Piehl, Norah. Choosing a College.

Piehl, Norah.  Choosing a College.    Cengage (Gale/Blackbirch/Greenhaven)    2012 121p   $37.00  978-0-7377-5691-3      series: Issues That Concern You     jr/sr VG-BN

This book includes everything you need to know about higher education, from SAT testing to choosing the right college or university, and it can be read in middle school or when one enters high school.  It will help the student begin to think about higher education and the choices one must make you in selecting the best school for the individual.  So before choosing a college or university, you should check this book out and see how the process works.

In this book you will find different articles on how to choose a school after high school.  The first article is about the SAT scores and how they may affect one’s choices of schools.  It also covers the process you need to follow to prepare yourself for college.  This book gives high-school students thinking of college an overview of the process, things to consider, lists of things to do, searching for schools that will be a good fit, and many tips to consider before choosing your school.  For example, before you visit any school, you should read up on the basic information about it, the majors it offers, what kind of scholarships are available, and what kinds of extracurricular activities they have.  In fact, the more informed you are, the better prepared you will be to ask the right questions to determine if this is the school for you.  If you are an athlete, you should make sure the school of your choice offers your sport; if you are interested in the arts, make sure they have a good arts program. Ultimately, if you go to your visit prepared, you will be able to choose the school you want.  The book includes an appendix, ready-reference facts, a section on financial aid, a list of organizations to contact, and an index.

Colleges – Selection, Universities – Selection              --Magna Diaz

Watkins, Heidi. Consumer Culture.

Watkins, Heidi.           Consumer Culture.   

Greenhaven Press see Gale/Cengage         2011   104p29.49     978-0-7377-5206-9

hs                    Issues That Concern You(Gale)       VG       ╥Contains ten essays

that provide varying perspectives on consumer culture, discussing whether

consumer culture is harmful to society, teen spending habits, how high

socioeconomic status can cause depression, overconsumption, and related topics,

and including essays by Howard Bloom, Peter Dodson, Jean Kilbourne, and others.╙

            Geared toward high school students, this title on consumer culture will

help students begin to understand why learning about this topic is complicated. 

Ten articles are presented with multiple viewpoints and each references a

particular article featured in a printed, respected journal.   To introduce

students to the topic of consumer culture, the author explains the term

╥freegan╙, where people who practice this lifestyle choose do so for reasons

such as being consumer conscious and that they do not want to waste, while

others need to do so for financial reasons.  The ten articles feature topics

such as: how consumer culture harms society, children and teens and how it also

benefits society; teen spending habits; rejecting consumerism is beneficial and

also how it is not realistic; high socioeconomic status causes depression; how

both advertising and human instinct is to blame for overconsumption; and how

American consumers are becoming more careful spenders.  The author presents

interesting facts about consumer culture and what we should do about consumer

culture.  Various organizations can assist with consumer culture and the editors

have included a list and a description about the organization.

Includes color photographs, charts, and cartoons within the presented articles. 

A comprehensive bibliography and index are also included for readers to locate

information quickly.              Each title in this series offers a diversity of opinion

on the topic presented, including both conservative and liberal points of view

in an even balance. Articles contain color photos, charts, graphs, tables, and

"self-help.╙  Topics vary and the set has 69 different titles.   Forba-Mayer, Charleen

Lankord, Ronald D. Jr., editor. Junk Food

Lankord, Ronald D. Jr., editor.      Junk Food      

Cengage (Gale,Lucent,Kidhaven/Blackbirch          2011   127p   36.80  978-0-7377-4954-0           

ms/hs Issues That Concern You(Gale)      VG      

A collection of articles published

recently in professional journals, magazines, blogs, websites and newspapers,

about junk food and its impact on public health.  A fair representation of the

many facets of the junk food industry, the public health ramifications of junk

food, and junk food and the individual/family. These articles are written by

recognized authorities in the field, but students should be aware that bias runs

rampant in each article. Every article is prefaced with an informative abstract

and full citation. Color photographs and tabular/graphic representations fall

throughout each article and are appropriately placed and informative. Appendixes

provide very useful information about ╥What you should know about junk food,╙

and ╥what you should do about junk food.╙ The selected articles are in fact well

written, if a tad biased, but present that facts as each author compiles them,

and will be easily understood by the readers.      This series presents books that

are compilations of articles on topics that can help students make informed

decisions about serious issues.        Fisher, Lynn