Alexander the Great Rocks the World by Vicky Alvear Shecter

This biography details the life and times (or escapades) of Alexander the Great.

Peppered with casual comments directed toward the reader, it offers both an intimate and a broad view of Alexander's upbringing, education, military campaigns and leadership as ruler of Macedonia, Greece, Persia, Egypt, etc, etc, etc. The author is able to imbue a sense of Alexander's power, charisma, and progressive thinking.
Humorous text and the common threads of adolescence (pre-and early adolescents being the target audience) are employed to draw in the reader. Of course, the subject matter is pretty interesting, too.

Shecter includes a timeline, a bibliography, chapter end notes, and a decent index. Illustrations, photographs of artifacts, maps and other visual aids, and quotes from famous dead guys help make the book a breezy read.

My favorite quote, from pages 51-52, "After uniting Greece, he had a new obsession-Perisa. He wasn't alone. The Greeks, in general, shivered in ther tunics whenever the subject of Persian aggression came up. They especially feared the powerful Persian ruler, King Darius III. Why? Because King Darius served the Dark Lord Sauron and sought the One Ring that would give him power over the hobbits and Middle Earth. Oh, wait. Wrong story."

4th grade - 8th grade