The books I have included here are all labeled as biographies, but some may be better described as “based on the life of . . .” I explained this further in the post with the biography book series for kids list.
Here is what I said there:
Some books are categorized as biographies, but they don’t contain only facts about that person. I attended a picture book meeting with some other authors earlier this year, and we discussed how frustrating this can be. Sometimes, there may be just a small note in the beginning or at the end of the book that says something about the author taking liberties with the story.
This is especially true when it comes to dialogue since there may not be any documentation showing exactly what someone had said in specific situations. In one book that was categorized as a biography, we learned there wasn’t much known about the subject’s childhood, so the author invented that entire portion (which happened to be the majority of the book). So, with that in mind, the books listed here are categorized as biographies, but there may be some that would be better described as “based on the life of . . .”
Yaba daba! Read about chemist Harry Coover’s accidental creation of cy-an-o-ac-ryl-ate (AKA “sticky stuff”), which he was able to perfect into something very useful called super glue.
Follow this book with a reading of Too Much Glue by Jason Lefebvre and illustrated by Zac Ret, published in 2013.
Read about Jennifer Keelan, who stood up for herself and others with disabilities as a young girl. She decided to not let anything STOP her from climbing the stairs of the U.S. Capitol on hands and knees (since she couldn’t use her wheelchair to ascend the steps). Reporters and bystanders watch as “tiny bits of dirt and rock dig into her skin” and “she drags herself up another step” and then another, all the way to the top!
“It starts with one.” Read about one man named Ken Nedimeyer who used his passion to rebuild coral reefs and start the Coral Restoration Foundation. (According to the book, he once had 30 aquariums in his bedroom!)
Read about Mary Anning whose curiosity and determination helped her to become a paleontologist, even when others didn’t believe women could be scientists.
Read about Fauja Signh who ran his first marathon at the age of 81. And he kept going and became the first person to run a marathon at 100 years of age.
“Let’s make the most of this beautiful day” and read about the life of Fred McFeely Rogers, who is more commonly known as Mr. Rogers, and the creation of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Read about Rube Goldberg who drew cartoons of complex creations to perform simple tasks in exaggerated ways.
Even though Rube Goldberg never actually built one of his creations, people today build what has become known as Rube Goldberg machines. Here is a video of the largest Rube Goldberg machine according to the Guinness World Records.
Read about Momofuku Ando who had a desire to create a quick and convenient bowl of noodles to feed hungry communities. His passion, desire, and determination led to the creation of ramen noodle soup.
Read about Noah Webster, the man who wrote the first dictionary in the English language. Even though Noah Webster lived from 1758–1843, he supposedly corrected, commented, and edited the text throughout this book. Of course, he didn’t really do that, but it does make the text more interesting and engaging.
(This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission if you click on a link and make a purchase. Thank you!)
I have enjoyed sharing themed book lists for kids on my website over the last couple of years, but I have never made a list as long as this one.
Who knew there were so many different biography series for kids available? And I didn’t even list them all!
In this post, I have listed more than fifteen biography series for kids to choose from and enjoy. Of course, each series contains multiple books, so this list includes over two hundred biography books for kids (and adults).
So many choices!
Some Considerations
I do have some caveats with this list that I’d like to mention before I share the book titles.
First, some books are categorized as biographies, but they don’t contain only facts about that person. I attended a picture book meeting with some other authors earlier this year, and we discussed how frustrating this can be. Sometimes, there may be just a small note in the beginning or at the end of the book that says something about the author taking liberties with the story.
This is especially true when it comes to dialogue since there may not be any documentation showing exactly what someone had said in specific situations. In one book that was categorized as a biography, we learned there wasn’t much known about the subject’s childhood, so the author invented that entire portion (which happened to be the majority of the book). So, with that in mind, the books listed here are categorized as biographies, but there may be some that would be better described as “based on the life of . . .”
You can’t really believe everything you read online or in books, I guess.
Second, everyone has a worldview. You have a worldview. I have a worldview. We all have a worldview. And, oftentimes, those worldviews are incorporated within books like these. Even if it’s unintentional. For example, consider two authors writing about the same person. One author is enamored by that person, but the other author has a strong distaste for that person. Even if they stick to the facts, the way in which they write and how they present the information may vary. It’s just something to keep in mind as you read about different people in books that have been written by different people and published by different companies.
Third, although my daughters and I have enjoyed reading many of these books, I have not personally read them all. So, I am not necessarily recommending all of these books. I simply wanted to share a list of some possible book biography series for kids. Please read them at your own discretion.
Fourth, if there is a particular person’s biography you are looking for, you may want to try using “cntrl” + “f” and type that person’s name in the search bar. I did not list all of the names of the people, though, so if you don’t find the name of the person you are looking for in this post, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the biography series I have listed don’t have a book about that particular person.
Fifth, affiliate links are included for your convenience, so you can easily find more information about many of the books. (I do make a small commission at no extra charge to you if you click on one of those links and make a purchase. I did spend many hours putting together this list, and the only compensation I make is from those purchases, so I do greatly appreciate it! Thank you for your support! Even if you don’t make a purchase, thank you for your support by visiting my website!)
Sixth, all of the Christian book series are marked with an asterisk.*
Seventh, since this post only contains biography series, I do hope to put together a list in the future of single picture book biographies (that are not part of a series). In the meantime, you are welcome to check out some of the other themed book lists I have on my website.
Finally, below is the list of biography book series for kids. They are listed in alphabetical order by series. The books within each list may or may not be listed in any particular order. Books that I saw were numbered were listed by number. Otherwise, I listed the books as I found them (or in order of how the pictures loaded). I may not have found all of the books included within each series. So, some of these series may actually contain more books than I listed here. I still hope this list helps in some way.
Ten Boys Who Changed the World:Brother Andrew; John Newton; Billy Graham; Eric Liddell; William Carey; David Livingstone; Nicky Cruz; Adoniram Judson; George Muller; and Luis Palau
Ten Boys Who Used Their Talents:Wilfred Grenfell; C.S. Lewis; James Clerk Maxwell; Ghillean Prance; Paul Brand; Johann Sebastian Bach; Samuel Morse; George Washington Carver; C.T. Studd; and John Bunyan
Ten Boys Who Made History:Samuel Rutherford; John Owen; Jonathan Edwards; George Whitefield; Robert Murray McCheyne; Dwight L. Moody; Billy Sunday; Charles H. Spurgeon; Aiden W. Tozer; and Martyn Lloyd–Jones
Ten Boys Who Didn’t Give In:Polycarp; Alban; Sir John Oldcastle; Thomas Cranmer; George Wishart; James Chalmers’ Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Nate Saint; Ivan Moiseyev; and Graham Staines
Ten Boys Who Made a Difference:Augustine of Hippo; Jan Hus; Martin Luther; Ulrich Zwingli; William Tyndale; Hugh Latimer; John Calvin; John Knox; Lord Shaftesbury; and Thomas Chalmers
Ten Girls Who Changed the World: Isobel Kuhn; Mary Slessor; Joni Eareckson; Corrie Ten Boom; Evelyn Brand; Gladys Aylward; Jackie Pullinger; Amy Carmichael; Elizabeth Fry; and Catherine Booth
Ten Girls Who Used Their Talents:Anne Lawson; Selina Countess of Huntingdon; Mildred Cable; Katie Ann Mackinnon; Sarah Edwards; Patricia St John; Helen Roseveare; Harriet Beecher Stowe; Mary Verghese; and Maureen McKenna
Ten Girls Who Made History:Mary Jane Kinnaird; Emma Dryer; Florence Nightingale; Lottie Moon; Ida Scudder; Jeanette Li; Henrietta Mears; Bessie Adams; Betty Greene; and Elisabeth Elliot
Ten Girls Who Didn’t Give In:Blandina; Perpetua; Lady Jane Grey; Anne Askew; Lysken Dirks; Marion Harvey; Margaret Wilson; Judith Weinberg; Betty Stam; and Esther John)
Ten Girls Who Made a Difference: (Monica of Thagaste; Katherine Luther; Susanna Wesley; Ann Judson; Maria Taylor; Susannah Spurgeon; Bethan Lloyd–Jones; Edith Schaeffer; Sabina Wurmbrand; and Ruth Bell Graham
In Trailblazers box set 3, you can read about the following preachers and teachers: John Stott, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Charles Spurgeon, George Whitefield, and Johnathan Edwards.
In Trailblazers box set 4, you can read about the following reformers and activists: John Knox, John Calvin, William Wilberforce, John Welch, and John Newton.
In Trailblazers box set 5, you can read about the following heroes and heroines: Corrie ten Boom, Brother Andrew, Richard Wurmbrand, George Müller, and Eric Lidell.
In Trailblazers box set 6, you can read about the following people in these books about arts and science: Michael Faraday, John Bunyan, Fanny Crosby, C.S. Lewis, and Patricia St. John.
In Trailblazers box set 7, you can read about the following American trailblazers: Jim Elliot, Elisabeth Elliot, Betty Greene, D. L. Moody, and Lottie Moon.
I included pictures for 48 books from the Who Was? series, but there are over 200 titles available. You can see the list of titles here on the Penguin Random House website.
There is also a What is the Story of? series (found here) and a What Was? series (found here) and a Where Is? series (found here) that offer even more information about a variety of topics and places.
I searched for a while but have had trouble finding box sets for the Who Was? series. The only box set I found on Amazon is this What Is? America box set, which includes the following twenty-five books (with a mixture of books from the Who Was? series, Where Is? series, and What Was? series).
Obviously, I did not include individual links for all of the books in this series, but I hope the links and pictures I did provide help guide you in the right direction if you want more information about them.
Please share any other recommendations for book biography series in the comments below.
(This page may contain affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra charge to you if you click on a link and make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate and SchoolhouseTeachers.com Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I greatly appreciate all purchases you make using these links. Thank you!)
SchoolhouseTeachers.com offers over 400 different courses for preschool through high school along with many other resources all for one low price for the entire family.
My daughters have really enjoyed taking some of the courses available on SchoolhouseTeachers.com over the past year, which I have been sharing on a Pinterest board I have labeled as Completed SchoolhouseTeachers.com Courses.
One of my daughters has been keeping busy with some of the writing courses available on SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
The Weekly Writing Challenge discusses the importance of writing, choosing a place to write, points of view, brainstorming, characters, settings, problems and challenges, finding solutions, dialogue, beginnings, endings, details, synonyms, verb tenses, nouns and verbs, showing instead of telling, genres, different writing examples, and revising and rewriting with a total of 34 writing challenges.
If you have a child interested in writing or learning more about what authors (and illustrators) do but don’t have a SchoolhouseTeachers.com account, then you may want to check out these books about writing, authors, and illustrators.
Look at My Book goes through the process a young boy, girl, and even a dog go through to create their own books. Itdiscusses how to get ideas, brainstorming, genres, research, characters, setting, rough drafts, rough sketches, titles, and more in a fun (and busy) format. After reading this book (intended for ages 4-7/ preschool-3rd grade), children may be eager to create their own fun stories to share with others.
Pick a Picture, Write a Story! is a fun book to get some creative juices flowing for story writing. Throughout the book, pictures are presented with questions to create some story ideas. The book also discusses what stories are, the parts of a story, points of view, characters, plots, challenges, settings, dialogue, kinds of stories, action, brainstorming, and putting it all together. It is recommended for children ages 4-8/ preschool-2nd grade; however, this is a great book for anyone stuck with writer’s block.
You Can Write an Amazing Journal is intended for a younger audience. It talks about finding a place to write, materials needed to journal, “rules” to journaling, and finding the time to journal. It provides multiple exercises to get kids to use their senses, find facts, and get them thinking about writing.
So, You Want to be a Writer? is intended for ages 8-12 according to the page for it on Amazon. It discusses what it is like to be a writer, things needed to be a writer, genres, topics, writing exercises to overcome writer’s block, writing and rewriting, getting published, information about choosing writing as a career, and resources for writers.
Spilling Ink is intended for tweens, teens, and even adults. It discusses first drafts, where to find inspiration, characters, story ideas, plot, voices, setting, suspense, dialogue, descriptions, revising, journaling, keeping the story interesting, writer’s block, how to approach criticism, and how to develop a writing habit.
Writer to Writer is intended for grades 3-6 according to Amazon’s listing, but I think an older audience would appreciate it possibly even more. It discusses advice for writers, character development, plot information, parts of a story, word tenses, and poetry.
Seize the Story is intended for tweens, teens, and maybe even adults who want to write novels. The chapters include: freeing your imagination, creating characters, beginnings, setting, the heart of a writer, writing dialogue, showing and telling, plotting and scheming, conflicts, middles and ends, polishing your writing, point of view, into the future, interviews with authors, and questions and answers. My daughters both really liked this one. They said it really made them want to write!
What Do Authors and Illustrators Do? really is “2 Books in One” as the cover says. It has combined the books What Do Authors Do? and What Do Illustrators Do? into one easy to read book. There is simple text on each page along with illustrations similar to a comic strip that include two authors, a talking dog, and a talking cat. Although this book is rated for ages 4-7/ preschool-3rd grade, there is a lot of useful information for older kids (and maybe even adults) to learn.
What Do Authors Do? goes through the process authors experience as they publish a book. It shows how two authors may have the same idea but end up with different stories, how difficult writing is at times, how authors may gather information, how long it may take for a story to be finished (more than what a lot of people may think), how authors persist even after receiving rejection letters, how authors edit their work (again!), and more.
What Do Illustrators Do? goes through the illustrator’s process. It shows how two illustrators who are illustrating a similar book may end up with much different illustrations due to their techniques and imaginations. Through the story, children learn about creating a dummy, sizes and shapes of books, sketches, point of view, using models, styles of drawing, designing books, lines, textures, artist tools, cool colors vs warm colors, and more.
The Creativity Project is compiled of writing prompts some authors and illustrators had written, drawn, or photographed and the responses from other authors and illustrators they swapped the prompts with. Some of the writing prompts and responses are rather funny and creative!
Our Story Begins includes pictures, stories, and snippets from the childhood of multiple authors and illustrators including Gordon Korman, Gail Carson Levine, Candace Fleming, Kwame Alexander, and more.
Of course, in order to be a writer, one must actually write. This writing prompt journal has 52 pictures along with writing prompts to spark the imagination and get writers writing.
Writers should read, too! These reading journals include a personalized table of contents, space to record a total of 100 books, and more. The cat cover shown in the picture above is actually one of multiple cover options available. (Click here to see all of the available cover options in one location.)
Do you have any book recommendations about writing?
(This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra charge to you if you click on a link and make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I greatly appreciate all purchases you make using these links. Thank you!)
I had the pleasure of attending the SCBWI Iowa Adventures in Nonfiction Conference earlier this year, which I really enjoyed. I read multiple nonfiction children’s books written and/or published by the speakers before attending the conference. Obviously, this is not a requirement, but it made me feel more prepared and gave me an idea of the various writing styles of the speakers.
Well, I have been busy doing some preconference research again in preparation for the SCBWI Iowa Grow Your Picture Book Garden Conference, which is already less than a week away! More information about the upcoming conference can be found on the SCBWI Iowa’s website here.
To prepare, I went to my local library and checked out all the fiction children’s books I could find written by the speakers. I was disappointed I didn’t find Chicken Wants a Nap by Tracy Marchini at my local library, but I did enjoy reading through Tracy Marchini’s blog posts on her website. I even signed up for The Quacktory.
Below is a list of the books written by the upcoming speakers I was able to check out and enjoy from the library.
I added a short summary of each of the books below their cover and title for you to have a little more information. Unfortunately, my summaries aren’t nearly as creative or interesting as the descriptions you will find listed within each of the books. For that reason, I have added links to Amazon for each of the books where you can read their descriptions and reviews.
Just so you know, these are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you if you choose to click on them and make a purchase. With that being said, you may be able to find them at your local library to read for free.
I dare you to read all of these books without laughing out loud at least once!
An older dinosaur sibling learns all about welcoming a new baby dinosaur to the family. Baby dino eats, burps, sleeps, and even poops, but she needs help learning how to do a variety of activities such as playing peek-a-boo and roaring.
This book will help you be prepared in the event a T. Rex decides to show up at your birthday party. A T. Rex may not be very good at some of the games such as water balloon toss and swinging at a pinata thanks to those little arms, but he does do a great job creating a mess and scaring away some guests.
Nadine is a fearless cow, or so she tells her friends. She even offers to prove it, which leads to some unexpected adventures through the woods. Is she really as fearless as she claims to be?
A baby killdeer hatches and discovers its new surroundings while learning more about itself. It runs, examines itself in a pond, sings, admires its feathers, attempts to get lunch, and plans to teach its newly hatched sister all it had learned on its first day in the world.
Elwood Bigfoot does many things alone, but he wants to be friends with the birdies. He attempts to befriend the birdies, but he does not have any success no matter how hard he tries. Being a large creature can be scary for little birdies. Finally Elwood Bigfoot and the birdies become friends, and he is no longer alone.
Tom the cat thinks he sees a treat in the grass, but he decides the little bird is too small to eat. Thus begins Tom’s adventure of trying to rescue the poor little creature, much to the dismay of the little bird’s protective momma. Doesn’t the momma know a cat must carry a bird in its mouth while climbing a tree?
Teeny watches helplessly as her momma is caught and placed in a bucket by a young human boy. She hops, flops, plops, and slops as fast as she can to tell her big brothers the news. They go to rescue mom but also end up in trouble. Teeny realizes even though she is a tiny toad, she doesn’t need to be big or muscular to come up with a great idea to rescue her entire family.
Marge and Lola are two chickens determined to win the barnyard talent show which offers the coveted grand prize of tickets to Elvis Poultry. Unfortunately, Marge and Lola don’t know what their talent should be. That doesn’t stop them from trying and failing many not-so-well thought out ideas. Finally, they decide they will have to “wing it” at the talent show. Thankfully, they are not too “chicken” to “bawk and roll” onstage. Even though they don’t officially win the talent show, they earn something even better.
Mr. Duck enjoys a schedule and his time alone. He gets bothered when all the other barn animals want to jump, splash, and be noisy in his peaceful pond. After a while, though, he realizes being alone all the time can get really lonely. Schedules are good but so is time spent having fun with friends.
Princess Viola is not like all the other princesses. She splashes, karate-chops, and skateboards, but that is not how a proper princess should act. Princess Viola enters Camp Princess to learn proper princess etiquette. Being prim and proper doesn’t seem to work for Princess Viola, and she worries she is a “royal failure”. That is until her skills come in handy and save the day.
Moose and his friends love cake. Unfortunately, Moose loves cake so much he eats it all by himself without sharing. This, of course, does not make his friends happy especially since the cake was a birthday cake for a friend (not him). Will Moose be able to restore his friendship with his cake-loving friends?
What would you do if an alien landed in your yard? You would want to keep him, wouldn’t you? This would lead to some fun adventures (after you tell your parents, of course) along with a few messes. Once you are all tucked in to bed with your little alien, you will realize he is homesick. Thankfully, you are brilliant (just like your lights), and you are able to get his parent’s attention for an “out of this world” family reunion.
Cave boy really wants a pet. No matter how hard he tries to find the perfect pet, there is always some excuse for him to not be able to keep it. That is until all of his past attempts prove worthy of being a part of the family.
Truman Elementary has a bunch of troublemakers who wreak havoc on the school. They are destructive critters who do not know what to do when little Ginny Louise becomes a new student. She is nothing like them. She doesn’t scowl or growl. She paints, sings, learns, and hears things in her own way. Her kindness and actions turn the bad bunch into a pretty good bunch of students and friends.
A young boy claims to be a fierce dragon, but a couple of real dragons inform him he isn’t really a scary dragon. They even go as far as to say he is “really cute”, which makes the young boy upset. He wants to be toothy, fierce, and fire-breathing. The dragons comfort him by telling him all of the things he is able do. Unfortunately, the dragons realize all of those things are things they can’t do because they are dragons, which makes them upset. Thankfully, the boy is able to figure out some activities all three of them can do together as more than just a boy and two dragons.
A rhyming story of a clumsy skeleton dancing the Halloween Hustle as he travels to a Halloween party. He is joined by all the other monsters along the way. The skeleton’s clumsiness leads to many falls, repairs, and a new friend.
Prince and Pirate are two fish completely content in their own fishbowls until “the dreadful journey”. They are plopped into the same fishtank. Prince and Pirate each have their own lingo, and they don’t get along with each other at all. That is until a dogfish enters the tank.
Reading through all of these books made me even more excited for the upcoming conference. These ladies are all very talented and creative. I am really looking forward to learning something from each of them.
Have you ever been to a writing conference? If so, what is one tip you learned?
(This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase after clicking on a link. Thank you!
My daughters absolutely love reading! In the past, they have been a part of a library summer reading program. This year, they decided to take part in the library’s summer reading program, Barnes and Noble’s summer reading program, and Half Price Books’ summer reading program. Now that the summer is coming to an end, the summer reading programs are also coming to an end. We have turned in all of their reading logs and tracking sheets, and they were able to get a lot of wonderful prizes due to their love of reading.
They each chose a free new book from a selection of books through Barnes and Noble’s summer reading program.
Half Price Books offered a $5 coupon to each of them for completing their summer reading program. Since the coupons were not allowed to be combined and required a minimum of a $5 purchase before tax (no $4.99 book), we spent well over an hour searching through Half Price Books for them to choose which books they wanted. They also wanted to make sure that the books they brought home weren’t books that they could easily get from the library, so we spent quite a bit of time on my phone searching the library’s book catalog online to see what books were/weren’t available. I told them that I would pay up to $1 each beyond the $5 for any books that they chose, and they would have to pay for anything beyond that. It turned out to be a fun math lesson. They were excited to find a stack of clearance books for only $0.50 each that they were interested in. They ended up coming home with a total of 12 books, and I only had to pay $0.52 for one and $0.49 for the other (so they both kept it under the $1 each over the $5 coupon).
The library summer reading program was a lot of fun! In addition to two free books, they received free tickets to a zoo, free tickets to a children’s museum, free tickets to a baseball game, free tickets to a local pool, free kids meals at various restaurants, and a few small activity packs. We won’t be able to use all of the tickets since some of the activities are hours away and only on certain dates, but we will definitely enjoy many of them.
We were also entertained during numerous programs that the library offered for free throughout the summer. We learned about places to visit, science experiments, bubbles, various animals (even touched a snake, a lizard, and a guinea pig), and more.
Did you know that if you put Pyrex glass inside of vegetable oil in a clear container, the glass is practically invisible? This reminded me of my book Jobs of a Preschooler when the preschooler is a magician trying to make things disappear.
The biggest problem with all of these wonderful summer reading programs is that I need to find a place to put all of these great books! We have become rather creative in our house using half walls and random places as book shelves (in addition to the books cases that we do have). With all of the books that we already have in our house, it amazes me that we still end up at the library at least once a week!
Now that the summer reading programs are coming to an end, we may sign up for the Pizza Hut reading program that they offer throughout the school year. (If you are interested, you can find more information here.) We did this last year, and my daughters were each able to get a free slice of pizza each month during the school year.
It seemed as though yesterday was “book day” because after we visited Barnes and Noble and Half Price Books (to collect my daughters’ books from the summer reading programs), we stopped at a book signing event with multiple authors in various genres. It was a free event open to the public nearby, so I really wanted to check it out. I didn’t go as an author to sell any of my books (they did pay a fee to be there), but we went simply to walk around the various tables, talk to authors, and see the books that they had to offer. All of the authors that I met were very friendly, and I was able to ask a lot of questions. I received a lot of information and came home with a few new ideas.
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Brigitte Brulz 