Growing up in the Seventies; Growing up in the Eighties

Part of a series that examines what it was like to be a child in different decades in the last century, this is well-trodden territory, prompted by the National Curriculum's requirement to study the effect of change on adults' and children's lives in Britain since 1930 in History at Key Stage 2. What sets these two titles apart are the portraits of four individuals in each book whose personal recollections shed light on events such as decimalization of the currency or the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Factual information is interspersed with family snapshots of picnics and holidays, school concerts and exam results. The slices of daily life are the most interesting, with photos of an interminable supermarket queue in the 70s, toy crazes one has quite forgotten, food packaging and adverts. Bigger issues and world events are only briefly touched on, but more ephemeral matters such as fashion, pop music and TV are amply covered.