Radio and Television

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6These two slim series entries take on more than they can possibly deliver. Both try to cover not only the principles that make the technologies work, but also look at the different fields in which they are used. In Photography, readers are given a brief historical overview of the development of modern cameras, film, and shooting techniques, including those used in motion-picture special effects and animation. Radio describes the development of modern electronics, the current state-of-the-art usages, and the possibilities for the future. Both books are profusely illustrated with paintings that, given the subject matter, do not convey the information with the same impact that actual photographs would. The layout can sometimes be confusing as well. In Photography, for example, an illustration of a stack of 35mm film containers is given the caption "There are three popular types of film." There is nothing in the text or illustration to indicate the three different types of film to which the caption is referring. Librarians searching for books on these topics would be better served by Gail Gibbons's Click! (Little, Brown, 1997) or W. Carter Merbreier's Television (Farrar, 1995).Tim Wadham, Dallas Public Library, TX