For pre-teens and teens dealing with some of the problems of surfing the Internet, a guide that proves too superficial to be of much use. Croft discusses online predators, shopping, filters, viruses, hate speech, chat rooms, cookies, and maintaining a balance between living in real life and cyberspace. But her slender volume doesn’t come close to justifying its title. Many issues, such as encountering pornography, are handled in the most cursory fashion, and suggestions, such as notifying the ISP of harassers, are given without any explanation of how to implement them. While Croft is targeting teen readers, the text size, reading level, and content all suggest a younger audience. The author takes tact to an extreme; more lurid aspects of the online experience are never confronted directly, and she suggests that any parent controls are really intended for younger siblings. The issue of staying safe in cyberspace doesn’t get the thorough and courageous treatment it requires. (glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12- 14)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8239-2957-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999
. Adamson is revered as one of the pioneers of the endangered animal movement; Neimark, though capturing much of Adamson’s milieu and the events of her life, paints her as a talented, but impulsive, moody woman. Growing up in Austria between world wars, Adamson trained as a pianist and as an artist. At 18, while attending a ball, she is carried off by a masked “apache” who declares, “You are mine.” The author burbles: “She felt the strength of his arms and the gritty warmth of his body.” That’s only one instance where the lack of source notes is keenly felt; readers will have to digest some astonishing information unaided. Although her romantic interlude lasts two years, her lover’s identity remains concealed (readers will have to suppose that she knew who he was, even if they don’t); Adamson, pregnant and abandoned, has an abortion, becomes a patient of Sigmund Freud, marries twice, and has two miscarriages before meeting her third husband, George Adamson, a gamekeeper in Kenya, who brings home three orphaned lion cubs. The many anecdotes comprising this biography are interesting, but without citations, leave readers unsettled; what is the possible source for Adamson’s dramatic death scene following a confrontation with a disgruntled ex-employee? “Blood seeped from her, but she felt no regrets. She had always chosen risk over safety. She would not, even now, be victim to fear.” (bibliography, index) (Biography. 12-14)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201368-7
Page Count: 118
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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