Anita Hill

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-This title fails both as a biography and as an overview of the issue of sexual harassment. Italia devotes just two pages to Hill's youth, education, and career, with the rest of the skimpy text serving as a barely fleshed-out chronology of the events leading up to and including her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Oversimplification and undocumented quotations seriously mar the presentation. ``When President George Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court in July 1991, it seemed like a wise decision. After all, Thomas was intelligent, respected, and had risen from the depths of poverty. How could senators-who must approve Supreme Court nominees-vote against him?'' Such statements hardly tell the whole story. It is only in the discussion of the confirmation vote near the end of the book that Thomas is even identified as a conservative. ``The key to the nomination was the black vote'' is also misleading. One page addresses ``Anita Hill's Legacy'' in terms of making Americans aware of sexual harassment in the workplace. A disappointing series entry.- Luann Toth, School Library Journal