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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59 Items found Print
Active Filters: 5th grade (Ages 10-11), Hardcover, In-Stock 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
America's Ethan Allen
by Stewart H. Holbrook; illustrated by Lynd Ward
9th printing from Houghton Mifflin
Picture Book Biography for 4th-6th grade
1950 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Answering the Cry for Freedom
by Gretchen Woelfle, Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
from Calkins Creek
for 4th-7th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$19.99
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
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)
Between the Lines
by Sandra Neil Wallace; illustrated by Bryan Collier
from Simon and Schuster
for 2nd-6th grade
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Citizen Tom Paine
by Howard Fast
from Duell, Sloan and Pearce
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Columbus: The Triumphant Failure
by Oliver Postgate & Naomi Linnell
from Franklin Watts
for 2nd-5th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
1999 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Five Roads to the White House
by Ann E. Weiss
from Julian Messner
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Galileo
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Macmillan
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon
by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
from Dutton Juvenile
for 4th-9th grade
1928 Newbery Medal winner
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
Genius
by Marfe Ferguson Delano
from National Geographic
for 5th-9th grade
2006 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Good Queen Bess
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from HarperCollins
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$18.99
Great Little Madison
by Jean Fritz
1st edition from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
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
Heroes of the Army in America
by Charles Morris
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
Homesick: My Own Story
by Jean Fritz
from Penguin Putnam
for 4th-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
How I Learned Geography
by Uri Shulevitz
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 2nd-5th grade
Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$21.99
Inventing the Future
by David Edward Sloane, Marfe Ferguson Delano
from National Geographic
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
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
Joan of Arc
by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Robert Rayevsky
1st edition from Holiday House
Picture Book Biography for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
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
Kennedy Assassinated! The World Mourns
by Wilborn Hampton
from Candlewick Press
for 5th-9th grade
1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Legends of the Wild West
by James A. Crutchfield, Bill O'Neal, Dale L. Walker
from Publications International
for 3rd-8th grade
in Western Expansion (1800-1898) (Location: HISA-19WES)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Lights! Camera! Alice!
from Chronicle Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Lincoln: A Photobiography
by Russell Freedman
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1988 Newbery Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
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)
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)
More Minute Biographies
by Samuel Nisenson and Alfred Parker
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
My Fellow Americans
by Alice Provensen
1st edition from Harcourt Children's Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$5.00 (3 in stock)
Patrol
by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Ann Grifalconi
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
People at the Center of Prohibition
by Tamra B. Orr
1st edition from Blackbirch Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Roaring Twenties (1919-1929) (Location: HISA-20s)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
People at the Center of the Vietnam War
by Tamra B. Orr
1st edition from Blackbirch Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$6.00 (1 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)
Pioneering on the Plains
Frontiers of America
by Edith McCall, illustrated by Carol Rogers
from Children's Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Poland's Noble Son
by Daughters of St. Paul & Maxine Mayer, illustrated by Maxine Mayer
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Poor Richard in France
by F. N. Monjo, illustrated by Brinton Turkle
from Henry Holt and Company
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Power Tales Biographies - Set of 5
by Della Mae Rasmussen, Phyllis Colonna, Virginia Swenson, Lawrence Tamblyn, illustrated by Stephen P. Krause
from Power Tales
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Prince Henry the Navigator
by Leonard Everett Fisher
1st edition from Atheneum
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Profiles in Courage
by John F. Kennedy
from HarperCollins
Biography Anthology for 4th-8th grade
1957 Biography Pulitzer Prize
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Profiles in Courage (abridged)
by John F. Kennedy, illustrated by Emil Weiss
from HarperCollins
Biography Anthology for 4th-8th grade
1957 Biography Pulitzer Prize
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Profiles of Valor
2017 Printing from Learning Parent
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Real Book About Explorers
by Irvin Block, illustrated by Jules Gotlieb
from Garden City Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Real Books series (Location: VIN-RBA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Royal Faces
by Hugh Clayton
from Thames and Hudson
for 4th-9th grade
in Great Britain / England (Location: HISMC-BRIT)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Sieur de La Salle
by John Paul Zronik
from Crabtree Publishing
for 3rd-8th grade
in Age of Exploration (1450-1700) (Location: HISA-16EXP)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Stories of the Saints
by Carey Wallace, Illustrated by Nick Thornborrow
from Workman Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Church History for Kids (Location: XCH-KID)
$26.95
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)
Thomas Harriot
by Ralph Staiger
1st edition from Clarion Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
True Stories of Great Men & Women For Young Americans
from W. E. Scull
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Two Years Before the Mast (abridged)
by Richard Henry Dana Jr.
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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)
We Were There, Too!
by Phillip Hoose
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 4th-6th grade
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Where Lincoln Walked
by Raymond Bial
from Walker and Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Women in Science
by Rachel Ignotofsky
from Ten Speed Press
for 4th-12th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Yankee Doodle Boy
by Joseph Martin
from Holiday House
Historical Non-Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Yoshiko Uchida
by Yoshiko Uchida
from Julian Messner
for 3rd-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00 (1 in stock)