How Do You Spell God?

With conviction, common sense and humor, Gellman and Hartman tackle the concept of religion along with related issues and concerns. A religions-of-the-world recap (in a chapter called ``What Question Does Each Religion Want to Answer the Most?'') provides basic information on the beliefs of various organized religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Shinto and Islam. For each group the authors supply biographies of the Big Teachers (religious leaders) and identify holy days, holy books, holy places and holy times of life. Two of the more spiritually moving chapters, respectively, describe methods of praying and offer explanations of why ``bad stuff happens to good folks.'' Co-hosts of the syndicated weekly cable television program The God Squad, Gellman and Hartman exhibit great facility in discussing potentially thorny subjects, making it easy for young readers to digest their work. The slightly informal language and clear writing style combine to achieve a tone that is intelligent and respectful-and relevant to today's kids. Ages 10-up. (May)