This "Black Americans of Achievement" biography series, classified as juvenile literature, is available in hardcover editions as well as the paperbacks, at twice the price. They are filled with b/w photographs and each contains the same introductory essay on achievement by Coretta Scott King. Each book emphasizes the obstacles to achievement each subject faced; for example, Halle Berry's father was an alcoholic who deserted his white wife and two bi-racial daughters when Halle was just four years old. The authors of that biography are careful to talk about the problems of alcoholic parents, bi-racial marriages, growing up black in a white community and other things that Halle personally has had to deal with—plus she is a diabetic. Some of the subjects, such as Danny Glover, were born and spent their childhoods in the South during segregation. Angela Bassett was born to a struggling family in Harlem in the 1950s. The sure-fire selection for YA readers is the biography of Venus Williams. Her obstacles to achievement? "[Tennis stars] do not normally come from a burned-out, gang-ruled neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles. They do not normally have to worry about gunfire, or practice with old balls on the broken glass-covered neighborhood courts, as Venus Williams did. They have not normally been coached by a father who taught himself tennis from books and instructional videos, as Venus Williams was coached." These are clearly meant to be inspirational. The covers are full-color portraits of the subject. Category: Biography & Personal Narrative. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2001, Chelsea House, 112p. illus. bibliog. index., Ages 13 to18. Reviewer: Claire Rosser; KLIATT