Ituko: An Inuit Child

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-These extremely simple books purport to use a child as their focus but really don't do so. The featured youngster is barely mentioned and rarely pictured. The information is spotty and sometimes too advanced for the format, and difficult words are not defined. (Do children really need to know that the Inuits' major problem is alcoholism, which is explained in the last sentence in the book?) There are also several errors in Thanassis. Greece no longer uses drachmas as it has been in the EU and using euros as its currency for quite a while, and the assertion that it was the birthplace of mythology excludes consideration of the Egyptian myths. Each book has a detailed table of contents and a good map of the world that shows the location of the country highlighted, but there is no large map of the area itself pointing out where the child lives, and there is no pronunciation guide. The photos are numerous but small and in a couple of cases not keyed to the text. There are many series on countries available, and several for this age group.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.