Reference Reviews

Doug’s Student Reference Room

Beating the Odds: A Teen Guide to 75 Superstars Who Overcame Adversity, by Mary Ellen Snodgrass. 347 p. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-313-34564-7. $75.00

Adolescent students often express a sense of isolation in their attempts to overcome personal adversity. These young readers will find solace in the accounts presented in this volume, a collection of 75 biographies that share the stories of other people who have overcome their own struggles and attained success. The volume begins with an alphabetical list of entries, arranged alphabetically by struggle. Compelling stories, written in accessible language, depict Gelsey Kirkland’s battle against anorexia and bulimia, Kaye Gibbon’s struggles with bipolarity and Colin Powell’s inspiring advance from a childhood spent in the South Bronx ghetto to a position as the nation’s 65^th secretary of state. The array of entries illustrates the unique strategies employed by individuals striving to elude failure, pain, or death; quotations within the biographies enhance the text and the author places her subjects alongside period struggles such as school integration in Little Rock and protests of the Iraq War. The volume also offers additional sources for further inquiry, including an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources, a glossary of terms, a filmography and a comprehensive index. Teachers and students can use entries as extensions or starting points as they explore the concepts of personal adversity, struggle and triumph. Highly recommended for high school and public libraries.