High Flying Martial Arts.

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

These latest volumes in Crabtree Publishing’s Sports Starters series look at each sport at a basic level, using simple language. The content, which covers essential terminology, rules, and officiating, is accurate. For example, the volleyball book introduces the words bump, block, volleying, and dig, which all have specific meanings in this sport. Good field illustrations in the lacrosse book help the reader understand the game.

Although Slap Shot Hockey features some Canadian NHL players, the illustrative material in the other volumes has an American focus (the lacrosse book shows only players from U.S. schools; the volleyball book shows no Canadian teams). Unfortunately, women are ignored in the text of the hockey book and all the books exclude paralympic sport (at the least, a mention of Canada’s highly successful men’s paralympic volleyball teams could have been included).

The martial arts book is unusual because unlike the other volumes that deal with a single sport it covers many disciplines. As a result, there isn’t a lot of space for each teaching; nevertheless, Crossingham does a good job of highlighting the most important aspects of each field.

Young children who may never have encountered these sports will find this series informative. The books are brightly coloured, well illustrated, and provide accurate introductions. In addition, they would be useful teaching tools in elementary schools. Recommended.