Relationship Smarts

April 1, 2012

Gr 8 Up-These visually appealing titles aim to help teens get smart about potential life pitfalls. The practical information contains helpful advice. For example, Job discusses the whys, hows, and whens of employment, and Scheduling walks readers through establishing time-management methods. The prevalence of technology in modern society is emphasized in the text and its distractions are frequently warned about. All in all, this series has some useful information, but the layout is weak. The font size is very small, which makes for some difficult reading, and key summary sentences are presented in tiny, colored cursive font. USA Today articles are included throughout the titles in sidebars, but they come across as contrived marketing ploys-the topics do relate, but some are rather dated (a 1999 article in Budgeting, a 2002 article in Job) or poorly edited.

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