The Essential Critiques series introduces students to the concept of critical analysis and how to use it to process films, music, and other pop-culture media. The idea is to get kids thinking about what they’ve seen or heard and, by doing research, learn which influences might have been brought to bear on an artist’s creation. Each subject is introduced with a short biography. Then several of their projects are analyzed in various ways. Each book explains the various types of criticism and breaks down the arguments into digestible bits. Terrific photos accompany each book.