Critique de School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-As STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) occupations show positive growth trends, this series will guide high school and undergraduate students through traditional and emerging fields of study in chemistry and physics; it profiles scope, education, training, technology, earnings, applications, and related occupations. The more than 20 physics fields covered include acoustics, aeronautics, applied mechanics, optics, and thermodynamics, while chemistry fields include agricultural chemistry, electrochemistry, forensic science, pharmacology, and toxicology. The essays are readable and do a solid job of describing the field, its core concepts, and how it relates to other sciences. Other subsections address the impact on industry and where (such as within government) these jobs exist. Most engaging are the sidebar career-path interviews, such as one with a chemistry student who applied for a job at the dairy-science department of a college, knowing nothing more than he "liked milk," and has since become a dairy-cattle disease expert. These personal snippets show how even the most well-thought-out plans change with opportunity, or with the guidance of an enthusiastic mentor. The Bureau of Labor Statistics supplies the projections and salary data, and skills related to green careers are marked with a green leaf symbol. A list of highly selective colleges for four-year programs is offered in an appendix, as well as lists of undergraduate majors, information portals, and web resources. Most valuable to librarians is the online access that accompanies the print volume; the material found there is easily searchable and integrated with other science reference products from the publisher.-Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.