragraph and a full-page color photograph of kids exhibiting the virtue being discussed, plus a "Hands On" activity that reinforces that quality. The strengths of the series are its spare prose, civic-mindedness, and vivid, immediate images; its weakness is its sanctimonious tone, which might repel kids who learn lessons better from stories than from lectures. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Character Education series. Each book comprises nine two-page "chapters" featuring a concise main paragraph and a full-page color photograph of kids exhibiting the virtue being discussed, plus a "Hands On" activity that reinforces that quality. The strengths of the series are its spare prose, civic-mindedness, and vivid, immediate images; its weakness is its sanctimonious tone, which might repel kids who learn lessons better from stories than from lectures. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Character Education series. Each book comprises nine two-page "chapters" featuring a concise main paragraph and a full-page color photograph of kids exhibiting the virtue being discussed, plus a "Hands On" activity that reinforces that quality. The strengths of the series are its spare prose, civic-mindedness, and vivid, immediate images; its weakness is its sanctimonious tone, which might repel kids who learn lessons better from stories than from lectures. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Character Education series. Each "chapter" comprises a concise main paragraph and a full-page color photograph of people demonstrating patriotism, from sports fans waving American flags to kids saying the Pledge of Allegiance. While the clear introductions of concepts such as democracy are useful, the author is sometimes categorical ("Patriotic people make the United States safer and stronger"). Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Character Education series. Each book comprises nine two-page "chapters" featuring a concise main paragraph and a full-page color photograph of kids exhibiting the virtue being discussed, plus a "Hands On" activity that reinforces that quality. The strengths of the series are its spare prose, civic-mindedness, and vivid, immediate images; its weakness is its sanctimonious tone, which might repel kids who learn lessons better from stories than from lectures. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Character Education series. Each book comprises nine two-page "chapters" featuring a concise main paragraph and a full-page color photograph of kids exhibiting the virtue being discussed, plus a "Hands On" activity that reinforces that quality. The strengths of the series are its spare prose, civic-mindedness, and vivid, immediate images; its weakness is its sanctimonious tone, which might repel kids who learn lessons better from stories than from lectures. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 True Book series. Published spring 1998. This photo-essay clearly, if unexcitingly, lays out the basic steps of the bookmaking process from concept through editing, design, production, and marketing. The brisk, bare-bones approach is more effective in conveying the mechanical intricacies of production than the creative editorial and design aspects and doesn't say anything about the submissions process. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin