Carol Moseley-Braun

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up-Biographies of the first African-American female member of the U.S. Senate, the Chair of the Afro-American Studies department at Harvard, and former director of the NAACP, respectively. While these three books all have their strengths, two of them are severely flawed. Moseley-Braun is bolstered by a lively and compelling writing style, one that moves the woman's political career quickly along. D'Orio tells her story well, reflecting his journalistic background. Kjelle and Wagner do a good job of relating the accomplishments of their subjects in a clear, well-organized way. All three authors have managed to escape the series biography curse-dull and boring writing. However, too little space has been devoted to the subjects' personal lives to provide a greater context for what they ultimately have achieved. Also, Moseley-Braun and Hooks are marred by editorial errors. Both have parts of sentences missing, and in Moseley-Braun, Edward Brooke, a 20th-century black legislator, is confused with Blanche K. Bruce, a Reconstruction-era black legislator. On another page, there is inconsistency regarding Moseley-Braun's campaign fund-raising. Was the amount raised $400,000 or $40,000? Finally, in Hooks, what should be a reference to the noted black writer and activist James Weldon Johnson becomes a reference to James Weldon Johns. These kinds of lapses are unforgivable.-Carol Jones Collins, Columbia High School, Maplewood, NJ Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.