The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time

April 1, 2010
Gr 9 Up-This ambitious series corrals world historys major doers and thinkers whose work challenges and inspires people consistently, or incites change or reform on a large scale. People of many races and nationalities are represented. Careful wording bridges one chronologically arranged article to the next, enhancing the idea that one persons work builds on an earlier individuals accomplishments. The style of writing varies some from article to article. Some pieces are written in an accessible, straightforward style, while others are convoluted. "Painters and Sculptors" states, for example, that ]the complex culture of late Medicean Florence, which was simultaneously infused with the romantic sentiment of courtly love and with the humanist interest for Classical antiquity and its vanished artistic traditions, employed these mythological figures more fully and in more correctly antiquarian fashion. That aside, this series is a goldmine. A few black-and-white illustrations appear throughout.

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
Grades 9-12 Rosen has partnered with Britannica Educational Publishing to produce several series of what is called circulating reference. The title reviewed here is part of the Britannica Guide to the Worlds Most Influential People series. Other titles in the series are The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time, The 100 Most Influential Painters & Sculptors of the Renaissance, The 100 Most Influential Philosophers of All Time, The 100 Most Influential Scientists of All Time, The 100 Most Influential Women of All Time, The 100 Most Influential World Leadersof All Time, and The 100 Most Influential Writers of All Time. The editors are Britannica contributors or editors. The intended audience is grades 912. The titles in the Britannica Guide to the Worlds Most Influential People series are arranged chronologically. For example, The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time begins with medieval music theorist Guido dArezzo and ends with Jay-Z. Overall, the selections offer a good balance of gender, nationality, and ethnicity. Articles, a mix of new content and content drawn from Britannicas repository, generally range from two to five pages and are headed with date and place of birth and, where applicable, death. There are no article-specific bibliographies or references. Each volume concludes with a glossary, a brief further-reading list, and an index. Although not visually enticing, these volumes offer trustworthy information in convenient packages and would be useful in high-school and public libraries. Other series resulting from the Rosen-Britannica partnership include America at War, An Explorers Guide to the Universe, Islamic History, Turning Points in History, and U. S. Government: The Separation of Powers, with more to come.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)