Biographies

"Did they tell you stories about the saints of old,
stories about their faith?
Stories like that make a boy grow bold,
stories like that make a man walk straight..."

Rich Mullins, Boy Like Me, Man Like You

Stories about people have a way of affecting us in ways other stories can't. The Bible is primarily stories about people, and it is through these multiple biographies that we understand human nature, the history of redemption, and even to a great extent God Himself. The purpose behind any other biography is largely the same—to help us understand what it means to be human from the examples (sometimes even the bad examples) of those who have preceded us.

The biographies we have chosen for this section represent those of great leaders in history, social and military heroes, and Christian saints past and present who struggled to conform their lives to Christ's perfect example. We have avoided for the most part biographies of history's villains and chronic immoralists, not because they aren't interesting but because they don't represent lives worthy of imitation. We've also decided not to focus on athletes, actors, and celebrities, unless they've made important contributions outside their fields. That's not to say everyone found here was above reproach or even a Christian, but they all demonstrated real human virtues for which they are remembered.

Biographies are also useful for better understanding of a given historical period. While history books can provide good overviews of a period or events, the intimate detail of a good biography can better illustrate a time period and what it was like to be alive then. This also serves to demonstrate the universality of human nature, that people will behave basically the same during any given period and in any given place. Sometimes we get the impression that people of the past, especially people like missionaries and ministers, were somehow more pious than we are—the personal view offered by a good biography dispels this myth and offers encouragement that not even the best men and women are any closer to perfection than we are.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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58 Items found Print
Active Filters: Famous Women, 6th grade (Ages 11-12), Hardcover
Amelia Earhart: Kansas Girl
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Jane Moore Howe
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Angel of Mercy
by Rachel Baker
from Julian Messner
for 3rd-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank, translated by B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt
Book Club Edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
At Home with Beatrix Potter
by Susan Denyer
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 6th-9th grade
in Peter Rabbit & Friends (Location: FIC-PETER)
Bad Girls Throughout History
by Ann Shen
from Chronicle Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Betsy Ross and the Flag
Landmark #26
by Jane Mayer
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre
by Robert Van Nutt, Stewart Ross
1st edition from Viking Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Clara Barton
Landmark #58
by Helen Dore Boylston
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Clara Barton: Girl Nurse
by Augusta Stevenson
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Cleopatra of Egypt
World Landmark #50
by Leonora Hornblow
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Combat Nurses of World War II
Landmark #116
by Wyatt Blassingame
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Dolly Madison
Landmark #47
by Jane Mayer
from Random House
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in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Dorothea Dix
A Discovery Book
by Mary Malone
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
by Lucile Davis
from Capstone Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Elizabeth Prentiss
by Sharon James
from Banner of Truth Trust
for 4th-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$26.00
Frances Hodgson Burnett: Beyond the Secret Garden
by Angelica Shirley Carpenter, Jean Shirley
1st edition from Lerner Publishing Group
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Gertrude Chandler Warner and the Boxcar Children
by Mary Ellen Ellsworth
1st edition from Albert Whitman & Company
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in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Girl Who Drew Butterflies
by Joyce Sidman
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 3rd-8th grade
2019 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Helen Keller
by George Sullivan
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
2008 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Heroines
by Rebecca Hazell
1st edition from Abbeville Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
Heroines of the Early West
Landmark #91
by Nancy Wilson Ross
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Homesick: My Own Story
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
It Can't Be Done, Nellie Bly!
by Nancy Butcher
1st edition from Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
Jenny Lind's America
by Frances Cavanah
from Chilton Book Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Joan of Arc
by Jay Williams
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Horizon Caravel Books (Location: VIN-HOR)
Joan of Arc of Domremy
by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Michael Foreman
from Harcourt
for 2nd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Lady Jane Grey
Christian Biographies for Young Readers
by Simonetta Carr
from Reformation Heritage Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Church History for Kids (Location: XCH-KID)
Linda Richards
A Discovery Book
by David R. Collins
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Lives of Extraordinary Women
by Kathleen Krull
from Harcourt Children's Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Louisa May Alcott: Her Life
by Catherine Owens Peare, illustrated by Margaret Ayer
from Henry Holt and Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Lucretia Mott
A Discovery Book
by Doris Faber
from Garrard Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Madam President
by Catherine Thimmesh, Illustrated by Douglas B. Jones
from Houghton Mifflin
for 2nd-6th grade
in American Presidency (Location: HISV-PRE)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Marie Antoinette of France
by John S. C. Abbott
from D. M. Mac Lellon Book Company
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
People at the Center of Women's Suffrage
by Deborah Kops
1st edition from Blackbirch Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Gilded Age (1865-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Pioneer Girl
by Clara Ingram Judson, illustrated by Genevieve Foster
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Queen Victoria
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Rachel Carson
by Melissa Stewart
from Ferguson Publishing Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Sacajawea of the Shoshones
by Della Gould Emmonds
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Seven Queens of England
by Geoffrey Trease
from Vanguard Press
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Story of Amelia Earhart
Signature Books #33
by Adele de Leeuw, illustrated by Harry Beckhoff
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Annie Oakley
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #37
by Edmund Collier, illustrated by Leon Gregori
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Clara Barton
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #25
by Olive Price, illustrated by Ruth Ives
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Edith Cavell
Signature Books #47
by Iris Vinton, illustrated by Gerald McCann
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Eleanor Roosevelt
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #48
by Lorena A. Hickok, illustrated by William Barss
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Florence Nightingale
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #10
by Margaret Leighton, illustrated by Corinne B. Dillon
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Good Queen Bess
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #18
by Alida Sims Malkus, illustrated by Douglas Gorsline
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
for 4th-6th Grade
in Cornerstones of Freedom (Location: VIN-CORN)
Story of Helen Keller
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #45
by Lorena A. Hickok, illustrated by Jo Polseno
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Jacqueline Kennedy
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #51
by Alida Malkus, illustrated by Michael Lowenbein
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Joan of Arc
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #19
by Jeannette C. Nolan, illustrated by Pranas Lapé
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Louisa May Alcott
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #35
by Joan Howard, illustrated by Flora Smith
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Madame Curie
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #46
by Alice Thorne, illustrated by Federico Castellon
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Martha Washington
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #32
by Jeannette C. Nolan, illustrated by Corinne B. Dillon
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Story of Pocahontas
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #21
by Shirley Graham, illustrated by Mario Cooper
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Grosset & Dunlap Signature Books (Location: VIN-SIG)
Susan Anthony
by Helen Albee Monsell
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
To Heaven on Horseback
by Paul Cranston
from Julian Messner
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Warrior Queens
by Vicky Alvear Shecter, illustrated by Bill Mayer
from Boyds Mill Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Women of Courage
Landmark #107
by Dorothy Nathan
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)