(4) YA Library of Tattoos and Body Piercings series. These dense volumes offer balanced explorations of tattooing and piercing as cultural practices dating back to ancient times and as contemporary customs for self-expression; Teens delves into the trends' implications for young people. Blandly designed, text-heavy pages are broken up by striking photographs, "Did You Know?" sidebars, and inserts with primary source material. Reading list, websites. Ind. Review covers these Library of Tattoos and Body Piercings titles: Tattoos, Body Piercings, and Teens, A Cultural History of Tattoos, and A Cultural History of Body Piercings.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen

(3) YA Understanding World History series. In addition to an introduction to the monarch for whom the titular era is named, this thorough account offers a detailed discussion of the social, political, and economic climate in Great Britain during the second half of the 1800s. Sidebars, maps, and archival illustrations extend the information and help break up the dense text, which is enriched with primary source quotes. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(4) YA Crime Scene Investigations series. This volume focuses on the collaborative efforts of science and law enforcement to investigate missing persons cases. Stewart examines the skills, determination, resources, and technologies used to solve this type of crime. Sidebars and photographs combine with the text to highlight evidence gathering and interpretation, statistics, and career information. The writing is dense, but criminal justice enthusiasts will appreciate the presentation. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(4) 4-6 Mysterious & Unknown series. Stewart discusses the history of urban legends: their origins, transmission, and basis in fact (or not). Several well-known urban legends--e.g., the black-market kidney-removal victim in the bathtub--along with "Celebrity Urban Legends" ("Is Paul McCartney Dead?") are used as examples. Photos, illustrations, pull-quotes, and sidebars break up the dense text. Reading list, websites. Ind.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(4) YA Monsters and Mythical Creatures series. Blurring fact and fiction, each volume begins with an overview of the historical and cultural origins of the featured creature, followed by an analysis of that monster in literature, film, and other media. Some of the many supporting pictures (photographs, illustrations, movies stills) are poorly placed. "Did You Know?" boxes add interest. Reading list, websites. Ind. Review covers these Monsters and Mythical Creatures titles: Medusa, The Mummy, and Trolls.

Reviewer: Barratt Miller

(4) YA Monsters and Mythical Creatures series. These books provide detailed looks at the title creatures in history, legend, and popular culture. Color photographs and illustrations enhance the texts and include images from movies and television. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, the authors present information from a variety of sources, including websites, and offer serious looks at fantastical creatures. Reading list, websites. Ind. Review covers these Monsters and Mythical Creatures titles: Goblins, Dragons, Cyclops, Water Monsters, and Zombies.

Reviewer: Beth L. Meister

(4) YA Crime Scene Investigations series. This series emphasizes the collaborative efforts of science and law enforcement and examines the skills, determination, resources, and technologies used to solve crimes. Sidebars and photographs combine with the texts to highlight evidence gathering and interpretation, statistics, and career information. The writing is dense, but criminal justice enthusiasts will appreciate the thorough presentation. Reading list, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Crime Scene Investigations titles: The Homicide Detective, The 9/11 Investigation, The Columbine School Shootings, The Murder of Emmett Till, and K-9 Police Units.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(4) YA Vampire Library series. The series provides a serious-minded and historically grounded discussion of vampires, examining the creatures through different aspects of culture. Despite the books' overlapping content (some that contradicts itself in different volumes), the engaging style and earnest treatment of the topic will ensure that fans will drink the series up. Sidebars, photographs, and paintings support the texts. Reading list. Bib., ind. Review covers these Vampire Library titles: Encounters with Vampires, Vampire History and Lore, Vampires: Do They Exist?,Vampires in Literature, and Vampires in the Movies.

Reviewer: Lauren Chambers

(4) YA Crime Scene Investigations series. Emphasizing the collaborative efforts between law enforcement professionals and forensic scientists and artists, this series describes the skills, resources, technologies, and determination needed to solve crimes. Sidebars, archival documents, and photographs bolster the informative, if densely worded, studies of people who analyze written communications (Cryptology) and those who revisit unsolved crimes (Cold Cases). Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Crime Scene Investigations titles: Cryptology and Cold Cases.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(4) YA Library of Ghosts & Hauntings series. These volumes, many of which overlap with one another, tackle paranormal topics. Each book includes five chapters that define the subject, describe historical and contemporary examples, and examine their veracity. Though the texts claim that nothing is proven, the writing does take belief for granted ("Ghosts have other reasons to linger"). Many photographs, some graphic, illustrate the texts. Reading list, websites. Ind. Review covers these Library of Ghosts & Hauntings titles: Communication with the Dead, Ghost Hunters, Poltergeists, Ghosts, and Hauntings.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(4) YA People in the News series. Harry Potter actor Radcliffe and writer, civil rights activist, and performer Angelou are the latest subjects of this biography series. Providing background on her life more than her writing, the Angelou biography gives historical context about growing up in the segregated South. For Radcliffe, the focus is his acting career and "regular kid" status. Each volume is illustrated with many photographs. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind. Review covers these People in the News titles: Daniel Radcliffe and Maya Angelou.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(4) YA Crime Scene Investigations series. The importance of the crime scene photographer comes through clearly in this thorough examination of the people who create permanent records of crime scenes and evidence. Sidebars and photographs shed light on evidence gathering, notable cases, career information, and statistics. Though the writing is dense, CSI fans and photography students will appreciate the level of detail. Reading list, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(4) YA Modern Role Models series. These biographies chronicle the subjects' rise to fame, major setbacks and accomplishments, and efforts toward helping others; a few of the celebrities featured are odd choices as "role models," though all have teen appeal. The busy design includes photographs, bolded quotations, and many different-color fonts. There are eight other fall 2008 books in this series. Reading list, timeline, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Modern Role Models titles: Raven-Symoné, Tobey Maguire, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, Tyra Banks, and Criss Angel.

Reviewer: Marika Jeffrey

(4) YA People in the News series. These series entries cover basic biographical facts; as evidenced by the McCain title, which ends with his nomination, the books quickly become out of date. Fans may enjoy the Timberlake bio, including its many color photos, and students could use the McCain book (with further research) for reports. Though the books are fairly superficial, they're fine starting points. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind. Review covers these People in the News titles: Justin Timberlake and John McCain.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(4) 4-6 Mysterious & Unknown series. This series offers detailed explorations of topics that are spooky, strange, or just plain unexplainable. Historical and contemporary anecdotes will enthrall receptive readers. The texts are dense; stock photos, illustrations, pull-quotes, and sidebars add visual interest and help break up the pages. Many of the lengthy captions are just lifted directly and repeated from the main texts. Reading list, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Mysterious & Unknown titles: Vampires and Ghosts.

Reviewer: Sethany Rancier Alongi

(4) 4-6 Innovators series. These volumes focus on contemporary inventors of items or technologies of interest to young people. Biographical sketches accompany information about the inventions, their popularity or uses, and business aspects of the inventors' work. The photographs are often tangential; Tajiri includes no photos of the man himself, and in Kwolek a stock photo of Polish immigrants stands in for her parents. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Innovators titles: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim, Satoshi Tajiri, Stephanie Kwolek, and John Lasseter.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(4) YA Crime Scene Investigations series. A shared foreword explains that these books should dispel the television myth that forensic crimes are solved by just one or two people. Instead, the series emphasizes collaborative efforts and highlights emerging technologies. The writing is dense; sidebars and photographs help break up the text. Burgeoning criminal justice enthusiasts will be fascinated by the technical and personal details. Reading list, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Crime Scene Investigations titles: The Oklahoma City Bombing, Identity Theft, The Case of the Green River Killer, Tracking Serial Killers, and The Unabomber.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(4) YA Lucent Overview series. Each volume addresses a social problem that affects the lives of teenagers, presenting teens' first-hand experiences, pertinent statistics, and solid information on avoiding or confronting these problems. Including charts, editorial cartoons, and poorly reproduced black-and-white photos (some repeated in more than one volume), the formats are bland and uninteresting, but the topics may draw readers. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) YA American War Library series. Focusing in some depth on a particular aspect of the Civil War, each of these books is appropriate for supplemental research and classroom support, although readers with some prior knowledge of the war will be at an advantage. The texts, which contain some overlap from one book to another, are accessible and are accompanied by black-and-white photo reproductions, a number of which are used in more than one volume. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) YA Other America series. After an introduction that offers some background about these issues, each book features interviews with four drug- or alcohol-addicted teens. The straightforward writing lets the teenagers speak for themselves, providing eye-opening, personalized views of these problems. Dark black-and-white photos and a list of related organizations are included in both books. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Cindy Lombardo