Who is Steven Spielberg? by Stephanie Spinner

Stephanie Spinner's book Who is Steven Spielberg? is a biography of the director aimed at second and third grade readers. The book, which features black and white illustrations by Daniel Mather, follows Spielberg's life from his birth in 1946 (In Cincinnati! Who knew?), to the release of his film Lincoln in late 2012. The structure of the book focuses largely on the inspiration for and production of many of Spielberg's most famous movies, intercut with glimpses into his personal life and sidebars about subjects tangentially related to Spielberg and his films (topics of these sidebars include a glossary of filmmaking terms, an overview of the rise of Nazi Germany, and a history of the Academy Awards).

I'm not sure that I would call this a "warts and all" depiction of Spielberg, but that may be due to the fact that, according to most people who have worked with him, Spielberg is a genuinely friendly person. The book does detail some aspects of Spielberg's life that teachers may not want students to emulate: he didn't get into film school due to bad grades, and dropped out of college when he got his first offer to direct a tv show. Additionally, Spielberg's origin in the film industry isn't exactly model behavior: he made contacts at Universal Studios by sneaking past security, setting up shop in an abandoned office and lying about his identify so that he could be close to the filmmaking process.

That being said, the book also does a great detail to extoll the virtues of following one's dreams (many of Spielberg's movies can be traced back to his childhood passions and interests) and never giving up in the face of adversity (it sounds like the production of Jaws, considered to be the world's first blockbuster, was a train wreck from day one). I think this book would make for very engaging reading for any young student who is curious about how the movies they love get made. There is a glimpse into nearly all aspects of the film industry in this story, from writing, to producing, to directing. Even the business aspect of the industry is briefly described as, in 1994, Spielberg cofounded DreamWorks studios.

Much of the early portion of this book is spent looking at the various films and figures that inspired Spielberg to want to make movies, and I could see this book, in turn, opening up a whole world of inspiration for a new generation of young readers and artists, and I would not hesitate to include this book in my classroom.