Grade 7-10-- Striking full-color photographs provide lively images of Africa's diversity. The books do not live up to their visual promise, however. Their organization is so fragmented that readers are unlikely to develop an understanding of why these people have made the choices that they have and live as they do. The maps are inadequate. Especially in Nigeria and Kenya , the authors seem to have depended on older books and present an oddly colonial perspective. Such connotations emerge in the focus on comparing "tribes"; overemphasis on exotic small rural groups such as the Masai; and enumeration of customs strange to Americans (e.g., "witch doctors," Ibo twin killing) without adequate explanation. Classifying "tribes" also creates confusion and inaccuracies.
