Genre: Biography

Biography genre

Diego Rivera: His World and Ours

By Book Importer | Published: April 17, 2012

This charming book introduces one of the most popular artists of the twentieth century, Diego Rivera, to young readers. It tells the story of Diego as a young, mischievous boy who demonstrated a clear passion for art and then went on to become one of the most famous painters in the world. Duncan Tonatiuh also prompts [...]

Other Descriptors: Mexico, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment

Snowmobile: Bombardier’s Dream Machine

By Book Importer | Published: April 10, 2012

The true story of Joseph-Armand Bombardier’s journey to invent the snowmobile.

Other Descriptors: Americas, Canada, Intermediate (ages 9-14) » Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment

Women Explorers

By Book Importer | Published: April 3, 2012

This book introduces inspiring women whose passions for exploration made them push the boundaries, including Nellie Cashman, Annie Smith Peck, and Delia Julia Denning Akeley.

Other Descriptors: Intermediate (ages 9-14), International, Picture Book » Themes: , » Leave a comment

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

By Book Importer | Published: April 3, 2012

When 14-year-old William Kamkwamba’s Malawi village was hit by a drought in 2001, everyone’s crops began to fail. His family didn’t have enough money for food, let alone school, so William spent his days in the library. He came across a book on windmills and figured out how to build a windmill that could bring [...]

Other Descriptors: Africa, Malawi, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Themes: , , , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

The Queen’s Progress

By Book Importer | Published: March 3, 2012

This book offers readers a factual and in-depth guide to the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth I through rhyming verses, anecdotes, historical details, and brilliant illustrations, while also using the letters of the alphabet to provide an account of Queen Elizabeth’s annual holiday, known as a “royal progress.”

Other Descriptors: England (UK), Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Themes: , , » Leave a comment

Mermaid Queen

By Book Importer | Published: February 23, 2012

As a child growing up in Australia, Annette Kellerman was a frail ugly duckling who dreamed of becoming a graceful ballerina. With courage and determination, she confronted a crippling illness to become an internationally known record-setting athlete who revolutionized the sport of swimming for women, a movie star who invented water ballet, and a fashion [...]

Other Descriptors: Australia, Oceania, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9) » Themes: , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

Drawing from Memory

By Book Importer | Published: January 18, 2012

Caldecott Medalist Allen Say presents a stunning graphic novel chronicling his journey as an artist during WWII, when he apprenticed under Noro Shinpei, Japan’s premier cartoonist DRAWING FROM MEMORY is Allen Say’s own story of his path to becoming the renowned artist he is today. Shunned by his father, who didn’t understand his son’s artistic [...]

Other Descriptors: Asia, Graphic Novel, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Japan » Themes: , , , » Leave a comment

A Stranger at Home

By Book Importer | Published: December 21, 2011

The powerful memoir of an Inuvialuit girl searching for her true self when she returns from residential school. Traveling to be reunited with her family in the Arctic, 10-year-old Margaret Pokiak can hardly contain her excitement. It’s been two years since her parents delivered her to the school run by the dark-cloakednuns and brothers. Coming [...]

Other Descriptors: Americas, Canada, Intermediate (ages 9-14) » Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

Dan Eldon: Safari as a Way of Life

By Book Importer | Published: December 12, 2011

Photojournalist Dan Eldon left behind much more than the astonishing illustrated journals that would form The Journey is the Destination when he lost his life at age twenty-two while on assignment in Somalia. He also bequeathed a life story that has inspired students, teachers, artists, and creative activists—as well as a forthcoming film, an apparel [...]

Other Descriptors: Africa, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Kenya, Somalia » Themes: , , » Leave a comment

A Girl Named Faithful Plum

By Book Importer | Published: December 12, 2011

In 1977, when Zhongmei Lei was eleven years old, she learned that the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy was having open auditions. She’d already taken dance lessons, but everyone said a poor country girl would never get into the academy, especially without any connections in the Communist Party of the 1970s. But Zhongmei, whose name means [...]

Other Descriptors: Asia, China, Intermediate (ages 9-14) » Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment