There is no doubt that Steve Jobs was the controversial genius of our time. No matter what your personal opinion is about Jobs the man, Jobs the inventor and entrepreneur led a life that was inspirational. That inspirational life is the focus of Karen Blumenthal's biography, Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different. Jobs was given up for adoption as a baby, dropped out of college, and went on to change the world with his technological advances in the Apple company. I like reading books like this with my child because it celebrates a person who created real change in the world.

Blumenthal does a really good job of gauging where the line of appropriateness is for young readers, so don't worry too much about whether this will or won't delve too much into the darker sides of Jobs' personality. Of course, every parent defines appropriate differently, and only you can decide that for your own little readers, but I think this is definitely fine for ages ten and up. What I found to be really valuable in Blumenthal's novel was the demonstration of what success looks like. Success for Jobs did not come easy. His career was not a straight shot to the top but a winding mix of set back after set back and really hard work. Working hard to achieve dreams is something every kid is told to do, but failure can be really discouraging even when its a small one like a bad grade on a math test or being on the losing side of a soccer game. This book demonstrates to young readers that failure is unavoidable part of success.