THEODORE ROOSEVELT

An adequate biography of the 26th president is one of four biographies in the vanguard of a new series linked to TIME for Kids. Punctuated by rather too many exclamation points, simple declarative sentences take readers through TR’s life (continually referring to him as “Teddy” despite disclosing that he hated that name), with occasional sidebars offering little tidbits (such as the origin of the teddy bear and Roosevelt’s legacy of conservation). For all its breathlessness, the text does a creditable job of explaining such concepts as monopolies to its upper-elementary audience (but it does struggle with the creation of the Panama Canal), and the illustrations are lavish—at least two to a spread. As nonfiction, however, it falls far short of minimal standards of documentation, lacking even a bibliography. It gets the job done for the most part, and it looks good while doing it, but one is forced to wonder whether the world really needs another just-adequate series of cookie-cutter branded biographies for kids—perhaps “the editors of TIME for Kids®” might consider this before churning out still more. (Nonfiction. 7-10)