(3) YA Black Americans of Achievement, Legacy Edition series. Each of these biographies details a well-known figure's rise from adversity to national and/or international recognition. The books go beyond the typical personal information to provide some social history relevant to the subject's time. Captioned photographs and boxed inserts enhance the conversational texts. Lee, Walker, and Thomas have been revised and updated. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind. Review covers these Black Americans of Achievement, Legacy Edition titles: Spike Lee, Madam C. J. Walker, Clarence Thomas, Ray Charles, and Jamie Foxx.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(4) YA African-American Biography Library series. These volumes ably (if somewhat blandly) chronicle the lives of their subjects, whose contributions in the arts are of historic importance. In Ray, Ford interweaves the man's trials, triumphs, and human foibles into an accurate but unexciting text. Zora is informative but doesn't manage to capture the exuberance of Hurston's outgoing personality. Many photos are included. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind. Review covers these African-American Biography Library titles: Ray Charles and Zora Neale Hurston.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(3) YA Musical giant, savvy businessman, recovered addict, and lousy husband, the late Ray Charles still dazzles in this enthusiastic warts-and-all treatment. Sidebars on related topics broaden the context of his rise from poor blind boy to American icon, but what gives this book its soul is Charles himself, extensively quoted throughout. Timeline, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Gay Pampalone

(3) K-3 Illustrated by George Ford. Featuring a new introduction and afterword, this edition of the Coretta Scott King Award-winning picture book biography of Ray Charles describes the musician's childhood, his early career, and his eventual success. The telling is lively, sympathetic, and well structured; the illustrations are dramatic--monochromatic acrylic and India ink sketches on cream-colored paper.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: April, 1974