Emeril Lagasse

Gr 4–8—This series fills a niche for tweens who have grown up with Food Network and love its stars; at 112 pages each, the books also address the homework assignments that require "biographies over 100 pages." Lagasse, Ramsay, and Ray are particularly good, focusing on the chefs' childhoods and their culinary backgrounds. Lagasse participated in the post-Katrina efforts in New Orleans. Ramsay grew up in an abusive household and his brother is a drug addict, but the subject is handled tactfully. Each volume discusses the celebrity's philanthropic work and features multiple photos. Deen isn't as well done as the other three as it devotes a disproportionate amount of space to Deen's romantic entanglements and it editorializes often ("She isn't perfect, as she would certainly admit, but she's given a lot of comfort to a lot of people through her life-and through her good old-fashioned Southern cooking"). The notes in each volume are sufficient, featuring multiple sources, including newspapers, autobiographies, magazines, and interviews. Additionally, the chronologies, Internet resources, and glossaries are all strong, as are the indexes. However, the further reading sections are odd. Some of the chefs' children's titles are omitted, while many adult titles are included. Deen's volume refers to her kids' cookbooks in the text, but they are not listed in the resources (even though adult books mentioned in the text are included, such as Deen's husband's autobiography).—Laura Lutz, Pratt Institute, NY