Library Media Connection "This biographical series spotlights the outstanding accomplishments of some of the world's greatest achievers. Each book features photographs of the subject, related primary documents, and pictures of important people and places in the subject's life. The wording is such that the books are appropriate for lower and upper elementary students as well as middle schoolers who read at a lower level. Each book focuses on the subject's early family life and education as well as the events, people, and factors that influenced them and made their lives remarkable. The books feature a timeline of the subject's life, a chronology, a listing of helpful Web sites, additional reading, and a useful glossary. The library binding on these books, along with the high quality covers, makes them a great value for libraries. Students will enjoy reading these volumes for fun as well as for book reports. They will be a useful addition to elementary school media center collections as well as for middle schools with reluctant readers. Recommended."
--Library Media Connection (August/September 2008) School Library Journal "Gr 2-4-Each of these brief biographies begins with a pivotal event in the subject's life and stresses what students can learn from her accomplishments. Amelia Earhart documents the pilot's education, training, and famous flights, including the one on which she disappeared. Elizabeth Blackwell became a doctor to help support her family, going on to start a clinic for the poor and open her own medical school. After Helen Keller lost her hearing and sight, her teacher Annie Sullivan opened her world to language, and Keller went on to help others with physical challenges. Anne Frank is an overview of the Frank family's flight to the Netherlands and their life in hiding, ending with Anne's death at Bergen-Belsen and the discovery of her diary. The large typeface and plentiful illustrations make these titles ideal for students who have just graduated to chapter books. However, illustration quality varies; a few maps are so blurry that they are hard to read. In addition, it is difficult to adequately explain issues like the Holocaust in books written at this level. Josephine Poole's Anne Frank (Knopf, 2005) provides a more thorough explanation. Purchase these where easy biographies, or those with a focus on character education, are in demand."
--School Library Journal (April 1, 2008)