REVIEW: Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White

Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White
Author: Melissa Sweet

*I voluntarily read an advance reader's copy of this book that I won on Goodreads.com. The opinions in this review are honest and my own.*

I was completely amazed by the wonderful artwork in this book! Every page is just gorgeous! Not to mention that E.B. White is one of my favorite authors of children's books. I read each page with joy and have only great things to say about Melissa Sweet! Her art is beautiful, and the biography was well written.

However....  (I didn't want there to be a however, but there is....)

As an adult, I see this book as a wonderful biography of a favorite author. But, the book is meant for children ages 7-10. I don't see this as a book that kids of that age range would want to read. It's too long, and discusses a lot of things they just won't comprehend or enjoy such as a chapter on Strunk and White's Elements of Style. Some of the book is geared to the target age range -- the explanation on how a manual typewriter works with illustrations is awesome! But portions of the book would just not appeal to a 7-year old. I think this book would be better for middle school aged kids who have advanced to reading longer books. As an adult, I adore this book! But at a grade school library, I think this book would see very little time off the shelf. I think it would see much more success targeted to 6th-8th grade students. The artwork is not childish and older students would be a better fit for the length and content.

I want to read more by this author! I was overjoyed when my copy of this book arrived in the mail! And I was not disappointed. It was a joy to read and visually appealing! Such beautiful, creative and appropriate illustrations!

Some Writer? Some book!!

Melissa Sweet is also the author/illustrator for The Right Word: Roget,  A Man and His Thesaurus, The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audobon, and Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of the Macy's Parade. For more information on the author, her books and her art check out her website: www.melissasweet.net