Reading the Financial Pages

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up A reasonably engaging introduction to the financial pages of American newspapers for those who have read Little's What Is a Share of Stock? (Chelsea House, 1987) or otherwise have picked up sufficient background information. Little explains the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a few other broad market indicators; briefly covers the columns in the stock tables, including markets other than the New York Stock Exchange; the bond markets; mutual funds; commodities; futures; and options. He does a particularly good job of showing how business news can affect stock prices. The presentation is authoritative and accurate, but the style is a bit dry and assumes a high level of literacy. The overall organization works well, but individual facts (such as ``what does `x' mean after a stock listing'') are not indexed, so one cannot refer to them without having already read the text. The same information is presented just as clearly by Peter Passell in How to Read the Financial Pages (Warner, 1986). This is recommended where previous books in the series are used and in areas in which interest in investing is high. Jonathan Betz-Zall, Sno-Isle Regional Library System, Marysville, Wash.