Meeting Future Challenges: The Government of Mexico

Gr 5–8—Quality in this attractive set is uneven. People, History, Cuisine and Sports are the best of the group, with clear prose and enough details to help readers understand their subjects. Others attempt to cover too many topics, resulting in dry, superficial paragraphs that are often little more than lists of places and events. Only the titles on the Mexican states have (inadequately detailed) maps, a serious flaw when all books discuss numerous locations and geographical features. These volumes have numerous colorful photos, but some look like stock images, and their subjects don't always correspond with accompanying text. Sidebars, glossaries, and reading comprehension questions and research suggestions supplement the texts. These books are better suited to support extensive units on Mexico rather than run-of-the-mill country reports, and even for those programs, superficial coverage and map and illustration weaknesses make them additional selections.