I have always loved history—not so much the politics, the kings and wars and battles, but the remarkable, often eccentric people who stood out in the age in which they lived. When I started writing books for children, I fell naturally into writing biographies. Each book I’ve written has been an adventure, with research that took me into vanished worlds and introduced me to remarkable people, from Shakespeare and Joan of Arc to Peter the Great, Michelangelo, Cleopatra, and Leonardo da Vinci. I got to read their letters, learn little personal details about their lives, and live vicariously in their worlds. It’s been my life’s joyful work, and I appreciate the brilliant work of other authors who write biography too.
I know from personal experience just how hard it is to tell the life story of a highly accomplished person (Michelangelo, for example) without burying young readers in an avalanche of details and facts. With On a Beam of Light, Jennifer Berne (with the help of the brilliant Vladimir Radunsky) has achieved the impossible—she has written a book about Albert Einstein that is simple, charming, and clear while giving readers the most important thing they need to know about the world’s most famous genius: how his mind worked.
Albert is always asking himself questions. He watches sugar dissolve into his tea, the smoke from his pipe disappears into the air, and wonders how that could happen. He decides that “everything is made out of teeny, tiny, moving bits of stuff.” “Even this book,” he says in a word balloon, “is made of atoms!” Jennifer Berne has done a truly masterful job with this very difficult subject. If I could only recommend one book, this would be it.
Travel along with Einstein on a journey full of curiosity, laughter, and scientific discovery. Parents and children alike will appreciate this moving story of the powerful difference imagination can make in any life.
This is such a gorgeous book! Beautifully told by Pam Muñoz Ryan, this is the story of Marian Anderson, a little girl with a beautiful voice who battled racial prejudice in the pre-Civil Rights era to become one of America’s greatest singers. Brian Selznick’s illustrations are exquisite, done in soft sepia tones to give a feel for the period. And the book’s unique format will delight readers of any age. This is a book that inspires, touching hearts, and teaching young readers what courage, perseverance, and generosity can accomplish.
A harmonious introduction to one of our country's most important singers and role models--as envisioned by Newbery Honoree Pam Muñoz Ryan and Caldecott Medalist Brian Selznick.
Marian Anderson is best known for her historic concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, which drew an integrated crowd of 75,000 people in pre-Civil Rights America. While this momentous event showcased the uniqueness of her voice, the strength of her character, and the struggles of the times in which she lived, it is only part of her story. Like the operatic arias Marian would come to sing, Ryan's text is as moving as…
Kudos to Jen Bryant for choosing such an original topic—Peter Roget of thesaurus fame—and pulling it off so perfectly. And Melissa Sweet takes her excellent book and transforms it into a playful work of art, a veritable feast for the eyes, with everything from elaborate collages to comic strip sections with word balloons. Synonyms abound, as in a street scene where people say things like, “My fish is cheap, a bargain, reasonable,” or “Do you need your chimney cleaned, swept, swabbed?”
The Right Word invites you to stop and study the details on every page and rewards you with endlessly charming, often funny little surprises. This is one of those rare books that adults will enjoy every bit as much as their children.
For shy young Peter Mark Roget, books were the best companions -- and it wasn’t long before Peter began writing his own book. But he didn’t write stories; he wrote lists. Peter took his love for words and turned it to organizing ideas and finding exactly the right word to express just what he thought. His lists grew and grew, eventually turning into one of the most important reference books of all time.
Readers of all ages will marvel at Roget’s life, depicted through lyrical text and brilliantly detailed illustrations. This elegant…
Let me start by saying that Peter Sís is a genius and his books are like no one else’s. This story about Antoine Saint-Exupéry, the author of the beloved classic, The Little Prince, is original in every possible way. Maps and mountains are transformed into creatures smiling at each other. In a scene describing the German invasion of France in 1940, his careful tiny crosshatching gives way to loose watercolor, red paint that spreads across the page like fire or blood. At the end, where Saint-Exupéry dreams of the Little Prince, is a stunning double-page spread with no words, just an expanse of blue with prince-like golden stars on the far horizon. The book is sheer perfection.
Peter Sís's remarkable biography The Pilot and the Little Prince celebrates the author of The Little Prince, one of the most beloved books in the world.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in France in 1900, when airplanes were just being invented. Antoine dreamed of flying and grew up to be a pilot―and that was when his adventures began. He found a job delivering mail by plane, which had never been done before. He and his fellow pilots traveled to faraway places and discovered new ways of getting from one place to the next. Antoine flew over mountains and deserts. He…
This is a book for the very young, with simple, poetic text. Not truly a biography, it shows us a curious, imaginative little girl who is fascinated by nature and wants to learn everything about it. She gives her favorite climbing tree a name, and as she lays her cheek against its trunk she seems to “feel the sap flowing beneath the bark.” There’s a scene in the henhouse where Jane, eager to learn where eggs come from, waits behind some straw and “observes a miracle.”
The transition between her childhood dreams and the future life they lead her to is a magical moment. The art is gorgeous, with loose pen and watercolor pictures mixed with collage and photographs. A perfect little package!
In his characteristic heartwarming and minimalistic style, Patrick McDonnell tells the story of a young Jane Goodall and her special childhood toy chimpanzee named Jubilee. As the young Jane observes the natural world around her with wonder, she dreams of 'a life living with and helping all animals,' until one day she finds that her dream has come true.
One of the world's most inspiring women, Dr. Jane Goodall is a renowned humanitarian, conservationist, animal activist, environmentalist, and United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 1977 she founded the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), a global nonprofit organization that empowers people to…
Two hundred years ago, a daughter was born to the famous poet, Lord Byron, and his mathematical wife, Annabella. Like her father, Ada had a vivid imagination and a creative gift for connecting ideas in original ways. Like her mother, she had a passion for science, math, and machines. Ada hoped that one day she could do something important with her creative and nimble mind. She got her chance when she met Charles Babbage, the inventor of the Analytical Engine, the first fully-programmable, all-purpose, digital computer ever envisioned. Though it was never built, Ada wrote an article about it, explaining to the world how such a machine would work. In doing so, a hundred years before the dawn of the digital age, Ada Lovelace became the first computer programmer.
Diane Stanley’s lyrical writing and Jessie Hartland’s vibrant illustrations capture the spirit of Ada Lovelace and bring her fascinating story vividly to life.
I once saw a play at the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Theatre. A play about Sor Juana. It was a good play, but it felt like something was missing like jalapenos left out of enchiladas. The play kept nudging me to look further to find Sor Juana, and so for the next five years, I did so. I read and read more. I listened for her voice, and that is where I heard her life come alive. This isn’t the only possibility for Sor Juana’s life; it is just the one I heard.
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, this brilliant 17th century nun flew through Mexico City on the breeze of poetry and philosophy. She met with princes of the Church, and with the royalty of Spain and Mexico. Then she met a stunning, powerful woman with lavender eyes, la Vicereine Maria Louisa, and her life changed forever. As her fame grew, she dared to challenge the diabolical Archbishop once too often, and he threw her in front of the Inquisition, where she stood, alone.
Sor Juana's work is studied still today, and justifiably so. Scholars study her months on end; mystics…
This astonishingly brilliant 17th century poet and dramatist, this nun, flew through Mexico City on wings of inspiration. Having no dowry, she chose the life of a nun so that she might learn, so that she might write, so that she might meet the most fascinating people of the western world. She accomplished all of that, and more.
One day a woman with violet eyes, eyes the color of passion flowers, entered her life. It was the new Vicereine, Maria Luisa. As the two most powerful women in Mexico City, the bond between them crossed politics and wound them in…
