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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119 Items found Print
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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)
50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet
by Dennis Denenberg, Lorraine Roscoe
Revised from First Avenue Editions
for 4th-6th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$7.00 (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 $4.50 (1 in stock)
American Childhood
by Annie Dillard
from Harper & Row
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge
by Calvin Coolidge
from National Notary Association
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge
by Calvin Coolidge, Edited with an Introduction by Amity Shlaes and Matthew Denhart
from ISI Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$29.99 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Autobiography of Charles G. Finney
by Charles G. Finney
from Bethany House
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (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 $6.50 (1 in stock)
Between the Lines
by Tom and Delphine Frazier
from Regent Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Black Like Me
by John Howard Griffin & Robert Bonazzi
35th anniversary from Signet Classics
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Blue Like Jazz
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (3 in stock)
Book of Margery Kempe
by Margery Kempe
1st edition from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Born in the Year of Courage
by Emily Crofford
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (3 in stock)
Born to Run
by Christopher McDougall
from Vintage Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Boy
by Roald Dahl
UK Edition from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Boy
by Roald Dahl
2016 Edition from Puffin Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Boy on the Wooden Box
by Leon Leyson
Reprint from Atheneum
for 4th-8th grade
Christopher Award
in Holocaust (Location: HISW-20WW2H)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Boy's War
by David Michell
1st edition from OMF
for 5th-8th grade
in WWII: Pacific Theater (Location: HISA-20WW2P)
$4.00 (3 in stock)
Brave Companions
by David McCullough
Reprint from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Breakfast with Bonhoeffer
by Jon Walker
from Leafwood Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in Practical Christian Living (Location: XCL-PRAC)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Bruchko
by Bruce Olson
Updated from Charisma House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Catherine's War
by Julia Billet and Claire Fauvel, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger
from Harperalley
for 7th-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$12.99 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Cleopatra
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Conversations with Myself
by Nelson Mandela, foreword by Barack Obama
from Picador
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (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 (2 in stock)
Devil at My Heels
by Louis Zamperini and David Rensin, foreword by John McCain
from William Morrow & Company
for 8th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of a Napoleanic Foot Soldier
by Jakob Walter
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Dream West
by David Nevin
from Forge
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Eric the Red & Leif the Lucky
by Barbara Schiller
from Avyx, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Escape from Slavery
by Coretta Scott King
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
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 $9.00 (1 in stock)
For God and Country
by John Riddle
from Barbour Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Girls Who Looked Under Rocks
by Jeannine Atkins
from Dawn Publications
Biography Anthologies for 4th-6th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Going Solo
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
for 7th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Going Solo
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
for 7th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Good-Bye To All That
by Robert Graves, introduction by Paul Fussell
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Governor of England
by Marjorie Bowen
from Inheritance Publications
Biography for 9th-12th grade
in Inheritance Fiction (Location: FIC-WH03)
$17.95 $10.00 (3 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)
Heavenly Man
by Brother Yun, Paul Hattaway
from Monarch Books
for 10th-Adult
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$11.89 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Heidi's Alp
by Christina Hardyment
from Atlantic Monthly Press
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Hero Tales Volume I
by Dave & Neta Jackson
from Bethany House
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$16.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Hiding Place
by Corrie Ten Boom
35th Anniversary Edition from Chosen Books
Biography for 6th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99 $9.00 (2 in stock)
Hole in Our Gospel
by Richard Stearns
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for Adult
in Clearance: Christian Books (Location: XCLE)
$3.50 (3 in stock)
Homesick: My Own Story
by Jean Fritz
from PaperStar Books
Autobiography for 4th-8th grade
1983 Newbery Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln
If You Were There
by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Non-fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
In My Father's House
by Corrie Ten Boom
Book Club Edition from Power Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet Jacobs
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.00 $3.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Jack Nastyface
by William Robinson
from US Naval Institute Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Jarhead
by Anthony Swofford
from Scribner
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Jeanne Guyon
by Jeanne Guyon
1st Ed. from Whitaker House
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Jesse Jackson
by Pat McKissack
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
John Calvin: A Children's Story w/CD
by Kerry L. Tittle, illustrated by Larry Waggoner, audiobook narrated by Jim Hodges
from ReformationKidz Publishing
for 3rd-5th grade
in Church History for Kids (Location: XCH-KID)
$6.00 (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)
Junior Officer's Reading Club
by Patrick Hennessey
from Riverhead Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Killing Christians
by Tom Doyle and Greg Webster
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lay Siege to Heaven
by Louis de Wohl
1991 Reprint from Ignatius Press
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Left to Tell
by Immaculée Ilibagiza with Steve Erwin
from Hay House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$13.99 $7.00 (4 in stock)
Listening to Crickets
by Candice F. Ransom
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (3 in stock)
Lives of the Musicians
by Kathleen Krull
from Sandpiper Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Lives of the Musicians
by Kathleen Krull
from Sandpiper Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Louis Braille
by Margaret Davidson
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Man Called Peter
by Catherine Marshall
from Evergreen Farm
for 9th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.00 (1 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 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)
Michelangelo
by Diane Stanley
from HarperCollins
Picture Book Biography for 2nd-4th grade
2001 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Mountain Boyhood
by Joe Mills, introduction and notes by James H. Pickering, illustrated by Enos B. Comstock
from University of Nebraska
for 6th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
My Heart Lies South
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
Young People's Edition from Bethlehem Books
Biography for 8th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Mysterious Journey
by Martha Wickham
from Soundprints
for 2nd-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Mystery On Everest
by Audrey Salkeld
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Napoleon's Russian Campaign
by Count Philippe-Paul de Segur
from Time-Life Books
for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee
by David Crockett
Reprint from Bison Books
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.95 $8.50 (1 in stock)
Never Sniff A Gift Fish
by Patrick F. McManus
from Henry Holt and Company
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99 $7.50 (1 in stock)
New York to Nome
by Rick Steber, Photography by Sheldon Taylor
2007 Revised from Bonanza Publishing
for 8th-Adult
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Night
by Elie Wiesel
Revised from Hill & Wang
Autobiographies & Memoirs for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.00 $4.00 (9 in stock)
Orthodoxy
by C. K. Chesterton
from Moody Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Outrageous Women of the American Frontier
Outrageous Women
by Mary Furbee
1st edition from Jossey-Bass
in Pioneer & Frontier Life (Location: HISA-19PIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi
1st edition from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Peter the Great
by Diane Stanley
from InquisiCorp Corporation
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Picture Book of Davy Crockett
by David Adler
from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for 2nd-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.99 $4.50 (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)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
by Annie Dillard
from HarperCollins
Meditation/Philosophy for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Pontius Pilate
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Prairie Town Boy
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by Joe Krush
from Harcourt
Autobiography for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Revolutionary John Adams
by Cheryl Harness
Reprint from National Geographic
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.95 $5.50 (1 in stock)
Robert E. Lee
Heroes in Time
by John J. Dwyer
from Broadman & Holman
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Rosanna of the Amish
by Joseph Warren Yoder
Revised from Herald Press
for 4th-7th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Sergeant York and the Great War
by Alvin C. York
from My Father's World
Autobiography for 7th-Adult
in World War I (1914-1919) (Location: HISA-20WW1)
$22.00 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Standing Tall: The Stories of Ten Hispanic-Americans
by Argentina Palacios
from Scholastic Reference
for 4th-7th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Story of the Trapp Family Singers
by Maria Augusta Trapp
from HarperCollins
Biography for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$18.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Survival in Auschwitz
by Primo Levi
1st edition from Touchstone
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99 $9.00 (2 in stock)
Tarantula in My Purse
by Jean Craighead George
from HarperCollins
for 4th-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Ten True Tales: Teens at War
by Allan Zullo
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Terror by Night and Day
by Mary Abelian Egitkhanoff with Ken Wilson
from Pacific Press
for Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$34.00 (1 in stock)
Through Painted Deserts
by Donald Miller
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Time to Dance, No Time to Weep
by Rumer Godden
from Quill
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
To Destroy You Is No Loss
by Joan D. Criddle
Updated from East/West Bridge
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
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