Martin Luther

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9--A series of biographies reprinted from earlier paperback publications (Barbour, 1995, 1997). Their origins in earlier works survive in the elaborate language and a concentrated spiritual focus, making them difficult reading for young adults. Martin Luther has been "edited and abridged" from an adult title first published in 1933. It retains the florid language and difficult vocabulary of that era and assumes a basic knowledge of 16th-century politics and Lutheran theology unlikely to be found among teens. It is weakened, as is Wellman's book, by a lack of footnotes, table of contents, or preface. John Wesley is shown in a lifetime struggle between the strict discipline of his childhood faith and the desires of this heart. The author uses fictional dialogue and interior monologues to show the young minister's shift from smug self-righteousness to a sensitivity to the needs of the poor and an understanding of the power of charismatic preaching. Well-written biographies of these church leaders would be welcome in many libraries, but these recycled offerings do not fill the need.--Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ