Never Say Yes to a Stranger: What Your Child Must Know to Stay Safe

Stories illustrated with photographs depict different situations in which children are approached by strangers and explain the importance of understanding the dangers of such encounters.

Grade 3-6 Newman offers valid information, and her advice is usually appropriate in this revision of her 1971 booklet "Ice Cream Isn't Always Good." Unfortunately she presents the information in emotional and didactic stories. An omniscient narrator relates ten possible encounters children may have with strangers. Hillary is kidnapped by a "mean man"; a woman stranger comes to take Amy home from school. Each story is resolved fortuitously by the child, and advice follows. The final chapters give more tips on how to become stranger-wise. Unlike the child-narrated stories in Terkel and Rench's Feeling Safe Feeling Strong (Lerner, 1984), these stories teach rather than inform, and the author occasionally uses loaded words like "evil-minded adults" or "sneaky strangers." In one of the stories, young David has "a funny feeling" about a man he recognizes as a family friend. The point of the story is to trust your instincts, but the man's actions do not warrant a frightened reaction. Fearful are the consequences of making all adults seem sinister. When Newman wrote her booklet there was nothing like it, but now better choices are available. Karen K. Radtke, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.