Who Was? Books in Order

This illustrated biography introduces Albert Einstein beyond his familiar image as a genius with unruly hair. It follows his life and explains how his scientific ideas changed people's understanding of the world around them.

Amelia Earhart's life unfolds from her early years to the pioneering flights that made her famous. This illustrated biography also explores her disappearance while attempting to fly around the world, introducing young readers to her ambitions.

Annie Oakley's skill with horses and firearms took her before audiences around the world. This biography shows how her performances and determination challenged expectations of women during an era when many had few opportunities beyond home.

Benjamin Franklin's life brings together science, invention, writing, printing, and politics. This illustrated biography introduces young readers to the varied interests of a founding father, including his experiments with electricity and his many practical inventions.

Harry Houdini became famous for escaping locks, chains, and confined spaces, but his ambitions extended beyond magic. This illustrated biography introduces his adventurous life, including his work in movies and his interest in flying airplanes.

Maria Tallchief grew up partly on an Osage reservation in Oklahoma before pursuing ballet. This illustrated biography traces her development as a dancer and shows how family support and George Balanchine helped shape her career.

This illustrated biography introduces Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their westward expedition. Her life and journey give young readers a way to explore the people and challenges behind that historic undertaking.

Mozart began composing music as a small child and performed before European royalty. This biography follows his career and personal life while introducing young readers to eighteenth-century Europe, opera, and the musical instruments of his time.

After becoming deaf and blind in childhood, Helen Keller learned to communicate with help from teacher Annie Sullivan. This illustrated biography follows her efforts to read and write, introducing young readers to the life behind her achievements.

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and became the third American president. This biography also explores his interests in architecture, music, and invention, while confronting the contradiction between his political ideals and his ownership of enslaved people.

Eleanor Roosevelt transformed the role of First Lady by speaking publicly about poverty and racism. This biography follows her growth from a shy child into a writer, campaigner, and advocate who used her position to influence public life.

Ferdinand Magellan sailed west from Spain hoping to reach the Spice Islands. This illustrated biography follows his life and dangerous expedition, helping young readers understand the ambitions, hardships, and risks behind an attempt to circle the globe.

John F. Kennedy's life included childhood illness, wartime service, and election to the presidency. This illustrated biography follows those experiences and introduces young readers to the historical events that shaped his brief time in office.

Louis Armstrong discovered music while attending a reform school in New Orleans. This biography follows his rise as a trumpet player and performer, connecting his innovations in jazz with the American history unfolding during his lifetime.

Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain after adventures as a riverboat pilot, prospector, and writer. This biography introduces the humor and restless curiosity behind his books, along with his criticism of racism and other forms of injustice.

Ronald Reagan's life took him from rural Illinois to Hollywood and then the White House. This illustrated biography follows his work as an actor and politician, including his presidency and survival of an assassination attempt.

Charles Darwin's fascination with nature carried him through a difficult voyage aboard the Beagle. This illustrated biography follows his observations and discoveries, explaining how they helped develop the theory of evolution and changed ideas about living things.

John Chapman, remembered as Johnny Appleseed, traveled through the expanding American frontier planting apple orchards. This illustrated biography explores his journeys and unusual habits while showing how his work helped support newly established communities in the Midwest.

Leonardo da Vinci pursued painting, music, science, and invention in Renaissance Italy. This biography explores his many interests and unfinished projects, introducing young readers to an artist whose notebooks contained ideas for machines far beyond his time.

Thomas Edison's curiosity led to inventions involving light, recorded sound, and moving pictures. This illustrated biography follows the inventor's life and experiments, showing young readers how his work helped change everyday life and popular entertainment.

Daniel Boone's outdoor skills helped him guide settlers through Kentucky. This illustrated biography follows his adventures, including the rescue of his kidnapped daughter, and introduces the experiences behind his reputation as a pathfinder on the American frontier.

King Tutankhamun's short life and the discovery of his tomb introduce young readers to ancient Egypt. This illustrated biography explains the young ruler's world, Howard Carter's discovery, and the stories of curses surrounding the tomb.

William Shakespeare's plays remain widely performed, but much of his personal life is uncertain. This biography introduces young readers to the playwright and the world around his work, using illustrations to help explain his historical setting.

The Beatles' story begins with four boys in Liverpool and follows their early steps into rock music. This illustrated biography explores the excitement of Beatlemania and the tensions that eventually brought the band's partnership to an end.

Anne Frank's diary records ordinary hopes during an extraordinary persecution. This biography explores her childhood, her family's years in hiding from the Nazis, and the diary's legacy, using maps and illustrations to explain the historical setting.

Elvis Presley grew up hearing blues, gospel, and country music before developing his own sound. This illustrated biography traces his rise from a modest Mississippi childhood and explains how his music and performances helped transform popular culture.

Marco Polo left Venice as a teenager and returned more than two decades later with accounts of distant lands. This biography introduces his travels to China and the debate over whether everything he described actually happened.

Martin Luther King Jr. organized nonviolent campaigns against segregation and racial injustice. This illustrated biography explains his role in the civil rights movement, from the Montgomery bus boycott to his wider efforts for voting rights and economic fairness.

Abraham Lincoln grew up in a farming family with little formal schooling before becoming president. This illustrated biography follows his life and leadership during the Civil War, introducing young readers to slavery's abolition and his assassination.

Neil Armstrong's childhood fascination with model planes led to test flying and space travel. This illustrated biography traces his journey to becoming the first person to walk on the moon, connecting early interests with his later achievements.

Elizabeth I faced exclusion from court and imprisonment before becoming England's queen in 1558. This illustrated biography follows her dangerous early life and long reign, introducing young readers to the ruler and the world of her court.

This illustrated biography introduces Barack Obama's early life, education, and path into national politics. It follows the journey of a Harvard Law School graduate who became the first African American president of the United States.

Claude Monet helped establish Impressionism, but recognition did not come easily. This illustrated biography follows the painter's life, including criticism of his work and financial struggles, giving young readers an introduction to the person behind his paintings.

Franklin Roosevelt lived with the effects of polio while pursuing a political career. This illustrated biography follows his presidency during the Great Depression and World War II, explaining how he confronted crises that shaped American life.

George Washington became the first American president in 1789, but his life extends beyond that familiar role. This illustrated biography introduces young readers to the person behind the public image and the experiences that shaped him.

Pablo Picasso repeatedly changed his approach to art, moving through different styles and materials. This illustrated biography introduces his life, paintings, collages, sculptures, and ceramics, helping young readers explore the experiments behind his place in modern art.

Walt Disney's desire to entertain began in a childhood marked by poverty and mischief. This illustrated biography explores the man behind Mickey Mouse and Disneyland, including how memories of small-town Missouri helped shape his creative world.

Jackie Robinson's athletic ability took him to the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he challenged baseball's racial barrier in 1947. This illustrated biography follows his life and the hostility he faced from spectators and teammates while changing the sport.

Jim Henson began making television puppet shows while still a young student. This illustrated biography follows the development of his expressive Muppets and shows how a creative approach to puppetry grew into a career in entertainment.

Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus in 1955. This illustrated biography places that decision within her life and shows how it helped spark a wider movement for civil rights.

Ted Geisel loved drawing strange animals and experimenting with ideas long before he became Dr. Seuss. This illustrated biography explores the playful habits and imagination behind the author and illustrator of The Cat in the Hat.

Paul Revere’s famous ride forms only part of his story. This biography introduces the silversmith and father behind the Revolutionary War messenger, placing his warning to the colonists within his family life and the events of his time.

J.K. Rowling’s imagination and love of books helped her create Harry Potter. This biography follows her life and the development of the boy wizard’s story, showing young readers how the world of Hogwarts came into being.

Jane Goodall’s childhood fascination with animals led her to study chimpanzees in Africa. This biography explores the observations that changed scientific understanding, along with her work for animal protection and her place among women in science.

Babe Ruth grew up in poverty in Baltimore and discovered baseball while attending reform school. This illustrated biography follows his early talent into a professional career, exploring how the troublesome boy became a celebrated Yankees hitter.

Maurice Sendak’s childhood love of cartoons helped shape his ambition to illustrate books. This biography explores his personal life and artistic career, including picture books that brought children’s anger, fear, and jealousy into stories such as Where the Wild Things Are.

Roald Dahl’s life included flying for the British Air Force, marriage to an actress, and writing for adults as well as children. This illustrated biography introduces the real adventures behind the author’s varied career in books and film.

Steve Jobs developed an early obsession with computers that helped lead to Apple. This illustrated biography traces an unconventional life from his adoption and college years to his work in technology and his involvement with Pixar’s animated films.

Bill Gates’s childhood interest in computers grew into the software business Microsoft. This biography follows that development and explores how his success in personal computing provided the wealth behind his later work giving money to charitable causes.

Before becoming Bob Dylan, Bobby Zimmerman grew up in Minnesota and later joined Greenwich Village’s folk music scene. This biography introduces his life as a songwriter and performer, exploring the influence of his work on other musicians.

Michelle Robinson grew up in a close family in Chicago before studying at Princeton and Harvard Law School. This illustrated biography follows her education, marriage to Barack Obama, and life as the first African American First Lady.

Steven Spielberg began by making home movies for his Boy Scout troop. This biography follows his interest in scripts and cameras into a directing career, introducing the filmmaker behind movies ranging from Jaws to Lincoln.

Alexander Graham Bell’s work teaching deaf people helped lead him toward the telephone. This biography connects his family life and interest in communication with an invention that changed how people spoke to one another across distances.

Christopher Columbus wanted to sail west to reach the Indies and establish trade routes. This biography traces his early life at sea and the struggle to secure financial support for the voyage that made his name familiar.

Davy Crockett’s larger-than-life reputation grew from stories of astonishing frontier exploits. This biography separates legend from his actual life, introducing the hunter and Tennessee congressman whose experiences became part of American folklore and the story of the Alamo.

Ernest Shackleton preferred tales of the sea to schoolwork and became an apprentice sailor at sixteen. This biography follows his Antarctic expeditions, including the dangerous Endurance journey, and explores the leadership demanded by extreme conditions.

Frida Kahlo drew on Mexican history and culture while making paintings rooted in her own experiences. This biography introduces her self-portraits, life with illness, and marriage to Diego Rivera, showing how personal life shaped her art.

Laura Ingalls Wilder turned experiences of frontier life into the Little House books. This illustrated biography follows her pioneer childhood, exploring the hardships and adventures behind the stories and the connections between her life and her fiction.

Milton Hershey learned to produce milk chocolate on a large scale and built a business around it. This biography follows his inventions and ambitions, including the town he created for employees and a school offering children an education.

Sally Ride answered a newspaper advertisement for astronaut applicants and became the first American woman in space. This biography also explores her scientific work, tennis abilities, and efforts to encourage girls to take an interest in science.

Dolly Parton began writing songs as a young child in Tennessee and became a country music performer. This illustrated biography follows her career in music, acting, and business, alongside the children’s reading initiative she founded.

George Lucas’s childhood interests in comics and cars preceded a career creating films such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones. This biography explores his filmmaking and the companies that helped change the use of visual and sound effects.

Gloria Steinem used reporting and undercover investigations to expose inequality between women and men. This biography follows her journalism into the women’s liberation movement, including the creation of Ms. magazine and her work on women’s roles in public life.

Known first as Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali became a heavyweight boxing champion with a distinctive fighting style. This biography introduces his rise in the ring, change of name, and the personality that made him a widely recognized cultural figure.

Stanley Lieber entered the comics business as a teenager and became known as Stan Lee. This biography follows his work at Marvel and the imagination behind superheroes including Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Fantastic Four.

Abigail Adams argued for women’s interests during America’s Revolutionary era despite receiving no formal schooling herself. This biography explores her family life, role beside John Adams, and support for giving girls and boys equal access to education.

Alfred Hitchcock grew from a London boy into a director associated with suspense. This biography introduces his storytelling and camera techniques, exploring the career behind films such as Psycho and The Birds and their influence on filmmaking.

Andy Warhol challenged ideas about art with images drawn from advertising and popular culture. This biography follows the boy from Pittsburgh into the world of the Factory, where paintings, films, and an unusual lifestyle shaped his public identity.

Betsy Ross supported the American Revolution through practical work as a seamstress, making tents and repairing uniforms. This biography explores her life in Philadelphia and the debated story of her role in creating the first American flag.

Bruce Lee combined martial arts, teaching, philosophy, and filmmaking in a short career. This biography explores how his Hong Kong and Hollywood films brought martial arts to wider audiences and helped change the portrayal of Asians in American movies.

Charles Dickens’s childhood work in a shoe-polish factory influenced the worlds he later created in fiction. This biography follows the Victorian writer’s storytelling and public fame, introducing the life behind Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol.

Clara Barton built a working life around helping others, from teaching and government employment to nursing during the Civil War. This biography follows those experiences into her founding of the American Red Cross and its humanitarian work.

Frederick Douglass secretly learned to read and write while enslaved in Maryland. This biography follows his escape and his work as a speaker against slavery, explaining how his own experiences helped give force to his arguments for freedom.

Gandhi studied law in London and lived in South Africa before working for Indian independence. This biography explores his use of nonviolent civil disobedience and the influence his methods had on later movements for civil rights.

Born Temujin into a nomadic family, Genghis Khan rose to lead the Mongols and build an empire through conquest. This biography introduces his early struggle for survival, political skill, and reputation as a ruler who inspired both loyalty and fear.

Henry Ford grew up on a Michigan farm before building a car manufacturing business. This biography explores the Model T and assembly-line production, explaining how more affordable automobiles helped change American industry and the daily experience of work.

Isaac Newton returned home from college when plague disrupted life in London. This biography explores the solitary thinker’s investigations during that period, including ideas about gravity and motion that became central to the development of modern science.

Julius Caesar gained influence through Roman politics, public speaking, and victories in battle. This biography follows his rise and the alliances and rivalries surrounding him, introducing the conflict created by his growing power and claim to lifelong dictatorship.

Louis Braille lost his sight as a child and devised a reading system while still a teenager. This biography explores how raised dots made written words accessible through touch and opened books to people who could not see.

Marie Curie moved from Poland to Paris to study mathematics and physics after being denied university education at home. This biography follows her partnership with Pierre Curie, their discoveries, and the scientific work recognized by two Nobel Prizes.

This biography follows Nelson Mandela's struggle against apartheid, his twenty-seven years in prison, and his emergence as South Africa's first Black president. Young readers see how his commitment to change shaped both his life and his country.

From a closely supervised childhood to becoming queen at eighteen, Victoria's life combined family responsibilities with public power. This biography introduces her marriage, children, and long reign during major changes in Britain and its empire.

Rachel Carson's childhood interest in nature led to work studying fisheries and writing about the sea. This biography explains how Silent Spring warned readers about pesticides and helped bring environmental protection into public debate.

This biography traces Robert E. Lee's military education and the choice that took him into Confederate service. It introduces young readers to the conflict between his earlier United States career and his allegiance to Virginia.

Growing up in Puerto Rico, Roberto Clemente developed a talent that carried him to the Pittsburgh Pirates. This biography follows his eighteen-season baseball career, major achievements, and place as the first Latin American Baseball Hall of Fame inductee.

Sitting Bull became a Lakota leader and holy man during conflict over Native American land. This biography follows his early life and explains how military leadership and spiritual beliefs shaped his efforts to protect his people.

Susan B. Anthony's frustration with unequal pay as a teacher helped fuel her campaign for women's rights. This biography follows the speeches, travel, and writing through which she challenged the limits placed on women's lives.

Young readers meet Theodore Roosevelt as a sickly child, a lover of natural history, a soldier, and a president. The biography connects his interests in the outdoors with the varied roles that shaped his public life.

This biography follows Ulysses S. Grant from a childhood love of horses through military training, Civil War command, and the presidency. It also introduces the personal difficulties and political troubles surrounding his rise and later years.

Orville and Wilbur Wright developed mechanical skills through printing, bicycles, and experiments with machinery. This biography follows the brothers' shared ambition to fly, explaining how their practical work led them to build and test an airplane.

This illustrated journal invites children to record their own life stories through guided activities. Prompts cover childhood memories, family trees, friends, pets, favorite things, and future hopes, building a personal autobiography one spread at a time.

Derek Jeter dreamed of playing for the Yankees long before scouts noticed him in high school. This biography follows his path to professional baseball, team leadership, World Series victories, and retirement after a career in New York.

Written by his brother Patrick, this biography follows Jeff Kinney from childhood jokes and college cartoons to Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Rejected cartoons and work on online games form part of his route to writing success.

Malala Yousafzai loved school, but restrictions on girls' education in Pakistan pushed her to speak publicly. This biography explains how her blog and continuing advocacy brought attention to children's educational rights and led to the Nobel Peace Prize.

Richard Branson struggled at school with dyslexia while developing an early interest in business. This biography follows his growth from youthful enterprises to Virgin Records and wider ventures, alongside his enthusiasm for flights and record attempts.

Wayne Gretzky began skating as a child in Ontario and grew into a record-setting professional hockey player. This biography introduces his sporting career, Stanley Cup successes, Olympic participation, and family life beyond the rink.

Beatrix Potter's love of nature and drawing helped create Peter Rabbit, despite early publishing rejections. This biography follows her work as an author and illustrator and her later efforts to protect the English countryside.

This biography introduces Blackbeard's rise from sailor to pirate commander in the Caribbean and along America's eastern coast. It explores his fearsome appearance and reputation while acknowledging that parts of his early life remain uncertain.

Edgar Allan Poe's childhood losses and troubled adult life form the background to this biography for young readers. It introduces his poetry, horror stories, and contribution to detective fiction, connecting his experiences with his writing.

Frank Lloyd Wright's childhood fascination with building blocks developed into a career designing homes, religious buildings, and museums. This biography introduces his ideas about architecture through projects including Fallingwater and New York's Guggenheim Museum.