The careers of four famous people and one soccer team are chronicled in these five volumes. Readers will learn that artist Kendrick Lamar recorded his first songs at age 16 and became the first rapper to win a Pulitzer, while Stephen Curry was rejected by his dream school before taking Davidson College to the NCAA championship. Though raised in a working-class neighborhood, Sonia Sotomayor’s determination to practice law led her to Yale, and eventually the Supreme Court. Information about personal lives is limited to brief mentions of parents and relationships, and no personal data on the soccer stars is included at all. Laudatory in their praises, authors omit controversy while charitable works are noted. Photographs accompany the texts but do not enhance them. Narratives run a little dry, but the information contained in these titles would be suitable for report purposes. However, numerous biographies have already covered these subjects, and interested readers will probably prefer individual titles on U.S. Women’s Soccer team members. VERDICT These volumes feature subjects already covered in other books and at best would be additional purchases.

Born in 1970, Ketanji Brown Jackson would grow up facing barriers to her success in the form of racism and institutional discrimination. However, with the strong support of her family, and the great innate talent she possesses, Ketanji Brown Jackson would accomplish tremendous success in her life. At an early age Ketanji Brown Jackson felt an interest in the law, a field in which her father practiced. A strong student, Jackson was able to excel in school and eventually achieve admittance as, first an undergraduate, and then a law student at Harvard. At Harvard, Jackson would also meet her future husband, Patrick Graves Jackson, who would become a physician after his studies. In future years, the Jacksons would have two daughters, Leila and Talia, and would each achieve a high level of excellence in their chosen fields. For Ketanji Brown Jackson, the law was designed to protect constitutional rights grounded on fairness for all. As a public defender, and then a judge, Jackson weighed past legal precedents with the human cost of each decision she made. Over a period of years, Jackson served as a federal judge at several levels, each of which afforded her an opportunity to make important decisions on national issues. Eventually, after the 2020 election of Joe Biden as President of the United States, Ketanji Brown Jackson became one of three candidates for nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States in replacement of the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. In the end, Jackson was selected as the nominee and then successfully passed through the confirmation process. In June of 2022, Ketanji Brown Jackson replaced Justice Breyer and became the first African American woman to ever sit on the United States Supreme Court. It is the life story of this stellar jurist that is told in this selection from the illustrated Gateway Biographies series. As with other books in this series, the story of Justice Jackson is told with clarity, caring, and skill. Readers will learn a great deal about a woman who came to the legal profession with high hopes and ethical beliefs that led her to the highest judicial post in the nation. In Ketanji Brown Jackson, readers will encounter a person of quality whose groundbreaking appointment to her nation’s highest court is an inspirational story worth knowing about. Reviewer Rating: 4 –Children’s Literature

The lives of an eclectic mix of famous people and one environmental movement are chronicled in these six titles. Readers learn about King Charles’s life including his difficult childhood, Dwayne Johnson’s success as a wrestler and actor, Adele’s astronomical rise to stardom as a singer, Ketanji Brown Jackson’s road to the Supreme Court and The Sunrise Movement’s formation and accomplishments. Also, readers will become acquainted with the inspirational life of the late entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker. Employing direct prose, the authors neatly convey relevant facts in each of the subjects’ lives from birth until the current day. There are no discernible errors except in the volume on Jackson where a former Speaker of the House of Representatives is referred to as a Senator. Charles’s coronation is anticipated: “…his coronation at Westminster Abbey that happened the following year.” While the volumes on Charles, Adele, Johnson, Jackson, and The Sunrise Movement are timely, the narratives tend to be dull recitations of facts. There are already many serviceable volumes on Walker; the books on the others will be quickly dated. Also, the titles already lack some currency: there is no mention of the ongoing family conflict in Charles’s life or of recent Supreme Court opinions authored by Jackson. Little is detailed about the personal lives of the Sunshine Movement’s members; just the works and progress of that organization. Fans of Johnson and Adele will probably appreciate the photographs. VERDICT Though these volumes neatly relate the lives of noteworthy people, there is nothing outstanding about them and most are already or soon will be dated. Selectors can find better titles.