Guinness World Records
By Kathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2008
Educators and parents may like it or not, but there’s no denying the perennial fascination among kids over Guinness World Records (GWR). The annual hardcover volume was so sought after in my children’s school that the librarian kept it behind her desk, so as not to monopolize kids’ attention, especially young boys’. But once they got their hands on it, there was nothing better, it seemed, than sharing one’s amazement over the largest, fastest, weirdest, and other superlatives therein with your buddies.
So it makes perfect sense for the GWR franchise to embrace social networking, adding a community channel to its Web site. Here, record holders, record aspirers, and fans worldwide can post their own content and share with others. Most viewed videos on a sample day included the fastest banjo player, an 8,200-lb. rubber-band ball, and the world’s largest bacon cheeseburger, the making of which should not be viewed by vegetarians or the full.
