Ken Griffey, Jr., & Ken Griffey, Sr

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7Disappointing offerings. The concept of focusing on ``Star Families'' has merit, but these four books simply describe the successes of each parent and child in bland, pedestrian prose. Press has culled information from magazine articles, biographies, autobiographies, and newspaper interviews to support his texts. In each book, the subjects' backgrounds are given, along with highlights of professional and personal relationships. Charlie Sheen discusses the ``Sheen Machine'' and the importance of family to him and his actor sons. The scope of Griffey is similar to Bill Gutman's Ken Griffey, Sr. and Ken Griffey, Jr. (Millbrook, 1993). The focal point of Melissa & Joan Rivers is the suicide of Edgar Rosenberg, father and husband respectively. The emphasis in Tori & Aaron Spelling seems to be on Aaron's enormous wealth and on proving that Tori's successes result from her talent and not her parentage. Black-and-white and full-color photographs appear throughout. These series entries would not add to the quality of any collection.Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ