Biography by Genre

There are a lot more genres of biographies than we have listed here, but they aren't included because we simply don't have titles to put in them. Again, these categories are in place to help you narrow the focus of your search, and to find the book you need with as little frustration as possible.

Autobiographies & Memoirs are books written by the person about whom they're about. Autobiographies are explicitly biographical, written in order to impart information about the author's life and context; memoirs, on the other hand, are often more creative, and are usually about something bigger than the details of the subject's life.

While we don't encourage getting all your history from fiction (or even most of it), a good Biographical Novel will combine the best elements of fiction and biography into a personal portrait that imparts both the essence of the subject's life, and the cultural context in which he or she lived. Plus, they're just more fun to read.

You won't find any of these for people who lived more than a couple hundred years ago, but Photobiographies can be especially useful for helping readers understand the person and era they're learning about. Often times these don't have as much outright information as a more traditional biography, but enough quality photographs are a good compensation.

For younger kids (though there are some great ones for older readers, too), Picture Book Biographies help us visualize who it is we're reading about....or simply keep us interested. The best ones do both, and the very best ones do both while still highlighting the artist's vision and interpretation of people and events.

Different genres will fill different needs; if you're working on a big project or unit study, it's a good idea to select titles from all of them. The goal of listing them here is to help narrow your search; as our collection expands, we'll likely be adding genres to the list, and shaping your search results in increasingly precise and illuminating ways.

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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109 Items found Print
Active Filters: 1st grade (Ages 6-7), In-Stock Books & Materials
A is for Abigail
by Lynne Cheney
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$19.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books
by Kay Winters, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter
from Simon and Schuster
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
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
Alvin Ailey
by Andrea Davis Pinkney; illustrated by Brian Pinkney
from Hyperion Books for Children
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin
by James Cross Giblin
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
2001 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99
Art from Her Heart
by Kathy Whitehead, illustrated by Shane W. Evans
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Auntie Anne
by Anne Beiler, illustrated by Freiman Stoltzfus
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Before There Was Mozart
by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James Ransome
2nd ed. from Beautiful Feet Books
for 1st-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
Before They Were Authors
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Boy Who Drew Birds
by Jacqueline Davies
New title from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider
by Barbara Herkert, illustrated by Lauren Castillo
from Henry Holt and Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
Brave Girl
by Michelle Markel, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Camille Pissarro
by Alix Wood
from Windmill Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Charles Darwin's Around-the-World Adventure
by Jennifer Thermes
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Charlotte Mason
by Lanaya Gore, illustrated by Twila Farmer
from Blue Sky Daisies
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Charlotte Mason Education (Location: HSR-METCM)
$18.95
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
Christians With Courage
by Ruth Johnson Jay
from Accelerated Christian Education
for 1st-4th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Christopher Columbus
by Elaine Murray Stone
500 Anv from Tyndale House
Biography for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Church History ABCs
by Ned Bustard, Stephen J. Nichols
from Crossway Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Church History for Kids (Location: XCH-KID)
$13.59
Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois
by Amy Novesky, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
from Abrams Books for Young Readers
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Colors of the Wind
by J L Powers, illustrated by George Mendoza & Hayley Morgan-Sanders
from Purple House Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$14.99
D'Aulaire American Biographies Package
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for Kindergarten-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$106.82
Daniel Boone
by Carol Greene
from Children's Press
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Drum Dream Girl
by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Rafael Lopez
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Eleanor
by Barbara Cooney
1st Scholastic from Puffin Books
for 1st-3rd
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Elizabeth Leads the Way
by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon
from Square Fish Publishing
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Enemies of Slavery
from Holiday House
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy)
by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Eye for Color
by Natasha Wing, Art by Julia Breckenreid
from Henry Holt and Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fifty Famous People
by James Baldwin
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-4th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$11.95
Finding Narnia
by Caroline McAlister, Illustrated by Jessica Lanan
from Roaring Brook Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.99
George Washington Carver
by Carol Greene
from Children's Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (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)
Henry Ford
by Dina El Nabli
from HarperCollins
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Hole Story of the Doughnut
by Pat Miller
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$18.99
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
I Can Read About Johnny Appleseed
by J. I. Anderson, illustrated by Drew Brook Cormack
from Troll Associates
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown
by Mac Barnett
First Edition from Balzer & Bray
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$17.99
In 1492
by Jean Marzollo
from Scholastic Inc.
Picture Book Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
In 1492
by Jean Marzollo
from Scholastic Inc.
Picture Book Biography for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
In Search of the Little Prince
by Bimba Landmann
from Eerdmans
for 1st-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.00
Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion
by Andrea Gianopoulos
1st edition from Capstone Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.95 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Joe Louis
by David A. Adler, illustrated by Terry Widener
from Gulliver Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
John Brown: One Man Against Slavery
by Gwen Everett, Illustrated by Jacob Lawrence
from Rizzoli International Publications
for 1st-3rd grade
in Slavery & the Underground Railroad (Location: HISA-19SL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
John Ronald’s Dragons
by Caroline McAlister, Illustrated by Eliza Wheeler
from Roaring Brook Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$21.99
John, Paul, George & Ben
by Lane Smith
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Johnny Appleseed
by Reeve Lindbergh
from Little, Brown & Company
Poetry for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
Johnny Appleseed
by Eva Moore
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Johnny Appleseed
by Gini Holland
from Steck-Vaughn Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.95 $5.00 (3 in stock)
King's Day
by Aliki
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Last Princess
by Fay Stanley; illustrated by Diane Stanley
from HarperCollins
Picture Book Biographies for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Work of Auguste Rodin
by Richard Tames
from Heinemann Library
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Work of Frederic Remington
by Ernestine Giesecke
from Heinemann Library
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Life and Work of Henry Moore
by Sean Connolly
from Heinemann Library
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Little Naturalists: John James Audobon Painted Birds
by Kate Coombs
from Gibbs M. Smith
for Nursery-1st grade
in Board Books (Location: PIC-BOARD)
$9.99
Little Naturalists: The Adventures of John Muir
by Kate Coombs
from Gibbs M. Smith
for Nursery-1st grade
in Board Books (Location: PIC-BOARD)
$11.99
Mack Made Movies
by Don Brown
from Roaring Brook Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Make Way
by Angela Burke Kunkel, illustrated by Claire Keane
from Random House
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.99
Man Named Washington
by Gertrude Norman, illustrated by James Caraway
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
Man Who Walked Between The Towers
by Mordicai Gerstein
from Roaring Brook Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Man Who Walked Between The Towers
by Mordicai Gerstein
from Roaring Brook Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Martin Luther King, Jr
by Carol Hilgartner Schlank, Barbara Metzger, illustrated by John Kastner
from Gryphon House
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Moses
by Carole Boston Weatherford
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
2007 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
My Brothers' Flying Machine
by Jane Yolen
from Little, Brown & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
$4.00 (1 in stock)
My Name is Georgia
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
My Name is York
by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth
from Rising Moon Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
One Giant Leap
by Don Brown
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.95
Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland
by Tomie dePaola
from Holiday House
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from InquisiCorp Corporation
Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln
Picture Book Biography
by David A. Adler
from Trumpet Club
Picture Book Biography for Preschool-1st grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Dwight David Eisenhower
by David A. Adler
1st edition from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Helen Keller
by David A. Adler, John C. Wallner, Alexandra Wallner
from Trumpet Club
Biography for Preschool-1st grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Sacagawea
by David A. Adler, illustrated by Dan Brown
from Holiday House
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99
Picture Book of Thomas Alva Edison
by David A. Adler, illustrated by John & Alexandra Wallner
from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Picture Book of Thomas Alva Edison
by David A. Adler
from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Pilot and the Little Prince
by Peter Sís
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
Ponce de Leon
by Trish Kline
from Rourke Publishing
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Queen of the Falls
by Chris Van Allsburg
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Radiant Child
by Javaka Steptoe
First Edition from Little, Brown & Company
2017 Caldecott Medal
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Rare Treasure
by Don Brown
from Houghton Mifflin
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
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
Rosa
by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Bryan Collier
from Square Fish Publishing
for 1st-4th grade
2006 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.99
Secret World of Walter Anderson
by Hester Bass, illustrated by E. B. Lewis
from Candlewick Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Skyrockets for the President
by Florence Laughlin, illustrated by George Roth
Stated First Printing from Rand McNally
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Snowflake Bentley
by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
from Houghton Mifflin
Biographies of Scientists and Inventors for 1st-3rd grade
1999 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Snowflake Bentley
by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
from Houghton Mifflin
Biographies of Scientists and Inventors for 1st-3rd grade
1999 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$8.99
So Tall Within
by Gary D. Schmidt, Illustrated by Daniel Minter
from Roaring Brook Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
Sparky & Spike
by Barbara Lowell, illustrated by Dan Andreasen
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Picture Biography for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.95
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
by Edward Eggleston
from Yesterday's Classics
Narrative History for 1st-4th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$11.95
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
by Edward Eggleston
from Lost Classics Book Co.
Narrative History for 1st-4th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
by Edward Eggleston
2015 Reprint from Martino Fine Books
Narrative History for 1st-4th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
by Edward Eggleston
2nd edition from Memoria Press
Narrative History for 1st-4th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$14.65
Strongest Man in the World: Louis Cyr
by Nicolas Debon
from Groundwood Books
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Thomas Jefferson
by James Cross Giblin
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (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
Through the Wardrobe
by Lina Maslo
from Balzer & Bray
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Trombone Shorty
by Troy Andrews, illustrated by Bryan Collier
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
2016 Caldecott Honor Book, 2016 Coretta Scott King Award Winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.95
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