Marie Curie

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-- The texts of these biographies are abridgments of books published in Silver Burdett's ``Why They Became Famous'' series; the full-color paintings and appended materials remain the same. The formats have been changed; the new books are smaller and thicker, with wider page margins and larger print. All are readable and will provide children with some idea of the subjects' characters as well as achievements, but they do contain some fictionalized dialogue, thoughts, and feelings. In Anne Frank this fictionalization is carried to the extreme of describing her thoughts on her deathbed at Bergen-Belsen. In the other two books it is less offensive but still present to a certain degree. Richard Tames' Anne Frank (Watts, 1989) has well-chosen photographs and relies on quotations from Anne Frank's diary to create a moving description of her life for readers who are either not ready for The Diary of a Young Girl (Doubleday, 1967) or who want additional information. Carol Greene's Marie Curie: Pioneer Physicist (Childrens, 1984) is written on a similar reading level but gives a more complete account of Marie Curie's life and times and is illustrated with photographs. So many books are being published about Columbus at this time that there is no reason to chose this book over any of the other good biographies about him. --Jean H. Zimmerman, Willett School, South River, NJ