Eating Disorders

VOYA

Issue-oriented and slickly designed nonfiction series for young adults dominate publishing circulars and promise high interest and high circulation. The Health Issues series joins the queue with these two volumes, Stress and Depression by Sarah Leonard-Brown and Eating Disorders by Jo Whelan, that appear fairly typical in design yet differ in their approach to subject matter. Unlike Rosen's High/Low Resources and the Need to Know Library, these books cater to the more sophisticated reader. The text, although not as dense as that found in a Taking Sides book, is more complex and includes more specific data. Graphic in style, the books feature color photographs on practically every page and include both text boxes with extra information and anecdotal illustrations of the issues discussed. In Stress and Depression, Leonard-Brown introduces readers to the causes of stress and the potential for depression to rise from anxiety. She reproduces a stress test that assigns weight to specific causes of stress and that might encourage reader self-evaluation. In Eating Disorders, Whelan discusses anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive eating in successive chapters, finishing the book with an overview of treatment and the potential societal influences on body image. Although each volume in the series is authored individually, a single expert—British doctor Kirsten Lamb—advises each book. The text originates in Europe, and problems in metric conversion have affected the text of Eating Disorders. In a graphic box intended to match height with desired healthy weights and reassure readers of normalcy, the scales have been miscalculated, and the weight measures (70 pounds is shown as a "healthy" weight for a 5foot, 7 inch person) are skewed dramatically. Unlike the more frank Rosen titles, these narratives are more pedantic and speak to the reader directly, using the pronoun "you." Ultimately, this series lacks the intimate tone of the Rosen High/Lows and is recommended to complement a collection. Glossary. Index. Further Reading. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P J S (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 64p. PLB Pattee