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Rating: 
Summary: Dry but informative.
Review: Admittedly, I've just started reading this book, it was assigned for a class. But it is multi-culturalism gone bad. I tend to believe that including a cross section of people from all cultures is a good idea, but not if done like this. It is so prejudicial, it hurts to read. The authors' racism just shines through for the first 150 pages, and I doubt it will get better as I continue to read. And they're lack of self awareness to their prejudice is just scary. This book should not be used as an educational tool. It shouldn't be used at all without major revising. Don't buy it. Don't assign it. Don't give them any money - this type of writing should not be encouraged.
Rating: 
Summary: Child Development Textbook of top calibur
Review: I felt the need to submit a review on this textbook, since the other reviews I read on the text not only didn't do justice, but didn't seem to have much thought and consideration put into them. Perhaps the reviewers with poor opinions on the text were using the book for a course they didn't care much for, and were taking merely to fulfill a general education requirement. In classes where instructors know most of the students are taking the course merely to fulfill a blank slot on their transcript, a more elementary and less expensive text could be considered. So, I would call that poor thinking on the school or professor's part. *I* took the Child Development course which I did, not only to fulfill some credits I still needed, but because I'm very interested in the subject as well as a degree in child developmental psychology or other psychology related degree. I didn't find the text to be in the least bit dry. I thought it was extremely well thought out and put together. This was one of the very few textbooks I actually read cover to cover during my 5 years of college. I even read a few chapters at the end that our class didn't have time to cover, purely for interest's sake. I go back to this book again and again. I have let friends with young children borrow the book after having highlighted sections for them to read which I thought would be helpful in their everyday understanding of their own children. This book will stay on my shelf until it is completely outdated, and will be reviewed and looked at again often. It is invaluable to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Much room for improvement
Review: I noticed that there will be a new edition of this text - I hope the authors took the criticisms of the old edition to heart. After using this book for a child development course, I was horrified to see how indeed very racist some parts of this book are. And it's the kind of new-age, oblivious breed of racism that is ironically based in a compulsion to be "diverse" and politically correct. The depiction of the black family was too stereotypical - and thus offensive - for words. It almost became a satire of middle-class liberal racism, because the story of "Malcolm and Momma Jo" is obviously the way that the authors perceive the lifestyle of a typical African American family. Sroufe, et al should be ashamed of themselves. These comments are meant to be constructive. I'm actually passionate about my psychology studies, have a 4.0 and hope to be a psychiatrist. I feel incredibly disappointed, shortchanged and offended to have had this book as our required text.
Rating:
Summary: Dry but informative.
Review: This book follows hypothetical situations of 4 kids, the writer's aging them as the chapters go thru developmental ages. The box has very good information, but is hard to read and a bit dry. I did learn a lot from the book, which is the purpose and would recommend it to others.
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