100 Most Popular Children's Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies (repost)

Based on a 1997 survey of both teachers and students, this volume includes such well-known authors as Beverly Cleary (most recognized by the survey respondents) and classic writers like Lewis Carroll and C. S. Lewis. Each entry provides several pages about the author and his or her writings followed by a section called "Books and Notes," which has details about specific books and their themes, including bibliographic information. A list of additional material about or by the author completes each entry.

Entries are generally four or five pages long, and this allows McElmeel, who has written several other books on children and reading, to offer fairly detailed profiles. Knowing how writers such as Mary Downing Hahn (whose Stepping on the Cracks is based on memories of her childhood) or Lois Lowry (whose book The Giver sprang from a visit to her father in a nursing home) draw on their own lives for inspiration can help young readers understand the creative process.

An index listing genres and themes, such as that found in the three-volume set Writers for Young Adults [RBB O 15 97], would have been helpful. An alphabetical cumulative index of the titles that are cited in the entries would also have been useful. However, even without these, the book is a worthwhile (and inexpensive) resource for elementary-and middle-school libraries and public libraries that serve young readers, especially when such multivolume series as Something About the Author are financially prohibitive. The information included in 100 Most Popular Children's Authors provides, in many instances, more details than can be found in some multivolume sets.