CHILDREN'S ATLAS OF NATIVE AMERICANS

A superficial look at the cultures of various regional groups in both Americas. A typical entry includes three paragraphs on the Incas, a map, and three small, dark photos of ruins and an Inca girl today. Many of the archival and museum diorama photos are muddy, small, marginally related to the text, and poorly captioned. There are no entries for pottery or basketry, though both were important to many of the cultures here. The arrangement also makes it difficult to compare the cultures of various tribes; the visual material is extensive, but unexceptional. The brief index has no entry for ``kayak,'' ``umiak,'' and ``bullboat,'' all described in the text and listed in the glossary. Disappointing. (Nonfiction. 10-12)