Vote

May 1, 2008
Gr 4-8-Engaging visual material and a wealth of assorted facts trace the history of voting and its impact on human rights, politics, and other related areas. The first half moves chronologically from ancient Greece to modern times, with current information into the 21st century. Later sections look at political structures, election logistics, and even nongovernmental elections (including trade unions, the Oscars, and Britain's "Pop Idol"). Several high-quality photographs and reproductions appear on each spread. Though not tremendously exciting on their own, they still contribute great appeal and represent the text well. The "polling day" spread, for example, depicts a variety of voting implements, from a gold-tipped pointing stick used in the republic of Venice to a keypad from 2007 Bhutan. Nearly every section draws upon assorted examples from around the world, providing a strong international framework. One spread, for example, shows seven recent scenes of varied "protest" events, each from a different country. In some cases, the information is too cursory to be of much use, such as a paragraph on the electoral college that might confuse more than clarify. As a whole, though, the book does a nice job of pulling together an impressive array of topics, events, and ideas within the broad concept of global suffrage. The book comes with a poster-size wall chart and a clip-art CD with downloadable images of many of the illustrations."Steven Engelfried, Multnomah County Library, OR"

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