standards for children's books

I just finished reviews of two children's books. Both were ostensibly biographies, but both had fictionalized dialogue. (And no, I wasn't reviewing an old Childhood of Famous Americans title; these were published this year!). I find this dismaying, and always give such books a bad review. To my dismay, some of my colleagues think I'm a crank for so doing. I understand that publishers don't want to waste space in a 40-page book for endnotes, but it's insulting to perpetuate standards for children that adults gave up decades ago.