Basketball Super STATS

Gr 4-7--Stat-obsessed readers will get what they came for with this series. Graphs add visual depth to the numbers and are frequently accompanied by photographs of players, along with a bit of biographical information about them and their careers. Most of the books include separate chapters with individual player and team statistics, but Auto Racing Super Stats is structured slightly differently, as there aren't many statistics kept in auto racing other than wins. Unfortunately, the texts are vague in key areas. In Basketball Super Stats, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's dominance is used to explain why the NCAA banned dunking in the 1966-67 season, which is not the whole truth. He was dunking, but so were other African American players, and many believe the NCAA chose to ban dunking in an overt act of racism. Baseball Super Stats makes no mention of how segregation of the sport affects early stats. VERDICT Too many historical omissions make this an unnecessary purchase.