As an introductory text for developmental psychology, this is one of the better ones I've read. It takes the approach of dividing its coverage of material into several broad age groupings (prenatal, infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood), which allows the author to prevent the narrative of development roughly as we experience it as a linear progression through time.
This approach, however, is not without downsides. Because the topics are divided by age, someone looking to understand a particular topic within developmental psychology must trace that idea throughout the book's entire text rather than conveniently referencing a single discussion of the issue. This also makes the book somewhat repetitive as certain topics are introduced and reintroduced in each section rather than covered only once.
That format, then, is neither good nor bad but rather a matter of personal preference. However, it does introduce an actual flaw, which is that this book doesn't achieve the depth a book of its size really ought to. Perhaps partly because some of the material is repetitive, valuable page space that could have been spent tracking detailed descriptions of cutting edge literature is instead "wasted" on redundant content. That makes the book a mile wide, as the saying goes, but not particularly deep. The reader will come away from this book with a very strong understanding of the normal course of human development, but no particular expertise that would lend itself either to the practice of developmental psychology in the clinical or experimental settings.
In fact, if the student reading this book has taken even an introductory course in psychology (not even necessarily developmental psychology), much of the book's content will already be familiar. As a course text for an undergraduate developmental psych course, the more detailed treatments probably make this a suitable selection. However, for the reader trying to develop a more sophisticated understanding, a lot of information seems missing.
A particularly good point, though, is that the book treats potentially controversial issues with the appropriate scholarly detachment. Issues of race, gender, etc. are covered within the book's pages to the extent that the literature is resolved on the matters, and issues open to interpretation are largely left to the reader's own interpretation or for further research. In an educational climate in which we have seen far too many political influences over curricula, this is a welcome reprieve from many inferior books I've read in recent years. That reason alone ought to justify this book for serious consideration either for those choosing a book to assign their students or for curious readers seeking to develop a deeper understanding of developmental processes.