Bruno Mars

November 1, 2012

Gr 4-6-These crowd-pleasing titles will fly off the shelves. Written in shorts chapters and sentences, with easy font size, and filled with well-captioned, eye-popping photographs, they will draw in readers. Each title has a pleasing layout, trivia boxes, and sidebars of additional information, including definitions of more complex terms. Stars' quotes are in bold type and easily identifiable. Each book begins with an introduction, followed by sections on childhood, early career years, and current stardom and the qualities that make each individual unique, and concludes with more photos. The authors point out their subjects' artistic accomplishments as well as any social contributions they offer, but they also relay information about controversial aspects of their lives. The writing style is engaging throughout. At times, the slang is a bit jarring (e.g., the word "sucktastic" is used to describe Katy Perry's office job in a music company) and will date the books at some point.

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2013
These middle-grade biographies provide easy-to-read overviews but little new insight on their pop-singer subjects. The icons' childhood roots, roads to stardom, and current career details are all addressed, while sidebars contain extra facts and definitions ([cf2]demo[cf1]; [cf2]screen test[cf1]). The gushing slang ("fav"; "adorbs") grows tiresome, though some tweens may disagree; the abundant photos will likely be pored over. Reading list, websites. Ind.

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