Pyle and Cunningham's dense, information-packed treatise on everything that lousy grown-ups have ever tried to ruin for kids takes off at a dead run through sections titled "Comics," "Games," "Technology," "Play," and "Thought." These general headings encompass a great deal of subject matter and background, so readers will get a tour through the history of censorship and banning things, including some items that will seem ridiculous to contemporary readers, like fairy tales, chess, and the telegraph. The vast depth and span of their research is broken up by presenting many types of information in many different forms, including essays, maps, charts, and comic art, which tell several of the histories in Pyle's rough, evocative style. The writers clearly fall on the side of fun and make little effort to present convincing counterarguments. They do, however, defend the good times with clear, rational claims and evidence, and even in the case of murkier issues, like the safety of playgrounds, they recognize the dangers and offset them with qualifying considerations, like healthy cognitive development.

As title and subtitle indicate, a survey of wet-blanketry through the ages. In broad chapters covering campaigns against comics, games, technology, play and thought, comics creators Pyle and Cunningham move from their area of expertise to less focused discussions of the ways the Man has sought to drain, mostly, adolescence of all enjoyment. They adopt a gleefully pulpy narrative mode conveyed in sequential panels, full-page cartoons and occasional eye-straining stretches of cramped text. There is a lot going on, both visually and in terms of content, and readers may find themselves disoriented by the pinball-machine approach the authors take. From a brief and engaging sketch of the beginnings of America's comic-book industry, they move to Fredric Wertham and The Seduction of the Innocent--a natural progression. But in short order, they proceed from comics to a detour on the scientific method, then to folklore, the Comstock laws and Harry Potter before moving back to fairy tales and then on to fantasy play--and that's all in the opening chapter that's nominally on comics. The prose is frequently rough-hewn and unapologetically shrill: "Speaking of SAVE--that's exactly what the controversy did for the vampire-trapping game ["Night Trap"] (sales had SUCKED until then)." Quotations from an admirable wealth of sources are liberally included, but they are rarely sourced in the text, leaving readers to wonder who really said what. A glossary at the beginning defines such terms as "abstinence" and "statistics," but both it and the text leave such terms as "disbarred" and "profiling" unexplained. Less exhaustive than exhausting, this catalog of killjoys, undeniably cool in concept, falters--a lot--in execution. (resources, references) (Graphic nonfiction. 12 & up)

Gr 8 Up-A well-researched docu-comic. Covering topics such as comics, games, technology, and play, the chapters begin with a historical perspective on each subject. The authors then go on to explain how time after time, as new pastimes develop, they gain in popularity with youth until they enter the public limelight and are deemed potentially harmful to children. For example, the section on games begins with a description of the earliest archaeological discovery of dice and includes a reference to the poet Horace, who warned of the negative impact on youth who gamble with dice. The chapter explores the evolution of games and describes instances of adults trying to protect children from their negative impact, including Scientific American cautioning parents about chess in the mid-19th century and the attempts to legislate against Dungeons and Dragons and video-arcade games in the 1980s. In an examination of the current controversy about video games being responsible for violent behavior, the authors use countless scientific studies and other research as well as court cases to expose the fallacy behind the fear. Black-and-white graphic panels illustrate the text succinctly and add humor. Resources and references are included, with a more extensive list of references supplied on the book's website. Pyle and Cunningham argue that under the guise of protecting children, adults have created a youth-phobic society, in which "fear of the new" is the overriding impulse. They attempt to expose this mind-set and encourage readers to think critically about what is supposedly bad for them. This book is funny, mind-boggling, entertaining, and completely educational. Make sure every teen gets a copy. Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn, NY

Conspiracy theorists have probably wondered about all the rules seemingly designed to maintain boredom. Bad for You illustrates the history of fun-squashing in lurid detail. Practically since Plato, adults have feared change, and now there is proof. Shocking and delightful, readers will yell out "I knew it" when they learn that texting represents similar language patterns as Egyptian hieroglyphics. Examples of the benefits of video gaming, jungle gyms, and skateboarding highlight how guidelines for our safety just ensure tedium. Everyone has something to learn from Bad for You as nearly every sort of activity from telephones to bicycles have inspired lawsuits and legal limitations on fun.An index would improve browsing and application to school assignments. The graphic novel format is appealing to multitasking minds who like fast-paced access to information. Some may find the page design frenetic and challenging. Readers of all ages will be drawn to the intriguing concept and eager to find proof that beloved pastimes were truly educational and not simply a public menace. Bad for You has a lot of applications for classroom use including a variety of research projects on reality versus perception, media influence, and the scientific method.Laura Perenic.