Military and Elite Forces Officer

School Library Journal

Gr 5 Up-These hybrid works try to combine career guidance with morality training. Based in part on Josephson Institute of Ethics materials, each book follows an identical format including the same introductions and chapter headings: "Job Requirements," "Integrity and Trustworthiness," "Self-Discipline and Diligence," "Career Opportunities," etc. Anecdotal stories pose moral questions that readers are encouraged to answer. Values-based quotations are highlighted and sidebars give information on integrity, ethical dilemmas, responsibility, and justice. Oddly, each page has a fingerprint on the top corner. Although the texts work hard to encourage morally uplifting behavior, most of the full-color photographs are of a menacing nature. In Security Officer, men with guns of all types and views of accidents and burglars abound. In one illustration, a police officer is aiming a gun directly at viewers; the caption reads "Not every crisis involves danger and violence-instead, some may involve quiet issues of integrity." Better career-guidance titles and far better books on ethics abound.-Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, Trinity-Pawling School, Pawling, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.