The rapid proliferation of textbooks on pediatric emergency medicine highlights the relatively youthful status of this subspecialty. For such a textbook to be helpful in the emergency department, it must be comprehensive, allow for easy retrieval of information, and be particularly adept at presenting differential diagnostic possibilities and management considerations. Pediatric Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice, edited by Barkin, fits the bill on all four counts.
Clearly, the editor has expended a great deal of effort to ensure that the text is the most comprehensive put together to date on this topic. The chapters on trauma are particularly good at presenting all the common injuries that the physician might encounter. For example, the chapter on the upper extremity starts with clavicular fractures and then proceeds systematically down the arm to radial and ulnar diaphyseal fractures, with helpful illustrations and clear discussions of each subject. However, the attempt at all-inclusiveness