EXPLORING ALTONA WITH RACHEL. Roberts, Ken. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $3.95, ISBN 0-88894-909-X. CIP IDEAS BOOK FOR EXPLORING ALTONA WITH RACHEL. Clark, Penney and Bryan Connors. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $2.95, ISBN 0-920841-07-4. CIP EXPLORING KENTVILLE WITH BILLY. Roberts, Ken. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $3.95, ISBN 0-88894-908-1. CIP IDEAS BOOK FOR EXPLORING KENT VILLE WITH BILLY. Clark, Penney and Bryan Connors. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $2.95, ISBN 0-920841-05-8. CIP EXPLORING RED DEER WITH PAULA. Roberts, Ken. Vancouver, Douglas & Mclntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $3.95, ISBN 0-8894-911-1. CIP IDEAS BOOK FOR EXPLORING RED DEER WITH PAULA. Clark, Penney and Bryan Connors. Vancouver, Douglas & Mclntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $2.95, ISBN 0-920841-09-0. CIP. EXPLORING REGINA WITH JARROD. Roberts, Ken. Vancouver, Douglas & Mclntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $3.95, ISBN 0-88894-906-5. IDEAS BOOK FOR EXPLORING REGINA WITH JARROD. Clark, Penney and Bryan Connors. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $2.95, ISBN 0-88894-906-5. CIP EXPLORING VANCOUVER WITH FRANCISCO. Roberts, Ken. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $3.95, ISBN 0-88894-910-3. CIP IDEAS BOOK FOR EXPLORING VANCOUVER WITH FRANCISCO. Clark, Penney and Bryan Connors. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $2.95, ISBN 0-920841-08-2. CIP EXPLORING KING FISHER LAKE WITH ELAINE. Williams, Lorna. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $3.95, ISBN 0-88894-907-3. IDEAS BOOK FOR EXPLORING KING FISHER LAKE WITH ELAINE. Clark, Penney and Bryan Connors. Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre Educational, 1986. 16pp, paper, $2.95, ISBN 0-920841-03-1. CIP Grades 1-2 Reviewed by Grace E. Funk Volume 15 Number 4 1987 July The six little stories in this addition to Douglas & McIntyre's social studies series are told in the words of six very real and alive Canadian children. The children are appealing, and lacking front teeth. Each story is illustrated with bright, clear, and very recent photographs (Vancouver shows the Expo ball). All of the pictures are most astonishingly clean-the children are clean, the streets are clean (I think Altona must have been hosed down for the occasion), the snow is clean, even the raw moosehide is clean. Some of the landmarks of each town are shown, but emphasis is on the child's home, school, friends, and activities. Each child wears distinctive clothing, which can easily be identified in the pictures. The pictures, although small, would repay careful "picture study." Each book includes a map of the province, (British Columbia through Ontario, then Nova Scotia) with the town marked, and a map of the town, locating the places visited. In each story, the economic base i.e. the occupation of the breadwinner is described. The books are similar, but the children are not: two little girls, a Salvadoran boy, a handicapped boy on crutches, a Cree girl, a boy in a single-parent family. Nor are their homes alike: three cities, a farm, an Indian Reserve, and a small town. Yet all of them seem fairly well supplied with worldly goods. The Ideas Books are prepared by two of the teacher consultants to the series. The ideas include making a chart comparing each community with the student's own; predictable language arts and art activities, picture and map studies, and a project and learning centre appropriate to the story: nutrition and farms; moving and multiculturalism; wheelchairs and weather; games and a class fair; supermarket and mail; transportation and community services. A brief description of the area and addresses of source material are also given. I did spot one error: in Altona the Ideas Book mentions Raffi, but the story book does not. The objective of the series is to "stimulate inquiry into the lifestyles of children in different Canadian communities." The books will support a family studies unit, a study of Canadian geography, or make attractive reading practice books. Grace E. Funk, Harwood E.S., Vernon, B.C.