(3) 4-6 Beginning with the birth of Laura's parents, this volume relates the events that affected the beloved author's life. Reproductions of black-and-white photographs and other memorabilia, such as newspaper clippings, letters, documents, and manuscript pages, overlap in scrapbook style. A visual treat for Little House fans, this edition contains a newly penned prologue by compiler Anderson to mark Wilder's 150th birthday. Timeline.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(4) K-3 Zoom In on First Ladies series. These starter biographies have fact-driven texts illustrated with uncaptioned photos (or historical art in Washington). The choppy writing is easy to read, but the volumes provide little in the way of substantive background about these First Ladies. Appended lists of quick stats and key dates may be helpful when writing reports. Glos., ind. Review covers these Zoom In on First Ladies titles: Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline Kennedy, Laura Bush, Martha Washington, Michelle Obama, and Nancy Reagan.

Reviewer:

(4) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Charlotte's peripatetic mother moves her, twin Freddy, and their younger half-sister Rose to modern-day Walnut Grove, Minnesota, so she can write a book. Charlotte continually rebuffs their new life on the prairie, especially when she has to volunteer at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. While Charlotte's pessimism wears thin, her underlying insecurities are believable. Wilder fans should appreciate all the Little House references.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(4) K-3 Zoom In on Amazing Authors series. This series, which aligns to Common Core Standards, offers beginning readers brief, humdrum introductions to the lives of five well-known children's book creators and one cartoonist (Schulz). While archival photographs add interest, generic stock photos unrelated to the authors or their work (especially in Mayer and Ryan) are less successful. Lists of quick stats and key dates are appended. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Zoom In on Amazing Authors titles: Charles Schulz, Dr. Seuss, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Maurice Sendak, Mercer Mayer, and Pam Muñoz Ryan.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(4) K-3 Big Buddy Biographies series. These brief, formulaic biographies introduce young fans to each celebrity's life and career, from "family ties" to fame to a bright future. The plain text is heavily templated (each celebrity, for example, "likes to help others") and light on groundbreaking information (Marano "likes to eat home-cooked meals") but accessible to reluctant readers. The colorful, star-studded layouts showcase clear, full-page stock photos. There are four other spring 2015 books in this series. Glos., ind. Review covers these Big Buddy Biographies titles: Daft Punk, Laura Marano, Lorde, and Shakira.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Jennifer Thermes. This biography will be of interest to young fans eager to know more about Wilder and how closely her own life was mirrored in the Little House books. The accessible text is well paired with genial illustrations that call to mind Lois Lenski's art. Devoted fans will appreciate the appended recipes (gingerbread, Johnnycakes, and homemade butter), games, and corn-husk doll instructions. Bib., glos.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(3) 4-6 Williams imagines a new chapter in the life of the Wilder clan in her sequel to Farmer Boy. Almanzo and his family leave New York State for two years in Spring Valley, Minnesota. The readable story may seem familiar to fans of the series, but Almanzo continues to be an adventurous, horse-loving boy and time and place are vividly re-created.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(1) YA These three renowned mothers were born in 1867. Each had a child with whom she had a rocky early relationship that blossomed into mutual love and respect. The parallels remain implicit in these poetically realized lives; the thirty vignettes concerning each mother-daughter pair offer just a few telling facts, beautifully phrased and skillfully arranged. Portrait photos, introductions, and afterwords round out the stories. Timeline. Bib.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2010

(4) 4-6 An 1832 bout with scarlet fever left two-year-old Laura Bridgman blind and deaf. Preceding Helen Keller by about fifty years, Bridgman's educational opportunities were limited; she enrolled in Perkins School for the Blind, where she became a worldwide figure. This biography of a complicated woman is somewhat hampered by tangential photographs and extensive captions with extraneous historical information. Websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Betty Carter

(4) YA Who Wrote That? series. Formulaic but informative, these biographies of popular children's book authors examine each writer's life, including the inspiration behind some of their works. Each volume includes photographs and quotations from interviews, as well as descriptions of main characters and annotated lists of books and awards. Useful for aspiring authors as well as book report writers. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Who Wrote That? titles: Gail Carson Levine, Shel Silverstein, Laurence Yep, Pat Mora, Scott O'Dell, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Walter Dean Myers.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(4) 4-6 Willard imagines an episode not included in the Little House series: Mary's first months at the Iowa College for the Blind. Mary initially dislikes Mattie, a bitter, seemingly mean classmate. Mary changes her mind, though, when she learns the source of Mattie's unhappiness. The writing, appropriately homey, sometimes resorts to heavy-handed preaching about self-reliance and acceptance.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) YA Essential Lives series. This series offers serviceable if bland biographies of people famous in a variety of arenas. The writing is straightforward, and frequent sidebars help with historical context. Some photographs and archival materials also break up the pages. The volume on the one contemporary subject in this group (Jobs) is less assured than the others. There are six other new books in this series. Reading list, timeline. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Essential Lives titles: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Steve Jobs, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lucretia Mott, and Zora Neale Hurston.

Reviewer: Cyrisse Jaffee

(4) 4-6 This book retells On the Banks of Plum Creek from Nellie Oleson's perspective. Readers get to know her a little bit before Laura Ingalls shows up partway through, giving stuck-up Nellie some depth and motivation for her actions. The writing pales in comparison to Wilder's, but Williams is creative in her weaving of this story with the original.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) 4-6 People to Know Today series. All five of these biographers write about their subjects in glowing terms. With the exception of Frost, the books offer limited, anecdote-heavy information. Many photographs, sidebars, and pull-out quotes support the texts, and their clean design makes the chronologies easy to follow. Reading list, timeline, websites. Ind. Review covers these People to Know Today titles: Laura Bush, J.K. Rowling, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Frost, and George W. Bush.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(2) YA This is a painful alternative to Holocaust narratives that accent the hope and play down the horrors. Witness to unthinkable random brutality, Hillman, frantic to believe that there is a reason for the suffering, asks: "God, what have we done that you have forsaken us?" Hillman writes matter-of-factly about it all. The book includes a few family photographs that Hillman hid throughout her ordeal.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2005

(3) 4-6 Little House: The Caroline Years series. Illustrated by Dan Andreasen. Seventeen-year-old Caroline wants to stay in her hometown of Concord, Wisconsin, to pursue a teaching career. So when she begins a courtship with her old neighbor, Charles Ingalls, who longs to move west, she faces a serious life-altering decision. The gentle, old-fashioned story provides a believable look at pioneer life and a satisfying conclusion to the series.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Renee Graef. Illustrated with black-and-white drawings, this brief biography begins with Laura's childhood and recounts the actual events that inspired the Little House series. Because the text offers no original insight and does not include source notes or a bibliography, it is not an adequate research tool. Nevertheless, it will find an audience among very young fans of the series.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(2) 4-6 Little House: The Charlotte Years series. Illustrated by Dan Andreasen. During her eleventh year, Charlotte faces many changes: she eagerly begins finishing school; her baby brother dies; her family is reunited with a long-lost uncle; and a new dam near their home forces them to move. Wiley's gentle historical narrative intertwines these life lessons with everyday events, bringing the era and the characters to life.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(4) YA People to Know series. These biographies will give young students personal information about two famous men of the twentieth century and some insight into their careers. Adult support may be needed to help less able readers with life stories that are more detailed and less choppy than many biographies written for the primary grades. The photographs are plentiful and appropriate. Reading list, websites. Glos., ind. [Review covers these Meeting Famous People titles: Walt Disney and Neil Armstrong.]

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) 4-6 This well-rounded biography traces Laura Bush's journey from shy Texas schoolgirl to first lady of the United States. Her professional accomplishments as a teacher and librarian and her daily life as a wife and mother are related in competent, if occasionally cloying, prose. The volume includes an insert of color photos showing Bush with her family and at public events. Websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta