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9781467714440

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Shorter than many easy-read biographies, these volumes are jam-packed with information yet manage to avoid a busy appearance on the page and information overload. Colorful blocks with rounded edges call attention to photos' relevance to the main text. Squared-off blocks highlight and define unusual vocabulary using color and different fonts without distracting from the main text. It is a successful formula for short, easy-to-read biographies of popular young icons. These three books prove how important the writer is to a book, even in publisher-created series such as Pop Culture Bios. While Schwartz's book about Rebel Wilson is informative (Wilson went to law school and negotiates her own contracts, for instance), it does not pull the reader along the way Higgins's clear, engaging writing does in her biographies of Emma Watson and Nicholas Hoult. Higgins makes her subjects' extraordinary lives relatable for the average reader by writing about Nick's short-lived knitting obsession, or Emma's joy at blending in with the crowd at university. She writes not only about big salaries and award shows, but also about performance nerves and stunts gone wrong. Somehow, Rebel's biography, while it mentions her dog-handler parents, her own shyness, and her many accomplishments, is less intriguing. Schwartz's subject is the only comedian of the three, but aside from an introductory description of her purposeful mishap at the MTV Movie Awards, her biography is all business. Higgins, on the other hand, strings odd tidbits throughout the main text (e.g. the beanstalk in Jack the Giant Slayer was partially made from celery) to keep the audience reading closely so as not to miss a thing. 4Q 3P M J. --VOYA --Journal

Author Information

Nadia Higgins is the author of 50-plus books for the school library market. She also worked as an editor in the industry for almost ten years. Many of her books have a science bent, though she's also written about pop stars, car art, and zombies. Nadia lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two young daughters.

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