It is a new day at Pokey Oaks kindergarten, but Ms. Keane is absent today. Her substitute is a....monster?!? The Powerpuff Girls just know this creature teacher is up to no good. Humorous and just like the show, this book is a winner. It even has a moral.

Keating's qualitative research is inspriting to curious historians as he searches for clues in the little documented history of Saturday School in Georgia. He makes some good arguments, but in the end of the 60 page book leaves more questions than answers.

Intolerance and bigotry seem to know few limits. We usually associate organized intolerance movements with violence and force, but that's not always the case. Bigotry and racism hide their faces in many ways. One Georgia town found a clever and incipient way to hold Jews at bay, from 1902 till 1932. Author Tom Keating shows us how it happened, even though the community itself kept no official record of its goals. The Decatur school system simply held public school classes from Tuesday through Saturday each week, leaving Sunday and Monday to be student "weekends." Turns out that the sole purpose of holding school on Saturday was to keep Jewish families out of the community, since Jews did not wish to have their children attend school on their Sabbath. It's a small idea with big results, and it's a wonder that many other school systems did not follow the same plan. Because it was not an idea discussed openly in the community, apparently the idea did not spread around the country. Or did it? This subject deserves further research. Keating has given us a healthy headstart on ferreting out yet one more technique that bigots use to ply their unhappy trade.

--Jim Reed, author of STICKY NOVELS: A Complete Novel on Each Page (2003, Arlington Press). Learn more at jimreedbooks.com