(3) YA Football Superstars series. Readers will find this series a good resource for information about the NFL, including background and player stats. Photographs and text also reveal the human side of professional athletes: their personalities, fears, and successes. Readers learn of Walter Payton's serious liver illness, Dan Marino's son's struggles with autism, and Brett Favre's addiction to and recovery from prescription drugs. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Football Superstars titles: Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Tom Brady, Dan Marino, and Walter Payton.

Reviewer: Nancy Hull

(3) YA Football Superstars series. These biographies recount, through vivid photographs and an engaging narrative style, each star's football journey. Readers will discover what life is like for the players both on and off the field. Quotes from coaches, friends, and family appear in each book, and community service, family matters, close friendships, and personal setbacks are all covered. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Football Superstars titles: Tiki Barber, Barry Sanders, John Elway, Ben Roethlisberger, Jerry Rice, and Joe Montana.

Reviewer: Nancy Hull

(4) YA Ancient World Leaders series. These books delve into historical, social, and political theories specific to each ancient world leader and, where applicable, to today. The texts, though informative, can be dry, and they sometimes jumble the details when explaining military campaigns and battle tactics. Archival photographs and sidebars break up the pages; additional maps, battle plans, and/or illustrations would have been helpful. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Ancient World Leaders titles: Xerxes, Cyrus the Great, Cleopatra, Hannibal, and Darius the Great.

Reviewer: Thom Barthelmess

(4) YA Reform Movements in American History series. This series examines the history of specific reform movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in addition to the political and social issues surrounding the changes. Each book explores the movement's background, principal personalities, successes and failures, and current status. The dense texts are enhanced by archival photographs, drawings, and informative sidebars. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Reform Movements in American History titles: The Family Values Movement, The Ethnic and Group Identity Movements, The Civil Rights Movement, The Labor Movement, The Progressive Movement, and The Women's Rights Movement.

Reviewer: Luther B. Clegg

(3) YA Football Superstars series. These biographies recount, through vivid photographs and an engaging narrative style, each star's football journey. Readers will discover what life is like for the players both on and off the field. Quotes from coaches, friends, and family appear in each book, and community service, family matters, close friendships, and personal setbacks are all covered. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Football Superstars titles: Tiki Barber, Barry Sanders, John Elway, Ben Roethlisberger, Jerry Rice, and Joe Montana.

Reviewer: Nancy Hull

(3) YA Milestones in American History series. Short, clearly written chapters explore the development of Bell's patented 1876 invention, which altered the course of communication around the world. The curricular-support title is amply illustrated with black-and-white and color photographs and reproductions and extended with biographical sketches and excerpts from primary documents. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Cindy Lombardo

(3) YA Milestones in American History series. Short, clearly written chapters explore these two pivotal events in U.S. history. The curricular-support titles are amply illustrated with black-and-white and color photographs and reproductions and bolstered by biographical sketches and excerpts from primary documents. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Milestone in American History titles: The Sinking of the USS [cf4]Maine[cf3] and The Attack on Pearl Harbor.

Reviewer: Cindy Lombardo

(3) YA Milestones in American History series. This book begins in 1957 with Russia's space launch of the first artificial satellite. With the Cold War as a backdrop, the text goes on to describe the space race between the United States and Russia, including successes and setbacks for both programs. Many photographs, quotations, and sidebars detail the roles played by key figures. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Cindy Lombardo

(4) YA Modern World Leaders series. By placing the featured leader in a historical context, this series, part history and part biography, challenges readers to consider the concept of leadership. Each title includes a discussion of childhood experiences, rise to power, significant historical events, international relationships, and political ideology. Photographs provide additional perspectives and break up the dense text. Reading list, timeline. Bib., ind. Review covers these Modern World Leaders titles: Hamid Karzai, Viktor Yushchenko, Ariel Sharon, and Hosni Mubarak.

Reviewer: Tamara DePasquale

(4) YA Modern Peacemakers series. These biographies of Nobel Peace Prize winners provide windows into worldwide political and social issues. Triumphs and controversies surrounding the winners (e.g., inaccuracies in Menchú's autobiography) are covered using primary and secondary sources. More photographs would have been useful to break up long discussions of complex issues. There are six other spring 2007 books in this series. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Modern Peacemakers titles: Desmond Tutu, Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Mother Teresa, Elie Wiesel, and Rigoberta Menchú Tum.

Reviewer: Laura A. Woollett

(3) YA Milestones in American History series. These accessible volumes capture the hard work, perseverance, and natural talent of Edison and the Wright brothers. The texts explore the men's lives along with providing information about the genesis and development of their inventions. Many photographs, reproductions, and sidebars contribute to a clean design and help clarify the topics. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Milestones in American History titles: The Wright Brothers and The Electric Light.

Reviewer: Cindy Lombardo

(3) 4-6 America's Founding Fathers series. Each of these clear, straightforward biographies begins with a chapter highlighting a pivotal moment in each man's career. Following chapters trace the subject's life from childhood to adulthood. Black-and-white archival images and sidebars help to break up and extend the text. These are useful resources for history buffs as well as report writers. Addresses, reading list, timeline, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers these America's Founding Fathers titles: Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin.

Reviewer: Jim St. Claire

(3) YA Spiritual Leaders and Thinkers series. The subjects of these report-oriented biographies of religious leaders will be of varying interest to young people. The feature that sets these apart from other biographies are the appended primary source documents in most of the volumes, including the text of Luther's Ninety-five Theses and the Dalai Lama's Nobel acceptance speech. Chronology, reading list, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Spiritual Leaders and Thinkers titles: Martin Luther, Thomas Merton, Mary Baker Eddy, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Dalai Lama.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) YA Spiritual Leaders and Thinkers series. The subjects of these report-oriented biographies of religious leaders will be of varying interest to young people. The feature that sets these apart from other biographies are the appended primary source documents in most of the volumes, including the text of Luther's Ninety-five Theses and the Dalai Lama's Nobel acceptance speech. Chronology, reading list, websites. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Spiritual Leaders and Thinkers titles: Martin Luther, Thomas Merton, Mary Baker Eddy, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Dalai Lama.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) YA Spiritual Leaders and Thinkers series. These accessable biographies of two intellectual figures of the Reformation focus on how their ideas and actions influenced the sixteenth century and the impact of their writings today. Little personal information is included, but readers are given a clear understanding of the subject's personality and a window into a complex time. Helpful sidebars and well-captioned paintings enhance the presentations. Chronology, reading list. Bib., glos., ind. Review covers these Spiritual Leaders and Thinkers titles: Desiderius Erasmus and John Calvin.

Reviewer: Jack Forman

(4) YA Great Battles through the Ages series. Both books in this series detail turning points in World War II. The sinking of the Bismarck signaled the end of the battleship's dominance; and the Battle of the Bulge proved to be Hitler's final offensive and established the worth of the U.S. Army. Though confusing in the descriptions of troop movements, the books provide good general overviews and are liberally illustrated. Timeline. Bib., ind. [Review covers these Great Battles titles: Sinking of the [cf4]Bismarck[cf3] and Battle of the Bulge.]

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(4) YA Great Battles through the Ages series. Actium is more a history of the consolidation of power in Rome from the Republic to an empire than about the actual battle. Crusade details the first two Crusades and then concentrates on Richard I's and Saladin's actions and tactics. Although diffusely focused, both books are liberally illustrated and offer detailed accounts of the times. Timeline. Bib., ind. [Review covers these Great Battles through the Ages titles: Battle of Actium and The Third Crusade.]

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman

(4) YA Transforming Power of Technology series. These overviews capably describe the development and long-reaching influence of three technological advances. Illustrated with reproductions and color photos, the blandly written books explain how the invention of the printing press affected religion and government, while the production of repeating rifles and gunpowder affected crime, empire building, and warfare. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Transforming Power of Technology titles: The Printing Press, The Repeating Rifle, and Gunpowder.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) YA Transforming Power of Technology series. These overviews capably describe the development and long-reaching influence of three technological advances. Illustrated with reproductions and color photos, the blandly written books explain how the invention of the printing press affected religion and government, while the production of repeating rifles and gunpowder affected crime, empire building, and warfare. Reading list, timeline, websites. Bib., ind. Review covers these Transforming Power of Technology titles: The Printing Press, The Repeating Rifle, and Gunpowder.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) YA Battles that Changed the World series. This volume follows Hernán Cortés and his conquest of the Aztec Empire, paying particular attention to how Montezuma's inability to make a decision and the Aztecs' style of government enabled Cortés to so thoroughly defeat them. Illustrated with color photos and historical reproductions, this book is marred by maps that are too small and infrequent. A timeline is appended. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Jeannine M. Chapman