SAPET, Kerrily . Google Founders: Larry Page and Sergey Brin . ISBN 978-1-59935-177-3 ; ISBN 978-1-59935-213-8 . LC 2011014665. SCALLY, Robert D. Jeff Bezos: Founder of Amazon and the Kindle . ISBN 978-1-59935-178-0 ; ISBN 978-1-59935-214-5 . LC 2011015611. SMITH, Chris &; Marci McGrath . Twitter: Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams . ISBN 978-1-59935-179-7 ; ISBN 978-1-59935-216-9 . LC 2011024699. ea vol: 112p. (Business Leaders: Social Media Series). photos. bibliog. chron. index. notes. Websites. CIP. Morgan Reynolds . 2011. PLB $28.95; ebook $28.95. Gr 5-9 This series profiles the men behind four companies that have significantly changed the way people use technology and the Internet. Besides delivering personal information about the featured business leaders, these biographies highlight the ways in which they have not only produced forms of entertainment, research tools, and social media, but also essential information-sharing resources. While the texts are easy to digest, the tone can be too casual, and some of the chosen anecdotes seem gratuitous-readers don't necessarily need to know that Jeff Bezos enjoyed playing beer pong in college. The full-color photographs are eye-catching, but questionable for the intended audience; e.g., one Web shot in Twitter is in poor taste.

From the relaxed cover photos of the youthful billionaire entrepreneurs at work in jeans and sweaters, these titles in the Business Leaders series will grab YAs with the exciting accounts of how today's groundbreakers have made their fortunes establishing technology that young people use every day. The numbers are staggering, and so is the influence of some of these companies in current world events, from Cairo to Wall Street. Jeff Bezos focuses on how Amazon has "changed shopping" and developed e-books (though there is no mention of the various controversies surrounding the Kindle). The design is browsable, with clear type and lots of color screens and informal photos of young people at work, and the extensive back matter includes detailed source notes, from articles to websites.

These biographies focus on the technologies that their youthful subjects developed--Facebook, Google, Amazon.com, and Twitter--and the way each company has changed from small startup to international phenomenon. The subjects' lives and inventions are explained in clear language with embedded definitions when necessary; some details are more important than others. Numerous photos (mostly relevant, some not) support the texts. Timeline, websites. Bib., ind.