a u t h o r   Andrew Gracie p u b l i s h e r   Chelsea House Publishers i s b n   0791046346 f o r m a t   Book (library binding) p a g e s   48 s i z e   6" x 9" d a t e   1997.12.??

u s e r   r a t i n g s   Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest.  Voice your opinion by filling out a survey. o v e r a l l   2.0   (1 votes) i n f o   2.0 a c c u r a c y   4.0 p h o t o s   1.0 r e c o m m e n d e d   1.0   a v a i l a b i l i t y   Buy at Amazon c r e d i t s   First published in traditional hardback edition © 1998 by Chelsea House Publishers. Printed in Hong Kong Copyright © Parragon Book Service Ltd 1995 Unit 13-17, Avonbridge Trading Estate, Atlantic Road Avonmouth, Bristol, England BS11 9QD Illustrations courtesy of Rex Features r e v i e w   by nirvanadiscography.com There's only one reason to read this book: to see how Nirvana and Cobain's life can be summed up for children.  That's right, this book is targeted for 9-12 year-olds according to Amazon. But the first thing that struck me was the size of this book; while some of the better Nirvana bios easily fill out hundreds of pages, this one has just 48.  The result is an odd read for anyone remotely familiar with the band's history as the story moves quickly and passes by numerous details.  What you're left with is, well, not a whole hell of a lot -- even remedial online FAQs offer more information.  Fifteen photos, mostly mediocre color shots, are included along with a two-page index.  Figure into the equation that the first three pages are a title page, a page of credits, and a page with the list of contents, and those of you that are skilled in math can see that there's only 28 pages (six chapters) of actual text. Although condensed and written for school children, there is still plenty of detail about Cobain's drug use, and some of the other text is questionable for such young eyes: "On Tuesday, April 5, 1994, Kurt Cobain blew his head off with a shotgun.  The body was discovered on April 8.  The police had to use fingerprints to make a positive ID; dental records were of no use." Those are the first three sentences in the book! I have a hard time envisioning any circumstance where this book should be recommended, so if someone needs a Nirvana bio I would suggest skipping this title and heading straight to Come As You Are.  This book is simply too stripped down to offer much help.  As a collectible it might be worth buying (if it's cheap) because it's so bizarre, but the book may be out of print.  That's probably a good thing.