Reviews

Gr 4-8-This pocket-sized volume chronicles the life of our 40th president. With at least two additional photos or a boxed inset on each spread, there is enough variety in the layout to break up the text. Still, with an overall size of 5 x 8 inches, it hardly qualifies as "a photographic story of a life." It is really Burgan's accessible voice that carries the story as he covers Reagan's life from birth to death. Descriptions of his early career as a radio announcer reading telegrams and making up the visuals while broadcasting baseball games are a convincing depiction of his ability to create a good story and punt when necessary. While coverage of the Iran-Contra issue indicates this is not completely laudatory, the general impression is that President Reagan was a nice old man who was well liked by his colleagues and even his challengers. Much space is spent on his fight against communism and how his efforts and relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev brought an end to the Cold War. Additional sources and a bibliography don't include resources specifically for kids, but offer a variety of media that may prove useful.-Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.