Forensic Science: Prints, Vol. 12

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Just like a TV program or a movie, this story opens with a crime in progress. A bank is being robbed and the criminals escape and even burn the getaway car to destroy evidence. But today's technology makes getting rid of all traces of a person nearly impossible. Readers learn that fingerprints are unique and that there are three main types of fingerprints—arches, loops and whorls. Fingerprints can be lifted from just about any surface and items that once were just about impossible to get prints from can be a source of prints with the use of magnetic powder and ultraviolet light, which can reveal fingerprints on paper surfaces (the sweat leaves a residue). All of the evidence is gathered including prints of the suspects that are compared to a database of fingerprint samples and a match obtained. When brought to trial the prints and other evidence lead to a conviction. There is a brief one page glossary titled "Need-to-Know Words," a few websites to visit and an index. The story is plausible and the presentation of the information is clear and quite enlightening. A good choice for older students who are not reading on grade level as well as those who are. Part of the "Crabtree Contact" series. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6

These titles streamline forensics with short, informative sentences and large typeface. Each one walks readers through a case that is solved by the conclusion. The books begin with the discovery of a body (Bone Detectives ), or a bank robbery (Prints ), and continue with steps such as examining the size and shape of a skeleton to determine a victim's characteristics and cause of death, or comparing crime-scene fingerprints to those in a police database. The labeled illustrations enhance the mystery and allow readers to follow the methodology used in CSI. Bone Detectives deals with death in a factual manner, omitting gruesome details. Questions are intermittently posed, and the answers are contained in bubbles on the same page. Interesting facts are sprinkled throughout in text boxes labeled "Is That a Fact?" and, in Bone Detectives , "Need to Know." The style is more appealing than that in the similar "Forensic Crime Solvers" series (Capstone), but those books provide a better list of additional print and online resources.-Lori A. Guenthner, Baltimore County Public Library, Randallstown, MD