Reviews+

Ideas for creative gift-wrapping opens this volume of homemade projects including edible items, jewelry, home-decorating projects, and more. Lists of supplies, step-by-step instructions, and color photos of some steps in creating final products are included; several projects require unusual ingredients (birthday cake–scented fragrance oil) and skills beyond average novice crafters (sewing and using a frosting piping bag). Reading list.

These biographies are generously filled with photos illustrating the lives of people who, "against the odds," survived life-threatening disability or injury. In chapters titled as questions "young people want answered," the texts focus on various prejudicial obstacles Hawking and Yousafzai each overcame to achieve amazing and heroic accomplishments. The brightly colored pages are distracting, but the stories will inspire middle-grade researchers. Reading list, timeline, websites. Glos., ind. Review covers the following Against the Odds Biographies titles: Stephen Hawking and Malala Yousafzai.

These biographies cover the personal and professional lives of six reality-TV stars, with information ranging from the serious (Tim Gunn's teenage suicide attempt) to the superfluous ("[Rachael] Ray has a pit bull named Isaboo"). Projects/recipes "inspired by" the books' subjects are fairly uninspired, but middle-grade fans of the shows may enjoy the serviceable texts and color photos. Timeline. Glos., ind. Review covers these Checkerboard Library: Reality TV Titans titles: Fun and Food with Guy Fieri, Getting Gritty with Mike Rowe, Pioneer Practices with Ree Drummond, Simple Solutions with Rachael Ray, Tasteful Fashion with Tim Gunn, and Zany Eats with Andrew Zimmern.