Amazing President Theodore Roosevelt

* Reviews *

Is it possible to condense the life of any person into approximately 40 sentences? That is what Wade attempts to do in these early-reader biographies. The language is simple, both in sentence structure and vocabulary. With this kind of brevity, oversimplification is inescapable. For example, in Rachel Carson, Wade states that Carson wrote about the environment and that, "No one had ever written about this before." Of course, people like John Muir were writing about it years before Carson. Despite this problem, Wade does a decent job of introducing the salient points of these subjects' lives. Each book has elements of a standard report biography: thought questions, a time line, glossary, further reading, and an index. Though some of these features seem ludicrous for such short books, they allow young students to become familiar with common study aides. Photographs and historical paintings are set against starburst- patterned backgrounds. The bright backgrounds are a little distracting but add color and continuity. Comparable in content and more colorful than "Rookie Biographies" (Children's Press), these are fair nonfiction choices to have in a primary-grade reading corner or to use with slightly older ESL students., School Library Journal February 2010