Eight years after its last revision, the longtime library staple America the Beautiful has recently released its new Third Series. A close look at a representative title in the series, California, which has been fully rewritten by Orr, reveals changes that range from cosmetic to substantial. The most obvious is the new design, starting with a striking cover that sets off vibrant photos against white backgrounds. Reminiscent of a tourism brochure, the image shows the iconic Golden Gate Bridge above a list of topics that include the La Brea Tar Pits and the Gold Rush. Moving on to the interior spreads, the new layout is more than just attractive 's also effective. By allowing text to wrap around silhouetted artwork and bleeding photos out to the edge of the pages, the book's space is used to the maximum. What is lost in spacious, white margins is gained in increased layout flexibility, which allows visual information to appear in especially close proximity to textual information. And in what is possibly the series' single best change, words that students may not understand are printed in a bold, indigo typeface and defined in the margin. A student on the hunt for facts to plug into a report normally will not bother to look up a word, but if the definition is right there, he or she just might take the time to read it. A more traditional glossary is appended, too. Another useful formatting change is the placement of illustrated time lines at the beginning of each of four history chapters, instead of relegating them to the back matter. In this title, the time line starts with the "First People" chapter in 28,000 BCE and finishes with the "More Modern Times" chapter in the year 2007, with a picture of Nancy Pelosi. Each chapter also includes its own table of contents, another nice way of positioning relevant material where it's needed most. Here and across the series, the coverage of history has been expanded by a chapter and supported with lots more illustrations. Notable people are given greater exposure, too. While the previous editions mentioned a few significant figures in the main text, then listed them at the back, the new series format sprinkles numerous "Mini-Bio" boxes throughout. This feature is sure to be welcomed by students hunting for a native son or daughter to profile in a state studies report. Kids who appreciate trivia will like two nifty new features: "WOW Factor" and "FAQ" sidebars. These highlight interesting tidbits or questions, such as "How big is the famous Hollywood sign?" Last but not least, the back matter preserves previous features, like lists of professional sports teams and a biographical index, but now also includes a creative selection of project ideas in writing, art, and science. Most students should be able to satisfy their information needs with these polished new editions, and the copious extras and lively presentation will help keep them interested, too.

Gr 3-5-These titles are written in a more conversational tone, with larger print and less text, than the popular "America the Beautiful" books or "From Sea to Shining Sea" series (both Children's Press). The books are colorful and eye-catching, with captioned photos, easy-to-read charts, maps, and boxes containing "Fun Facts" and "Famous People." Although readers will find the asides interesting, the abundance of extra information on each page occasionally interrupts the flow of the text. One shortfall is that all four books cite Hispanics as a distinct group and a distinct percentage of the state's residents, but they do not appear as such on the population pie chart. Purchase where additional materials are needed for this audience.-Melinda Piehler, Sawgrass Elementary School, Sunrise, FL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.