Picture Book Biographies

There are people we want our kids to read about from a young age. Great Christian saints, thinkers and leaders who demonstrated a commitment to excellence, explorers who explored, inventors who invented—any good role model for impressionable young people is who we want them reading about, and picture book biographies are a great way to introduce them.

Sure, high school students will get more out of a text-based treatment of the life of Abraham Lincoln, but 2nd graders won't. They want pictures to draw them in, to help them see the same world Abe saw, to give them a sense of splitting rails or debating Stephen Douglas right beside him. If it's Lewis and Clark they're learning about, if they can see the pine forests and the bears and the Indians, they're far less likely to forget the story of the Voyage of Discovery than if they're just reading it.

We aren't talking about books that take liberties with historical fact, or that emphasize pictures at the expense of reality. Plenty of kids' book authors seem to think that truth is a moot consideration when writing for the chronologically impaired, but we understand just the opposite to be the case: we need to be particularly careful about what our children read when they haven't even reached an age to discern between fact and conjecture.

Nor do we see pictures as somehow better than words. The Bible wasn't written in visible images, and when you're writing about real people who really lived and did real things, you can't rely solely on illustrations to communicate the facts of their existence and achievements. We're only saying that sometimes its better to show what you're trying to convey, rather than relying wholly on language.

It's not essential that youngsters know all the ins and outs of history. At the same time, when they do need to study figures and events of the past, if they already have some idea of what was going on they'll have much less difficulty putting the pieces together. Introducing them to important and fascinating people through text and pictures is a much better way to get kids thinking about history, and one likely to help them retain the information rather than forgetting it as soon as they finish the last page.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes 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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16 Items found Print
Active Filters: 4th grade (Ages 9-10), Hardcover, New Books & Materials
Abraham Lincoln (hardcover)
by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire; edited by Rea Berg
75th Anniversary from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 1st-6th grade
1940 Caldecott Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$21.95
Bach's Goldberg Variations
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$16.95
Choosing Brave
by Angela Joy, illustrated by Janelle Washington
from Roaring Brook Press
for 1st-4th grade
2023 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.99
Good Queen Bess
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from HarperCollins
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
Haydn's Farewell Symphony
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$16.95
How Sweet the Sound
by Carole Boston Weatherford, Illustrated by Frank Morrison
from Atheneum
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Irenaeus of Lyons
Heroes of the Faith
by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson
from Banner of Truth Trust
for 3rd-6th grade
in Church History for Kids (Location: XCH-KID)
$14.00
John Calvin
Christian Biographies for Young Readers
by Simonetta Carr
1st edition from Reformation Heritage Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Church History for Kids (Location: XCH-KID)
$18.00
Karl, Get Out of the Garden!
by Anita Sanchez
from Charlesbridge
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Librarian Who Measured the Earth
by Kathryn Lasky
from Little, Brown & Company
Biography for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Poem for Peter
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
from Penguin Putnam
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$18.99
Right Word
by Jen Bryant
from Eerdmans
for 1st-4th grade
2015 Caldecott Honor Book, 2015 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
River of Words
by Jen Bryant
First Edition from Eerdmans
for 1st-4th grade
2009 Caldecott Honor Book, Sibert Medal
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.00
Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled
by Milton Meltzer
1st edition from Orchard Books
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-7th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$16.00 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Through My Eyes
by Ruby Bridges, Compiled and Edited by Margo Lundell
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
2000 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99