(4) YA Modern World Leaders series. By placing the featured leader in a historical context, this series, part history and part biography, challenges the reader to consider the concept of leadership. Each book features a comprehensive discussion of the subject's childhood experiences and rise to power, significant historical events, international relationships, and ideology. The text is dense; some photographs and drawings help break up the pages. Reading list, timeline. Bib., ind. Review covers these Modern World Leaders titles: Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Hugo Chávez, The Saudi Royal Family, Pope John Paul II, Vladimir Putin, and Pervez Musharraf.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(4) YA Authors Teens Love series. Lightweight biographies detail their subjects' lives, heavily focusing on anecdotes that reflect on and demonstrate their development as authors. The overwhelmingly upbeat texts are meatier when exploring the controversies of the authors' works, most apparent in Pullman; Card and Danziger are more concerned with their subjects' lives. Color photos illustrate each volume. Reading list, timeline, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these Authors Teens Love titles: Paula Danziger, Philip Pullman, and Orson Scott Card.

Reviewer: Dorrie Karlin

(4) 4-6 Great Disasters: Reforms and Ramifications series. These two series books ably discuss public-health disasters of the late twentieth century: the Indian city's deadly chemical leak of 1984 and Niagara Falls's chemical-waste scandal of the late 1970s. The authors pay special attention to the social changes and government reforms engendered by the tragedies. Poorly reproduced black-and-white photos support the texts. Bib., ind. [Review covers these Great Disasters titles: Love Canal and Bhopal.]

Reviewer: Nell Beram