Biography by Series

One of the great benefits of a biography series is that readers can become accustomed to a reading level that works for them, and learn about a variety of people without worrying about difficulty or writing style. Some of our favorite biography series are the work of many authors, but even then there's usually a series editor to ensure consistency.

This sameness can also be a pitfall: readers (especially kids) can just get in a rut of breezing through the volumes without growing much or learning a whole lot. If you have kids who read a lot, however, this is potentially the case no matter what they're reading, and at least with a series you can have a pretty good idea where the individual authors will be coming from, whether you're familiar with them or not.

Most of the series we offer are written from a Christian perspective. While many might assume this makes them okay across the board, we do offer a caution: not all of these series offer the same level of discernment. For instance, while the Sowers Biographies are generally very good (and very popular), the editors chose to include a biography about Johnny Appleseed, a known heretic of the Swedenborgian variety.

For the most part, however, we can get behind the series we offer. Our favorite right now is probably the Christian Encounters series, which offers short but incisive biographies of great Christians who may not get as much attention as they should (like St. Patrick, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and William F. Buckley).

We do encourage you to mix things up now and then. It's easy to get in a rut, and it's easy to get familiar with an author or group of authors, and then to simply accept everything they say as Gospel truth. Reading across a spectrum of biographies will fill in gaps that may exist in your understanding, and offer different interpretations of people and events.

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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44 Items found Print
Active Filters: 8th grade (Ages 13-14), New Books & Materials
Alan Shepard
Christian Heroes: Then and Now
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
for 5th-8th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Albert Schweitzer
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Benjamin Rush
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Charles Mulli
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Yearling
Greek Mythology for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$19.99 $14.00 (2 in stock)
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Doubleday Book For Young Readers
Greek Mythology for 4th-9th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$29.99
D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$29.95
D. L. Moody
by Kevin Belmonte
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 7th-Adult
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$8.40
D. L. Moody
Christian Heroes: Then & Now
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Daniel Webster
Sowers Series
by Robert Allen
from Mott Media
Biography for 6th-8th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
$8.99
David Bussau
Christian Heroes: Then and Now
by Janet & Geoff Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Elizabeth I
by Jacob Abbott, updated for the present day reader by Knox Merkle
from Canon Press
for 6th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00
George Frideric Handel
Sowers Series
by Charles Ludwig
from Mott Media
for 6th-8th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
$8.99
Hannibal
Makers of History Series
by Jacob Abbott
from Yesterday's Classics
for 7th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.95
Hannibal
by Jacob Abbott
from Canon Press
for 7th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$12.00
Isaac Newton
by Mitch Stokes
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 7th-Adult
in Christian Encounters (Location: BIO-CE)
$12.00
Jacob DeShazer
Christian Heroes: Then and Now
by Geoff Benge, Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Jane Austen
Christian Encounters
by Peter Leithart
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
Biography for 8th-Adult
in Christian Encounters (Location: BIO-CE)
$12.00
John Flynn
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
John Newton
by Janet & Geoff Benge
from YWAM Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Mildred Cable
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Norman Grubb
by Janet & Geoff Benge
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Queen Elizabeth
by Jacob Abbott
2023 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 7th-10th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$9.99
Richard Wurmbrand
by Janet and Geoff Benge
from YWAM Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Christian Heroes: Then and Now (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
Romulus
Makers of History series
by Jacob Abbott
from Yesterday's Classics
History for 8th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.95
Saint Patrick
by Jonathan Rogers
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 7th-Adult
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$8.40
Samuel F. B. Morse
Sowers Series
by John Hudson Tiner
from Mott Media
Biography for 6th-8th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
$8.99 $5.00 (2 in stock)
Samuel Francis Smith
Sowers Series
by Marguerite Fitch
from Mott Media
Biography for 6th-8th grade
in Sowers Biographies (Location: BIO-SOW)
$7.99 $5.00 (2 in stock)
Story of Abraham Lincoln
by Mary A. Hamilton
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Bishop Patteson
by Elma K. Paget
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Captain Cook
by John Lang
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Columbus
by Gladys M. Imlach
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Cromwell
by H. E. Marshall
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$7.99
Story of David Livingstone
by Vautier Golding
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of General Gordon
by Jeanie Lang
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of H.M. Stanley
by Vautier Golding
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Joan of Arc
History Shapers
by Andrew Lang
2024 Reprint from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Lord Clive
by John Lang
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Lord Roberts
by Edmund F. Sellar
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Nelson
by Edmund F. Sellar
from Living Book Press
for 5th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
Story of Sir Francis Drake
by Oliver Elton
from Living Book Press
for 4th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
The Story of Chalmers of New Guinea
by Janet Harvey Kelman
from Living Book Press
for 6th-8th grade
in History Shapers (Location: BIO-SHAPE)
$6.99
William Bradford
by Geoff & Janet Benge
from YWAM Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Heroes of History (Location: BIO-BENGE)
$11.99
William Jennings Bryan
Sowers Series
by Robert Allen
from Mott Media
Biography for 7th-9th grade
in Clearance: Biographies (Location: ZCLE-BIO)
$6.29