"Don't talk to strangers" may have been the warning we all heard growing up, but it doesn't work anymore. Statistics indicate that over 50% of all child-molesters are authority figures that children know and like: the teacher, the coach, the scoutmaster, or church-youth leader. Trusted "pals" like these may molest over 500 children in a lifetime and never be detected. And while parents worry most about girls falling prey to sex offenders, boys stand an equal chance of becoming victims as well. All in all authorities estimate that between 30,000 and 50,000 American children are targets of sexual assault and molestation each year.

Pointing out commonly held myths like these is one of the ways Carol Soret Cope's Stranger Danger: How to Keep Your Child Safe tackles child molestation head-on. Not only does Cope's study arm parents with critical information about these sex criminals-their social profile, their habits, their tactics-the book gives mothers and fathers the tools to discuss this sensitive topic with their kids in an open, frank and non-threatening way. Candid, compelling and absolutely essential, Stranger Danger may be the most important book your family will ever own.