Bill Gates

Children's Literature

This introductory biography of the richest man in the world, has enough child-centered information in it to keep the young reader interested, "he was small . . . had big feet . . . felt clumsy and shy . . . (and) never stopped moving." "He laughed at kids who were slow to answer and . . . (those boys) did not like Bill very much." These typical problems help children relate to this super success. Excellent photographs of Bill Gates, Sr., the Microsoft campus and the young Paul Allen, add detail to the sometimes laborious text. But the concepts presented, like MS-DOS being a disk operating system and the explanation of its development is clear and informative. Incorporating the personal part of Bill's life, his marriage to Melinda and having three children softens the hard businessman image. The book ends by describing the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, headed by his father and Melinda, in solving problems in education and world health. 2005, Weekly Reader, Ages 8 up.
—Sue Stefurak