Bad Kids

Gr 5–9—Robinson explores the varied punishments children faced from ancient history to present day. Readers will be shocked to discover that during medieval times, criminals had to face "the ordeal of hot water," in which the accused had to dip his arm into boiling water. If his arm healed, he was considered exonerated; if not, he would likely die from infection and guilt. Later on, readers will be relieved to see that theories about parenting changed at the turn of the 20th century, when adults realized children should be treated kindly. Unfortunately, a large majority of the contextual language is British, and American students will have difficulty understanding the vernacular. Case in point: "Chapter 5: Hoodies, punks and ASBOs." Additionally, the layout is busy and potentially distracting. Colorful borders with sketches top every page, along with cartoons and a variety of fonts. Most confusing are the photographs with speech bubbles and without captions. Although this concept is wonderful in theory, it is sadly lacking in design and in language of interest to American children.—Lindsay Klemas, JM Rapport School for Career Development, Bronx, NY