There is no lack of reference material for middle-schoolers, but younger students are woefully underserved, which is why we were particularly intrigued by Favorable Impressions' Biography for Beginners: World Explorers. The editor, Laurie Lanzen Harris, is also the editor of the serial Biography for Beginners, designed for ages six through nine. World Explorers, which follows a 1998 volume on U. S. presidents, is intended for the same elementary-school audience. Harris, formerly director of literary criticism at Gale, created Biography Today for ages nine and up at Omnigraphics. But she perceived the need to publish high-quality reference material for an even younger audience, and this led her to start Favorable Impressions in 1995. Upcoming volumes in the Biography for Beginners series will cover inventors, African American leaders, women, and scientists. Harris tells us she would love to do more reference titles for the elementary-school level but faces a number of challenges, including the difficulty of finding contributors who are interested in writing for this age group.