Gambling: Winners and Losers

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up-Gambling gives a timely subject a pedestrian treatment. The book reads like a high-school term paper. It is well documented, and the footnotes give evidence of ample research, but much of the information seems to be paraphrased from the cited sources with little original thinking. Hyde gives an adequate overview of the history, different types, and psychology of gambling, but it is marred by tedious fictionalized case studies. A few black-and-white photos and cartoons appear throughout. Deborah Crisfield's Gambling (Crestwood, 1991) depends almost entirely on poorly written case studies. Jim Haskins's Gambling (Watts, 1979; o.p.) is slightly more concise and the history is more interesting, but it's out of date. So, despite its shortcomings, Hyde's title is one of the few current books available for this age group on the topic.-Tim Wadham, Dallas Public Library, TX

Stephanie Zvirin

In her latest book, Hyde focuses on gambling as a sociopolitical issue. The information is clearly laid out, with Hyde providing some basic historical perspective before exploring contemporary aspects of the subject. She looks briefly at gambling in both its legal and illegal forms, does some speculating on its rise among teens, and takes a look at the characteristics of a pathological gambler. Personal histories are concrete but too few and rather dry, and although Hyde does attempt to present both sides of the issue, her negative arguments are more fully developed. Turn to Edward Dolan's "Teenagers and Compulsive Gambling" (1994) for a much better, more detailed discussion of gambling among YAs; use this book as a general overview and a consciousness raiser. Unfortunately, the further readings are mostly adult.