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Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities, by Howard Frumkin, Lawrence Frank, and Richard Jackson, Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 338 pages, $30

DURING THE SUMMER, we often pack up our kids for a little sun and fun at the local pool, nestled in our low-density, sprawling suburb in the Midwest. My kids eat a balanced diet, are physically fit, and are certainly not overweight. The pool is one of our tactics for moderating their time in front of video games and the television. It also ensures that they get a little exercise.

Each year we're surprised to find that other parents don't see things the same way, at least to judge by their children's girth. As our kids frolic, we sit amazed that other parents let their overweight children walk up to the snack bar to consume ice cream, hot dogs, and other high-calorie snacks. We know American kids face an obesity problem--we see it every summer in the jiggling rolls of sunburned fat at our local pool.

So I welcome any book that wants to inform the public about ways to keep us and our children fit. That's what the authors of Urban Sprawl and Public Health seem to promise. Unfortunately, the book doesn't deliver, partly because authors Howard Frumkin, Lawrence Frank, and Richard Jackson can't solve the problems we see every summer.

# posted by Medical Information : 2:27 AM