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Who Is Bill Gates? by Patricia Brennan Demuth is an inspiring story of someone that was always a thinker from a young age and worked hard to make something of himself. This book goes inside to show the personal side of Bill Gates and his how it all started as a child. This book leads us on a journey through his life as he struggles and succeeds. Now he gives to charity and still has the good heart he had as a kid. It is certainly a inspiring story of working hard, thinking out-side-the-box, being inventive, and caring. Great job. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. I liked the book because the language was descriptive, yet easy to follow. The author simplified typically confusing and unfamiliar concepts for the targeted audience and made it clear what Bill Gates had accomplished when he was younger. For example, students may be unfamiliar with the term "leave of absence", but the author took the time to explain the term, describing it as "a 'time-out'" (p. 38). By taking the time to do this, the author is ensuring the audience is following the story and minimizing the chances of misunderstanding the events of Gates' life. The chapters were broken down in chronological events of Gates' life, making the text easy to follow. The story began with Bill Gates as a child, describing his school life and interests. Finally, the chapter book ended with where Bill Gates currently is and his lifestyle now. Each chapter focused on a time period in Gates' life, but were listed in chronological order so that the audience could easily follow. However, I did not like the illustrations in the book. The illustrations were all black and white, which did not add to the mood of the story. The lack of color hinders the ability to portray Gates' failures and successes during his lifetime. For example, when Bill Gates' partner, Paul, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease, the corresponding illustration was black and white (p. 56). However, when Bill Gates made the cover of TIME Magazine, a significant and proud event in his life, the illustration was also in black and white (p. 57). The lack of color does not help the audience distinguish between successes and failures. However, the big idea of this chapter book is to show the challenges and hardships that Gates has gone through to lead to his success of creating Microsoft. The biography included both strengths and weaknesses of Gates. For example, the text shared the legal troubles that Gates faced in 1998 (p. 79). The book also shared his victories, such as graduating from Lakeside School (p. 26). The book shares an appropriate level of detail for its designated audience, and does not overwhelm readers with too much information. The author's point of view about the person is unbiased, as he only relays the facts about Bill Gates' life and does not share his personal opinions about Bill Gates' successes and shortcomings. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this biography of Bill Gates. I never knew much about him, except that he created Microsoft, and that he was rich of course! I love the organization of this book. The author started from when he was a child and led all the way up until present day. She touched on all of the major events that happened in his life and explained each event thoroughly. I also like the language she used in this biography. She used italics to expllain words that might be complicated or unknown to students. For example, she italicized browser and in parenthesis wrote, "a browser connects computer users to the internet and the sites they want to visit." I think it's very developmentally appropriate to do this. Since we are talking about a sophisticated topic, there is bound to be challenging words. The overall message of this story was to show children that money is not everything, and that education is very important. She proves this by explaining that Bill Gates graduated college at the age of 52, and that he gave away billions of dollars! ( )