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Picture Book Biographies

There are people we want our kids to read about from a young age. Great Christian saints, thinkers and leaders who demonstrated a commitment to excellence, explorers who explored, inventors who invented—any good role model for impressionable young people is who we want them reading about, and picture book biographies are a great way to introduce them.

Sure, high school students will get more out of a text-based treatment of the life of Abraham Lincoln, but 2nd graders won't. They want pictures to draw them in, to help them see the same world Abe saw, to give them a sense of splitting rails or debating Stephen Douglas right beside him. If it's Lewis and Clark they're learning about, if they can see the pine forests and the bears and the Indians, they're far less likely to forget the story of the Voyage of Discovery than if they're just reading it.

We aren't talking about books that take liberties with historical fact, or that emphasize pictures at the expense of reality. Plenty of kids' book authors seem to think that truth is a moot consideration when writing for the chronologically impaired, but we understand just the opposite to be the case: we need to be particularly careful about what our children read when they haven't even reached an age to discern between fact and conjecture.

Nor do we see pictures as somehow better than words. The Bible wasn't written in visible images, and when you're writing about real people who really lived and did real things, you can't rely solely on illustrations to communicate the facts of their existence and achievements. We're only saying that sometimes its better to show what you're trying to convey, rather than relying wholly on language.

It's not essential that youngsters know all the ins and outs of history. At the same time, when they do need to study figures and events of the past, if they already have some idea of what was going on they'll have much less difficulty putting the pieces together. Introducing them to important and fascinating people through text and pictures is a much better way to get kids thinking about history, and one likely to help them retain the information rather than forgetting it as soon as they finish the last page.

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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Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington
by Cheryl Harness
from National Geographic
Picture Book Biography for 2nd-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.76
Abraham Lincoln
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
75th Anniversary Edition from Beautiful Feet Books
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-6th grade
1940 Caldecott Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.26
Adoniram Judson: A Grand Purpose
by Renee Meloche
from YWAM Publishing
for 2nd-4th grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
Alexander Graham Bell
by Elizabeth MacLeod
from Kids Can Press
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.76 $3.40 (1 in stock)
Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin
by James Cross Giblin
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.79
Amelia Earhart - Coloring Book
by Muriel Earhart Morrissey
from Bellerophon Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
America's Ethan Allen
by Stewart H. Holbrook
9th printing from Houghton Mifflin
Picture Book Biography for 4th-6th grade
1950 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.20 (1 in stock)
America's Paul Revere
by Esther Forbes
from Sandpiper Books
Biography for 2nd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$11.04 $6.38 (1 in stock)
Amy Carmichael: Rescuing the Children
Heroes for Young Readers
by Renee Taft Meloche
from YWAM Publishing
Biography for 2nd-4th grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
Anselm of Canterbury
Christian Biographies for Young Readers
by Simonetta Carr
from Reformation Heritage Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Church History for Kids (Location: XCH-KID)
Athanasius
Christian Biographies for Young Readers
by Simonetta Carr
from Reformation Heritage Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Church History for Kids (Location: XCH-KID)
Augustine of Hippo
Christian Biographies for Young Readers
by Simonetta Carr
from Reformation Heritage Books
for 2nd-6th grade
in Church History for Kids (Location: XCH-KID)
Bach's Goldberg Variations
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$14.41
Bard of Avon
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.79
Beethoven
by Reba Paeff Mirsky
from Follett
for 2nd-5th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Beggars, Beasts and Easter Fire Stories of Early Saints
by Carol Greene
1st edition from Chariot Victor Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Church History Overviews (Location: XCH-OVE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Benjamin Franklin
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.26
Benjamin Franklin, American Genius
by Brandon Marie Miller
from Chicago Review Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Colonial America (1690-1765) (Location: HISA-17COL)
Betsy Ross
by Alexandra Wallner
from Holiday House
for 2nd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.53 (1 in stock)
Bill Peet
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 4th-8th grade
1990 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.14
Boy Who Drew Birds
by Jacqueline Davies
New title from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$14.44
Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
by Bryan Mealer, William Kamkwamba
Reprint from Dial Books for Young Readers
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider
from Henry Holt and Company
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.14
Brothers at Bat
by Audrey Vernick
from Clarion Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Great Depression (1929-1939) (Location: HISA-20GD)
Buffalo Bill
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.26
Buffalo Soldiers: The Story of Emanuel Stance
by Robert H. Miller
from Silver Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.53 (1 in stock)
Building on Nature
by Marian T. Place
from Henry Holt and Company
for 4th-7th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Cleopatra
by Diane Stanley & Peter Vennema
from William Morrow & Company
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.79
Columbus
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.26
Country Artist
by David R. Collins
from First Avenue Editions
Biography for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
D'Aulaire American Biographies Package
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
Biography for Kindergarten-8th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$113.12
David Livingstone: Courageous Explorer
by Renee Meloche
from YWAM Publishing
for 2nd-4th grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
Diego Rivera
by Duncan Tonatiuh
First Edition from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
1999 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.94
Dwight D. Eisenhower
by Jack C. Harris
from Golden Books
for Preschool-3rd Grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$1.28 (1 in stock)
Eleanor
by Barbara Cooney
1st Scholastic from Puffin Books
for 1st-3rd
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.79
Eric Liddell: Running for a Higher Prize
Heroes for Young Readers
by Renee Taft Meloche & Bryan Pollard
illustrated edition from YWAM Publishing
Picture Book Biography for 1st-3rd grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
Eric the Red & Leif the Lucky
by Barbara Schiller
from Avyx, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Finding Narnia
by Caroline McAlister, Illustrated by Jessica Lanan
from Roaring Brook Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99
Folks Call Me Appleseed John
by Andrew Glass
from Dell Publishing
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Frida Kahlo: The Artist Who Painted Herself
by Margaret Frith
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 1st-3rd grade
in Great Artists (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$2.98 (1 in stock)
Galileo
by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Macmillan
for 7th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
Gandhi
by Rae Bains
from Scholastic Inc.
for 1st-3rd grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$0.85 (1 in stock)
George Muller: Faith to Feed Ten Thousand
Heroes for Young Readers
by Renee Meloche
from YWAM Publishing
for 1st-3rd grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
George Washington
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from Beautiful Feet Books
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.26
George Washington
by Cheryl Harness
from National Geographic
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.64
George Washington Carver
by Tonya Bolden
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$5.95 (1 in stock)
George Washington: America's Patriot
Heroes of History for Young Readers
by Renee Meloche
from Emerald Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Heroes for Young Readers (Location: BIO-HERO)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Picture Book Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
Girl Named Helen Keller
by Margo Lundell
from Cartwheel Books
for 1st-2nd grade
in Scholastic / Hello Reader! (Location: EAR-SCH)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
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