Alberto Del Rio

January 1, 2015
Grades 1-3 The Wrestling Superstars series will mainly appeal to young WWE fans and should inspire and engage that limited audience, including reluctant and below-grade-level readersthe books are written at no higher than a second-grade level. (Because the books maintain the fiction of WWE characters and wrestling matches with earnest admiration, they are unlikely to engage readers who are not WWE fans already.) Confusingly, each book plunges into a chapter on the wrestler's debut with almost no context, except for a helpful glossary in the back matter. The biographical information follows a standard Who Is . . . ? and Life before the WWE progression. A later chapter, Winning Moves, seems potentially informative, but it turns out to be about each wrestler's fantastically named signature moves rather than deeper athletic technique. For example, Alberto Del Rio is known for the Cross Armbreaker and Enzuigiri. Still, fans are fans, and will likely enjoy both the text and the glamorous and/or sweaty photos.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)