Pope John Paul II was born Karol Wojtyla on May 18, 1920, in Poland. As a child Karol excelled in school -- especially in religion and literature. He was a star soccer player and also hiked and kayaked. But most of all Karol loved poetry and theater. Although Karol was liked and respected by his peers, his childhood was touched by tragedy. His mother passed away when he was only nine years old, and three years later his beloved older brother, Edmund, died from scarlet fever.Karol gr...

This informative and engaging addition to the Childhood of Famous Americans series provides a fascinating look at the boyhood and background of Teddy Kennedy, who, in addition to being the youngest brother of former President John F. Kennedy and the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, grew up to be a revered and beloved senior Democratic senator from Massachusetts.

Coretta Scott King is well known for being the wifeÊof Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and for her own civil rights and world peace activism. She also received many awards and honorary degrees. But before she did all of those impressive things, Coretta was a strong little girl who could outclimb anyone in her neighborhood, was very close to her dad, and had a beautiful singing voice! Read all about how Coretta Scott King learned that if you work hard enough, your dreams can come true.

One of the most popular series ever published for young Americas, these classics have been praised alike by parents, teachers, and librarians. With these lively, inspiring, fictionalized biographies -- easily ready by children of eight and up -- today's youngster is swept right into history.

Discover the childhood of prominent abolitionist Frederick Douglass in this inspiring installment in the illustrated middle grade series Childhood of Famous Americans.Frederick Douglass was born into slavery. He was separated from his family when he was young, worked day and night, and was beaten for no other reason than the color of his skin. How could anyone ever overcome such overwhelming odds?But Frederick eventually became a famous abolitionist, author...

An unflinching look at a painful chapter in America’s pastIt’s 1922, and Woodrow Harper has moved with his widowed mother to his father’s hometown of Lawton, Oklahoma. Perhaps here he will find the closeness to his father that eluded him when his father was alive. Instead, in his new neighbor, Senator Crawford, Woodrow finds something that offers even more comfort—a father figure who understands him in a way his father never did. But there are ugly secrets beneath ...

In this illustrated biography, young Apache Goyahkla and his friend play games in their village that will prepare him for his role as a hunter and warrior—and the place he will hold in history as Geronimo, fighter for the rights of his people.

One of the most popular series ever published for young Americans, these classics have been praised alike by parents, teachers, and librarians. With these lively, inspiring, fictionalized biographies -- easily read by children of eight and up -- today's youngster is swept right into history.

Dear Reader:The Childhood of Famous Americans series, seventy years old in 2002, chronicles the early years of famous American men and women in an accessible manner. Each book is faithful in spirit to the values and experiences that influenced the person's development. History is fleshed out with fictionalized details, and conversations have been added to make the stories come alive to today's reader, but every reasonable effort has been made to make the stories consistent with the ...

Winner of the Newbery Medal, this remarkably moving novel has impressed the hearts and minds of millions of readers.Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie's story—Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to ...

In the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award–winning Bud, Not Buddy, Bud met a girl named Deza Malone in a Hooverville. This is her story.“We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful" is the motto of Deza Malone's family. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a special path in life. But the Great Depression has hit Gary hard, and there are no jobs for black men. When her beloved father leaves...

Washington Post 2017 KidsPost Summer Book Club selection!It's Mississippi in the summer of 1955, and Rose Lee Carter can't wait to move north. But for now, she's living with her sharecropper grandparents on a white man's cotton plantation.Then, one town over, an African American boy, Emmett Till, is killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman. When Till's murderers are unjustly acquitted, Rose realizes that the South needs a change . . . and that...