Showing titles in Biographical Fiction

Pollyanna, an expert at her favorite "Glad Game" of always looking at the bright side in her numerous trials, is one of the most popular and enduring characters in all of children's literature. As Pollyanna arrives in Beldingsville to live with her strict and dutiful maiden aunt, she exclaims, "Oh, Aunt Polly, I don't know how to be glad enough that you let me come to live with you!"

At the front of a middle-school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much.

Twelve-year-old Mary Jemison took for granted her peaceful days on her family's farm in eastern Pennsylvania. But on a spring day in 1758, something happened that changed her life forever. When a band of warriors invades the Jemisons' house and takes the family captive, Mary is separated from her parents and siblings. She travels with the Indians to southern Ohio and later to a Seneca village on the Genesee River in what is now western New York.

The big man went to the window and looked down at it all, spreading his large hands on the glass. "No," he said. "It found me." When Paul Faustino of LA NACION flips on his tape recorder for an exclusive Interview with El Gato - the phenomenal goalkeeper who single-handedly brought his team the World Cup - the seasoned reporter quickly learns that this will be no ordinary story. Instead, the legendary El Gato ("The Cat") quietly narrates a spellbinding tale that begins in a mythic corner of the South American rain forest, where a ghostly but very real mentor, the Keeper, emerges to teach the gangly boy....

El sueño de un niño puede cambiar el mundo entero. Esta es una inspiradora historia, basada en la vida real del autor, sobre el poder de la imaginación y la fuerza de la determinación. Cuando una terrible sequía asoló la pequeña aldea donde vivía William Kamkwamba, su familia perdió todas las cosechas y se quedó sin nada que comer y nada que vender. William comenzó entonces a investigar en los libros de ciencia que había en la biblioteca en busca de una solución, y de este modo encontró la idea que cambiaría la vida de su familia para siempre.

John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress, only mentioned one of his children in his memoirs: Mary. Born blind in 17th-century England, she held a special place in her father's heart. When Mr. Bunyan was arrested for unlawful preaching, young Mary travels the streets of Bedford each day, bringing soup to the prison. She resolves to prove she is independent and not hindered by her blindness. Only when she realizes she needs help does she turn to the Lord, the source of all strength.

This heartwarming fictionalized autobiography tells the story of what it is like for a little girl to be growing up in an unfamiliar place. While other girls her age were enjoying childhood in America, Jean Fritz was in China in the midst of political unrest. During this time, foreigners were becoming more and more unpopular, and evacuation at a moment’s notice was imminent. Although Jean appreciated the beauty of China - the mountains, the countryside, the sea - she knew she belonged in America and longed to make her home there.

Someone is planning to kill George Washington, and young Phoebe Fraunces is trying to save his life. Phoebe gets a job as George Washington's housekeeper, but her real job is to work as a spy. She listens and watches very carefully, and she meets her father every day to tell him what she has learned. One day Phoebe's father tells her that Washington is planning to leave town in a few days, and the person plotting against him will act before then. Phoebe is very frightened, but she is determined to figure out who is after Washington before it's too late. . . .

Sarah Miller's accomplished debut presents a fictionalized account of Anne Sullivan's life and her time as Helen Keller's teacher. Arriving at Ivy Green in 1887, Anne was a partially blind orphan who had been tasked with teaching the difficult blind, deaf, and mute girl to communicate. Anne quickly learned, along with Helen, that "words are a miracle".

Neftalí’s father wants him to be a doctor. But Neftalí is not like other children. How he reconciles his own dreams with his father’s is at the heart of this profoundly moving story of the life of poet Pablo Neruda.

Crockett is the ultimate American backwoods legend. Actor Nicolas Cage narrates this lively tale, which follows the original ring-tailed roarer of the western woods through a series of outlandish adventures, including his campaign for Congress and the Battle of the Alamo, where he literally brags himself into American history.

Pollyanna, an expert at her favorite "Glad Game" of always looking at the bright side in her numerous trials, is one of the most popular and enduring characters in all of children's literature.

Charlotte Parkhurst was raised in the mid-1800s and was expected to live her life without the freedoms she dreamed of. But Charlotte was smart and determined, and she figured out a way to live her life the way she wanted; Charlotte became an expert horse rider, a legendary stagecoach driver, and the first woman ever to vote—at a time when such things were outlawed for women.

Eleven-year-old Viviani Fedeler has spent her whole life in the New York Public Library. She knows every room by heart, except the ones her father keeps locked. When Viviani becomes convinced that the library is haunted, new girl Merit Mubarak makes fun of her. So Viviani decides to play a harmless little prank, roping her older brothers and best friend Eva to help out. But what begins as a joke quickly gets out of hand, and soon Viviani and her friends have to solve two big mysteries.

Iqbal, a 13-year-old boy, fights for children's liberation. Bravely, he speaks out against children working long hours in carpet factories in Pakistan.

Native American princess or British celebrity? Pocahontas played a pivotal role in the New World, but the powerful pull between her tribe and the new settlement on Virginia's shores took its toll.

Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to vividly depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing. Readers will learn about Cassius' family and neighbors in Louisville, Kentucky, and how, after a thief stole his bike, Cassius began training as an amateur boxer at age twelve.

Children will enjoy listening to early evidence of young Clara Barton's calling such as when Patch, her beloved dog, is injured, and Clara nurses him back to health. They will sympathize with her boarding school days when she is snubbed because she is too shy to talk to other girls. But her shyness disappears when she assists the local doctor.

Dan Gutman has won a wide and growing audience among young readers, who have eagerly devoured all the books in the sports-loving author’s Baseball Card Adventure series. In Ted & Me, time-traveling Stosh has finally been found out by the FBI. Tasked with using his Ted Williams card to go back to 1941 to prevent the attack on Pearl Harbor, Stosh also seizes on the chance to help the Splendid Splinter add even more home runs to his already legendary tally.

In this fictionalized journal, Anastasia Romanov lives again. Through her eyes, we witness the day-to-day splendor the czar's family experienced before the onslaught of the Russian Revolution. However, one senses also that crowding the outskirts of Anastasia's ornate diary are hundreds of thousands of teeming serfs, just beginning to percolate.