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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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82 Items found Print
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Active Filters: African-Americans, Trade Paperback
100 African-Americans Who Shaped American History
by Chrisanne Beckner
from Bluewood Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Arctic Explorer
by Jeri Ferris
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 4th-6th grades
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Black Boy (American Hunger)
by Richard Wright, Foreword by John Edgar Wideman, Afterworld by Malcolm Wright
Modern Classics 75th Anniversary from Harper Perennial
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Bud, Not Buddy
by Christopher Paul Curtis
from Yearling
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
2000 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99 $5.00 (3 in stock)
Chasing Space for Young Readers
by Leland Melvin
from Amistad Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Space Race & Exploration (Location: HISA-20SPR)
$7.99
Coming On Home Soon
by Jacqueline Woodson
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Courage to Run
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
from Moody Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Daughters of the Faith (Location: SER-DAU)
$8.99 $5.00 (3 in stock)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream Speech in Translation
by Leslie J. Holland
from Capstone Press
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$7.95
Escape from Slavery
by Frederick Douglass, edited and illustrated by Michael McCurdy, foreword by Coretta Scott King
from Beautiful Feet Books
for 6th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.99
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Bethany House
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
Forty-Acre Swindle
TrailBlazer Books
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Castle Rock Creative
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
$8.99
Frederick Douglass: The Right to Dignity
from Emerald Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Free Indeed
by Mark Sidwell
Expanded from Bob Jones University Press
Biography for 6th-12th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Freedom Walkers
by Russell Freedman
from Holiday House
for 4th-6th grade
2007 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$14.99
Freedom's Pen
Daughters of the Faith
by Wendy G. Lawton
New Edition from Moody Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Daughters of the Faith (Location: SER-DAU)
$7.99
George Washington Carver
Sowers Series
by David Collins
from Mott Media
Biography for 5th-7th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
George Washington Carver
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
George Washington Carver
by Matt Doeden
from Barnes & Noble
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
George Washington Carver: The Peanut Wizard
by Laura Driscoll
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Go Free or Die
by Jeri Ferris
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
Biography for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.99
Gold Cadillac
by Mildred D. Taylor
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Gold Cadillac
by Mildred D. Taylor
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King
by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by J. Brian Pinkney
from Scholastic Inc.
Picture Book Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (3 in stock)
Harriet Tubman
Heroes of History
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from Emerald Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Harriet Tubman
by Frances T. Humphreville
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Heart and Soul
by Kadir Nelson
Reprint from HarperCollins
for 2nd-4th grade
2012 Coretta Scott King Award
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
History of US Book 7
History of US Book 7
by Joy Hakim
3rd Revised Edition from Oxford University
American History Reference for 5th-9th grade
in Joy Hakim's A History of US (Location: HISA-HAKIM)
$15.95 $11.00 (1 in stock)
If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King
by Ellen Levine
Updated from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-Fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
2nd edition from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
from Quality Paperback Book Club
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Jesse Jackson
by Pat McKissack
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Kid's Guide to African American History
by Nancy I. Sanders
from Chicago Review Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
King of the Mound
by Wes Tooke
Reprint from Simon and Schuster
for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99 $4.50 (2 in stock)
Langston Hughes
by Montrew Dunham
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
Let the Circle Be Unbroken
by Mildred R. Taylor
Reissue from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.99
Life of Josiah Henson
by Josiah Henson
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00
Mahalia Jackson
Sowers Series
by Evelyn Witter
from Mott Media
for 4th-6th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
$8.99 $5.00 (3 in stock)
March (Book One)
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
from Top Shelf Productions
for 5th-9th grade
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
March (Book Three)
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin; illustrated by Nate Powell
from Top Shelf Productions
for 5th-9th grade
2017 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner, Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
March (Book Two)
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
from Top Shelf Productions
for 5th-9th grade
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
March - Boxed Set
by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
from Top Shelf Productions
for 5th-9th grade
Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Honor Book
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
Martin's Big Words
by Doreen Rappaport
Reprint from Hyperion Press
for 1st-3rd grade
2002 Caldecott Honor Book, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Award
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
Mary McLeod Bethune
by Emma Gelders Sterne
from Purple House Press
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.99
Meet Martin Luther King, Jr.
Second Series Landmark / Step Up reprints
by James T. de Kay
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.99
Meet Maya Angelou
by Valerie Spain
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Copper Lodge Library
by Frederick Douglass, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.00
New Kid
by Jerry Craft
from HarperCollins
for 4th-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$12.99
Now Is Your Time!
by Walter Dean Myers
from HarperCollins
for 7th-10th grade
1992 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
Patchwork Quilt
by Valerie Flournoy
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Frederick Douglass
by David A. Adler
Reprint from Holiday House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Picture Book of Sojourner Truth
by David A. Adler
Ill from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for 1st-3rd grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
Picture Book of Thurgood Marshall
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
for 2nd-5th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
Portraits of African-American Heroes
by Tonya Bolden
from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Prayin' to Be Set Free:
from John F. Blair Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Reconstruction: Binding the Wounds
Perspectives on History Series
by Cheryl Edwards, ed.
from History Compass
Historical Non-fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Gilded Age & Progressive Era (1877-1918) (Location: HISA-19GI)
$7.95
Road to Memphis
by Mildred Taylor
from Bantam Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Road to Memphis
by Mildred Taylor
from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1991 Coretta Scott King Award
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Rosa Parks: Young Rebel
Childhood of Famous Americans
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
in Childhood of Famous Americans (Location: BIO-COFA)
$7.99
Soul School
by Amber O'Neal Johnston
from Tarcherperigee
for Adult
in Recommended Book Lists (Location: LIR-REC)
$20.00
Souls of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.00
Souls of Black Folk
by W. E. B. Du Bois
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00
Sounder
by William H. Armstrong
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Stealing Home
by Barry Denenberg
50th Anniversary from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.99
Storm Warriors
by Elisa Carbone
from Yearling
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Story of George Washington Carver
by Eva Moore
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Story of George Washington Carver
by Eva Moore
2024 edition from Notgrass Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
They Had a Dream
by Jules Archer
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 8th-12th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$3.50 (3 in stock)
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
from Harper Perennial
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Toothpaste Millionaire
by Jean Merrill
from Sandpiper Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom
by Lynda Blackmon Lowery, Elspeth Leacock, Susan Washburn Buckley
from Speak
for 4th-8th grade
in Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Location: HISA-20CIV)
$10.99
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.95
Up From Slavery
Copper Lodge Library
by Booker T. Washington, annotated by Stephanie B. Meter
from Classical Conversations
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.00
Walking the Road to Freedom
by Jeri Ferris
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
Biography for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
What Are You Figuring Now?
by Jeri Ferris, Illustrated by Amy Johnson
from First Avenue Editions
for 2nd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
What Was the Underground Railroad?
What Was?...Series
by Yona Zeldis McDonough, illustrated by Lauren Mortimer
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-5th grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
When Marian Sang
by Brian Selznick, Pam Munoz Ryan
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Who Was George Washington Carver?
Who Was?...Series
by Jim Gigliotti, illustrated by Stephen Marchesi
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
Who Was Harriet Tubman?
Who Was?...Series
by Yona Zeldis McDonough, illustrated by Nancy Harrison
Revised from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-5th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
Who Was Jesse Owens?
Who Was?...Series
by James Buckley, Jr., illustrated by Gregory Copeland
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-5th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Who Was Louis Armstrong?
Who Was?...Series
by Yona Zeldis McDonough
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Who Was? biographies (Location: BIO-WHO)
$5.99
With Open Hands
by Jeri Chase Ferris
from Beautiful Feet Books
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
Witness
by Karen Hesse
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
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