Louis Braille

School Library Journal

ea. vol: illus. by Richard Hook. photogs. glossary. index. 32p. (Great Lives Series). Bookwright Pr, dist. by Watts. 1986. PLB $9.40. Gr 4-7 Each of these brief volumes deals with a famous person who overcame formidable obstacles to improve the lot of the handicapped, poor, or sick. The tendency of biographers writing for children is to glorify such reformers, but these are humanized, balanced portraits that acknowledge imperfections (such as Nightingale's propensity to be ``unfair and ruthless''). Well-integrated information about relevant 19th-Century social and political conditions, enhanced by photographs and drawings of significant locations and personages, will painlessly broaden young readers' understanding of the historical context within which the subjects acted. The biographers avoid fictionalizing; in Florence Nightingale , quotations from her diaries effectively reveal her thoughts. The explanation of the evolution of his reading and writing system for the blind is simple yet sufficient in Louis Braille . The contents of both volumes rate an A for organization and eye appeal. The biographies are divided into one- and two-page segments, yet the sense of continuity is not diminished. The colorful, appealing drawings, coupled with the large print, will lure even reluctant readers and researchers. Merilyn Burrington, Vergennes Union High School , Vt.