Gr 5-8-Few Americans have heard of capoeira, though it is rising in popularity and will be featured at the 2004 Olympic Games. Atwood offers an enthusiastic if flawed presentation to fill in the information gap. The full-color photographs are energetic, showing players of both genders, a variety of ethnic backgrounds, and a broad range of ages. The format is colorful and vibrant but it is sometimes confusing. Several pictures at the tops of the pages have captions buried under paragraphs of type. Sidebars are set off only by a change of background color that varies randomly from page to page; therefore, children are likely to continue reading the mainstream text directly into a side topic and wonder what happened. The author does a thorough job of explaining capoeira's background; this same thoroughness in introducing the sport's unique vocabulary leads to frustration. So many foreign terms are presented that not even the glossary is of use in keeping them straight. Despite its shortcomings, this book would be a better purchase than yet another karate or judo title.-Laura Santoro, Coventry Library, Cleveland Heights, OH Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
