April 1, 2018
Gr 1-4-A series sure to satisfy even the youngest of wrestling fans. Borth traces each champion's journey from their small beginnings to their eventual success, capturing all of the sweat, disappointment, and determination in between. Simple facts about each wrestler's birthplace, early sports influences, and tournament wins are the extent of what is covered in each title, all of which could probably fit on the back of a collector's card. Only one woman wrestler and one tag team are included in the lineup. Unfamiliar readers will appreciate the definitions of terms and acronyms specific to the sport, while devotees will scramble to see the outrageous behavior of their heroes and foes well captured in the dynamic images. VERDICT Consider for early reader collections that serve superfans only.
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
July 1, 2018
These beginning-reader introductions to championship pro wrestlers hardly qualify as biographies. Uncaptioned color photos show the wrestlers in action, but the bare-bones, acronym-heavy texts contain almost no information on the subjects' private lives (aside from when each wrestler was born) and not even very much about how they developed as star competitors. Glos., ind.
(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)