From Kirkus Reviews
In the ``Gateway Green'' series of easy biographies, a clear but uninspired outline. Beginning with an attention-grabbing paragraph on the unusual contents of the young Audubon's pockets (eggs, frogs, nests) and his admiring stepmother's indulgence, Kendall falls into a choppy, awkward narrative; and though she includes incidents of interest to young readers, especially from the painter-naturalist's youth, she never develops much sense of his personality--not even the remarkable persistence, in the face of a growing family and continual economic disasters, that underlay his achievements. There are archival illustrations or color reproductions on almost every spread; captions indicate subjects but lack sufficient identification (is that Audubon's painting of phoebes? are these self-portraits?) and dates (does the painting--engraving?--of mountain lions belong to the period of The Vivaparous [sic] Quadrupeds of North America, or 30 years earlier, where it appears in the book?). Also, a definition of ``vivaparous [again sic] quadrupeds'' as ``four-legged animals that do not lay eggs'' seems unduly coy. Quibbles, perhaps; still, sloppiness is often symptomatic. Serviceable, then, but Kastner's somewhat more advanced and far more intelligent and informative John James Audubon (1992) is a better choice. (Biography. 8-11) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Card catalog description
Traces the life of John James Audubon from his early childhood in France to his career in America and his eventual success as an artist and naturalist.

ANNOTATION