The Wright brothers Inventors whose ideas really took flight

Gr 3-4-These large-font, chatty biographies are easy to read and will fulfill most basic report requirements. The illustrations range from period photographs with excellent captions to humorous cartoons. Venezia's tone is casual, almost to the point of being distracting. The adjective "super" (e.g., "super wealthy," "super successful," etc.) is overused. Also, in some titles, there are gaps of unexplained white space. There are few juvenile biographies about Williams, who performed one of the first successful open-chest cavity surgeries. His legacy of fighting segregation in the medical community deserves a wide audience. The title about Jobs and Wozniak is useful, as it is one of the few recent biographies about two people who revolutionized the world through their work with computers. Goodall and Wright Brothers are serviceable additions. With the exception of Williams, the books do an excellent job of relating how childhood passions led to life- and world-changing discoveries and inventions. Since Williams worked throughout his childhood, little time existed for development of childhood interests.-Lisa Crandall, formerly at Capital Area District Library, Holt, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.