Watch This Space: Designing, Defending and Sharing Public Spaces by Hadley Dyer, illustrated by Marc Nqui Ages 12-16 80 pages Kids Can Press March 2010 Hardcover     Lending a fresh teen perspective to the purpose and use of public space, Watch This Space provides an excellent overview of a thing often taken for granted and often misused. The book is divided into four chapters beginning with a definition, laws and conventions about sharing public space, design and advocacy. Clearly writing with a bias toward teens and supporting their interests and agendas, Dyer approaches the subject from a global perspective providing examples of public spaces around the world and across centuries. Cartoon-like illustrations grab the reader’s attention and punctuate issues such as homelessness, guerilla gardening, graffiti, and kids just hanging out. Timelines and historical examples provide excellent examples for teens to cite when making an argument to support public space in their community. Although the book concentrates primarily on physical space, it does address virtual space in terms of the Internet, specifically virtual social spaces such as Facebook. Overall, the focus of this book is relatively narrow, not likely to be picked up unless a student is working on a specific project such as Future City or has a passion for improving public spaces in their community. Nonetheless, it is a valuable resource which looks at public spaces from a multitude of perspectives with an open mind toward change and possibilities for the future.     web reviews   Kristine Wildner/2010 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)