Biography/autobiography (A story of a person's life, either written by that person or by someone else)
A Splash of Red By: Jen Bryant
Horace Pippin is an African-American man that lived around
the time of World War one. He is a really good artist and always adds a splash
of red to his pictures. He quit school to go and work to support his family.
Everyone would ask him to draw pictures for them. He ends up going to war
during WWI. He draws pictures there until he is shot in the right arm. He wants
to draw again, so he practices and builds up his weak arm to be strong enough
to paint. His paintings end up in a museum.
Age Range: 5 - 8 years Grade Level: Kindergarten-3
Jackie Robinson By: Kenneth Rudeen
Jackie Robinson was the first African-American baseball
player. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He grew up in California. In high
school he played many sports, which helped him get to college. He was noticed
by UCLA and was given a scholarship. There he played many sports as well. He
left school in his second year to go and work. He joined the army after Pearl
Harbor was bombed. After the army he joined an African-American baseball team.
The owner of the Dodgers wanted the major leagues to become more mixed, so he
hired Jackie to play for them. at first he met a lot of teams that were against
him being able to play. They would do and say mean things to him, but that
didn’t stop Jackie. The Dodgers went on to play in the World Series that year.
Knots in My Yo-Yo String By: Jerry Spinelli
Jerry Spinelli writes about his own life in this book. He
starts out talking about his dog being hit by a car. He then jumps back in time
to before that happened. He talks about his childhood and adolescence. He then
talks about how he struggled with changes in life, such as changing schools in
his teen years and his first break up. He then talks about how he discovered
his passion for writing. He jumps back to the image of his dying dog and all
the things it represents.
Age Range: 8 - 12 years
Grade Level: 3 - 7
Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P.L. Travers By:
Valerie Lawson
P.L. Travers was the woman that wrote Mary Poppins. She
didn’t want a biography written about her, but Lawson feels otherwise due to
the amount of papers and documentation Travers left behind. The book talks a
bit about Travers personal life, but because she was so secretive the book
focuses more on her work. She talks about the writing of Mary Poppins and
Saving Mr. Banks. She also talks about how they were turned into Disney films
and the struggle Travers had with Disney. She also talks about some pf Travers
later endeavors.
Nelson Mandela By: Kadir Nelson
Nelson moved schools when he was young because his father
died. Over the years South Africa is taken over by the Europeans. Nelson
continues school to become a lawyer. He helps the people fight apartheid, which
leads to his arrest. After being released he continued to fight and went into
hiding. He was once again captured and put in prison. He was freed twenty seven
years later to a country free of apartheid.
Age Range: 4 - 8 years Grade Level: Preschool-4
The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team By:
Audrey Vernick
In the Acerra family there was sixteen children. Out of all
of the children the twelve boys played baseball. They played as an all brother
team for over twenty years. This is the longest lasting all brother team in
history. They played semi-pro baseball all throughout New Jersey.