Elvis Presley

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-These pithy books about celebrity musicians fail to provide any real sense of why the early deaths of any of these performers was such a tragedy. If there is any unifying theme, it is the focus in each case on the subject's drug use and self-destructive behavior. None of the artists come across as particularly sympathetic characters. Unclear grammar and changes in tense are typical of the quality of writing found throughout. The books lack any documentation or source notes, and contain numerous unattributed quotations. All three volumes are illustrated with occasional color photographs that are sometimes only tangentially relevant. These titles are too short to provide any real meat for students doing reports, and are not detailed enough to provide anything of interest to young fans.-Tim Wadham, Dallas Public Library, TX