Jesse Jackson

School Library Journal

Gr 5-12-- Series entries that vary in emphasis and quality. Each book begins with the same introduction by Andrew Young and then proceeds within the confines of a formulaic editorial layout. The volumes are illustrated with black-and-white photographs, mediocre drawings, and graphics, which are duplicated in two of the titles. Davies's biography focuses on Malcolm X's growth as a person and as a leader. He relies heavily upon quotations from his subject, but bracketed synonyms and simplified phrases detract from the power and eloquence of the speaker's own words. Johnson concentrates more on civil rights and Black Power movements than on Carmichael, and her dry text becomes bogged down in facts and acronyms. Wilkinson's gracefully written account of Jackson's life is the most successful of the three. Facts about the civil rights movement are incorporated smoothly into Jackson's own story. The book suffers from paraphrasing of supposed direct quotations, including an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s ``Letter from Birmingham Jail.'' By and large, however, these books provide an accessible and accurate overview of the fight for civil rights, and some of its most significant figures. --Anna DeWind, Milwaukee Public Library