Helen Gurley Brown

School Library Journal

Gr 5-9-- Falkof takes successful entrepreneurs and tells about their lives, using them to illustrate and define common terms and ideas in business and finance, thereby livening up a potentially dry subject. Here she presents two rags-to-riches stories from the world of magazine publishing. The subjects' humble beginnings, family influences, education, and personal and professional lives are examined. Industry terms are printed in bold type and defined in a glossary; concepts are explained in boxed sidebars. However, both biographies are overly adulatory; no personal foibles, shortcomings, or errors are mentioned. Helen Gurley Brown is portrayed as a workaholic without any discussion of the potential destructiveness of such an approach to life; the references to her books are strictly glowing, and her personal philosopy is deceptively glossed over. A few black-and-white photos break up the text in each volume. Nathan Aaseng's ``Inside Business'' series (Lerner) does a better job of combining biography/business and highlights companies that young readers will recognize. --Joyce Adams Burner, formerly at Spring Hill Middle School, KS