Booklist "Grades 5-8. The Monumental Milestones series looks at important events, in this case the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The focus is on the fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but the series also covers the many twists and turns of the campaign. The Clinton View begins with the Iowa caucus, the effect the loss had on front-runner Clinton, and how her win in New Hampshire made her the second Clinton comeback kid. Then, the book goes back to Clinton's early years, her academic successes, and her tenures as First Lady and senator. Tracy captures some of the excitement of the campaign, but sometimes the text does not put statements in context (MSNBC's Chris Matthews openly supported Obama as a candidate ) or properly explain terms and titles (Politico is not identified as a political Web site). Still, as memory of the 2008 elections fades, this detailed account will be useful. One of the best things about this series is its well-chosen full-page sidebars; they allow space for important topics like the effect of the Internet on the election, Obama's books, and caucuses. The design is lively and colorful, and the photos will draw readers."
--From Booklist (April 1, 2009 (Vol. 105, No. 15) School Library Journal Gr 6-10-Each of these books opens with an account of a pivotal moment in the presidential race, followed by a chapter-length biographical sketch that concentrates on the candidate's political journey. The remaining chapters discuss the campaigns from each candidate's perspective, focusing more on delegate counts and news coverage than on exposition or analysis of their positions and policies. Both authors are admiring of their subjects, but Tracy does address some of Clinton's difficulties with negative media coverage and remarks made by her husband. Gibson, on the other hand, glosses over the controversies that Obama encountered, and her book frequently reads like a press release, which is not surprising given her reliance on Obama's Web site, which she cites as a source some 20 times. Each chapter ends with a single-page "FYInfo" sidebar that discusses some aspect of the presidential-election process or a topic related to the campaign. Average-quality color photos supplement the text. Although these candidacies were indeed historic, the books do not offer any information that has not been exhaustively covered in a variety of sources. Readers and researchers would be better served by more general biographies such as Garen Thomas's Yes, We Can: A Biography of Barack Obama (Feiwel, 2008).-Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.