These books introduce the excitement of an extreme sport, but they aren't instruction guides for beginners. Both begin with a brief history and necessary equipment for the sport and quickly move into describing adventurous jumps and competitions. Safety warnings are posted throughout the pages. The frenetic pages contain a surfeit of captions, sidebars, text boxes, and action photographs. Bib., glos., ind.

Gr 4-6-A brief glimpse at the sport for novice mountain bikers. Two-page spreads give readers a short history, tips on choosing equipment, a look at how to perform various techniques and tricks, and a section on safety. Mason also intersperses additional warnings and etiquette throughout the book. Sharp, full-color photographs and sidebars highlighting related topics are arranged across the pages. These boxes at times are a little confusing and make the flow of the book seem choppy. One contains "The Secret Language of Mountain Biking," others are called "Jargon-buster," and a 10-word glossary of seemingly random terms ("ski lift," "sponsor," "transplant") is appended. The entry for "The Internet" doesn't list links, but simply states that "There are plenty of places to buy things on the internet, and almost all manufacturers have a website where you can find out about their products." This is a serviceable addition for libraries in which there is a great demand for books on the topic.-Rachel Fox, Port Washington Public Library, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.