Taking Hold: My Journey Into Blindness by Sally Hobart Alexander - 168 pages

• Sally Hobart Alexander was a grade-school teacher in Southern California in the late 1960s. Over the course of approximately a year, she became completely blind, as a result of a retinal hemorrhage. This is her own account of her journey from sight to blindness and the courageous and successful efforts she made to create a new life for herself. Check our catalog

On my own: The Journey Continues by Sally Hobart Alexander - 165 pages 

• The author describes the difficulties and accomplishments she experiences as she adjusts to living independently after losing her sight. Check our catalog

Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado by Marc Aronson - 222 pages

• Recounts the adventurous life of the English explorer and courtier who spelled his name "Ralegh" and led many expeditions to the New World. Check our catalog

Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie Bober - 248 pages

• A detailed eighteenth-century background showing Adams as the product of her times: an educated, intelligent, and capable woman in an age when the expectations and challenges of a woman's role were different from what they are today, but no less complex. Often separated from her husband John, Abigail wrote letters to him and to others constantly. Check our catalog

Beyond the Myth: the Story of Joan of Arc by Polly Schoyer Brooks - 176 pages

• Places the life of the fifteenth-century girl who has become a French national symbol within the social, religious, and political context of her time. Check our catalog

Frederick Douglass: for the ‘Great Family of Man’ by Peter Burchard - 226 pages

• A biography of a runaway slave who became an abolitionist, a crusader for women's rights, and an advisor to Abraham Lincoln. Check our catalog

Jack: the Early Years of John F. Kennedy by Ilene Cooper - 153 pages

• A description of the childhood and youth of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States.  Check our catalog

Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl - 176 pages

• Presents humorous anecdotes from the author's childhood which includes summer vacations in Norway and an English boarding school. Check our catalog

Going Solo by Roald Dahl - 208 pages

• This action-packed sequel to "Boy" tells of Dahl's exploits as a World War II pilot.  Check our catalog

A Dangerous Engine: Benjamin Franklin, From Scientist to Diplomat by Joan Dash - 256 pages

• A biography of Benjamin Franklin, printer, scientist, revolutionary, and diplomat.  Check our catalog

The World At Her Fingertips: The Story of Helen Keller by Joan Dash - 235 pages

• The story of Helen Keller who was left blind and deaf at the age of 19 months. Check our catalog

An American Hero: The True Story of Charles A. Lindbergh by Barry Denenberg - 251 pages

• Charles Lindbergh’s story - his historic flight across the Atlantic, the tragic kidnapping of his son and his strange associations especially with the Nazis are explored in this book. Check our catalog

Theodore Roosevelt: Larger Than Life by Matt Donnelly - 184 pages

• Some interesting and entertaining stories of the twenty-sixth President of the United States. Check our catalog

The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer’s life by Sid Fleischman - 198 pages

• The autobiography of the Newbery award-winning children's author who set out from childhood to be a magician. Check our catalog

Our Eleanor: a Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s Remarkable Life by Candace Fleming - 176 pages

• Presents a survey of Eleanor Roosevelt's public life and focuses on her many accomplishments. Check our catalog

Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid by Ralph Fletcher - 192 pages

• Ralph is content in his simple life in Marshfield, Massachusetts, but when his father tells him that the family must move to Chicago for his new job, Ralph worries about what it will feel like to leave so many of his favorite people, places, and things behind.  Check our catalog

Fight On! Mary Church Terrell’s Battle for Integration by Dennis Fradin - 181 pages

• Profiles the first black Washington, D.C. Board of Education member, who helped to found the NAACP and organized of pickets and boycotts that led to the 1953 Supreme Court decision to integrate D.C. area restaurants.  Check our catalog

Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement by Dennis Fradin - 178 pages

• Born a slave, she became a school teacher, probation officer and helped create the NAACP. She almost single-handedly halted the practice of lynching.  Check our Catalog

Samuel Adams: The Father of American Independence by Dennis Fradin - 182 pages

• Presents the life and accomplishments of the colonist and patriot who was involved in virtually every major event that resulted in the birth of the United States. Check our catalog

Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Making of a Champion by Russell Freedman - 192 pages

• A biography of Babe Didrikson, who broke records in golf, track and field, and other sports, at a time when there were few opportunities for female athletes.  Check our catalog

Eleanor Roosevelt: a Life of Discovery by Russell Freedman - 198 pages 

• A photobiography of the first wife of a president to have a public life and career of her own.  Check our catalog

Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Russell Freedman - 200 pages

• Photographs and text trace the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt from his birth in 1882 through his youth, early political career, and presidency, to his death in Warm Springs, Georgia, in 1945. Check our catalog

The Life and Death of Crazy Horse by Russell Freedman - 166 pages

• A biography of the Oglala leader who relentlessly resisted the white man's attempt to take over Indian lands. Check our catalog

Martha Graham: a Dancer’s Life by Russell Freedman  - 175 pages

• A photo-biography of the American dancer, teacher, and choreographer who was born in Pittsburgh in 1895 and who became a leading figure in the world of modern dance.  Check our catalog

Homesick: My Own Story by Jean Fritz  - 163 pages

• The author's fictionalized version, though all the events are true, of her childhood in China in the 1920's.  Check our catalog

Traitor: the Case of Benedict Arnold by Jean Fritz  - 190 pages

• A study of the life and character of the brilliant Revolutionary War general who deserted to the British for money.  Check our catalog

Charles A. Lindbergh: a Human Hero by James Cross Giblin  - 212 pages

• A biography of the pilot whose life was full of controversy and tragedy, but also fulfilling achievements. Check our catalog

The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler by James Cross Giblin  - 246 pages

• Biography of the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, his birth and childhood, his rise to power and ending with his death.  Check our catalog

A Special Fate: Chiune Sugihara, Hero of the Holocaust by Alison Leslie Gold  - 176 pages

• A biography of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese consul in Lithuania, who saved the lives of thousands of Jews during World War II by issuing visas against the orders of his superiors.  Check our catalog

Dizzy Gillespie and the Birth of Bebop by Leslie Gourse 150 pages

• Examines the king of bebop’s background as well as his impact on society and music, and successfully describes his struggle to create his own style. Check our catalog

Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop by Jan Greenberg  193 pages

• Andy Warhol, the Pittsburgh-bred son of Eastern European immigrants, is well known for his Pop Art masterpieces. But there is more to Warhol than that: he also made films, launched 'Interview' magazine, and forsaw the convergence of art, Hollywood fashion and business as the trend of the future. "In the future everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes." The Campbell's Soup Cans. The Marilyns. The Electric Chairs. The Flowers. The work created by Andy Warhol elevated everyday images to art, ensuring Warhol a fame that has far outlasted the 15 minutes he predicted for everyone else. His very name is synonymous with the 1960s American art movement known as Pop. No artist of the late 20th century took the pulse of his time-and ours-better than Andy Warhol. Check our catalog

The Man Behind the Magic: the Story of Walt Disney by Katherine Greene  183 pages

• Follows the life of Walt Disney from his boyhood on a Missouri farm through his struggles as a young animator to his building of a motion picture and amusement park empire. Check our catalog

A Stranger in My Own House: the Story of W.E.B. Du Bois by Bonnie Hinman  176 pages

• Presents a biography of the life and career of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century scholar, editor, and civil rights activist, W.E.B. Du Bois, and examines his role as one of the founding members of the NAACP and in shaping race relations in America. Check our catalog

A Voice for the People: the Life and Work of Harold Courlander by Nina Jaffe  177 pages

• A biography of the folklorist and novelist who recorded the traditional songs and stories of the people of Haiti, the Hopi Indians, and black communities in the South, connecting the African-American traditions to the cultures of Africa. Check our catalog

Red Scarf Girl: a Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Li-Li Jiang  285 pages

• A true-story of Ji-li Jiang, twelve year-old girl, whose family is accused of capitalist crimes during China's Cultural Revolution. Check our catalog

The Forbidden Schoolhouse: the True and Dramatic Story of Prudence Crandall and Her Students by Suzanne Jurmaine  150 pages 

• Describes the difficulties Prudence Crandall faced when she decided to open a school in 1931 for African-American females in Canterbury, CT. Despite some strong support, her hard work met resistance in the forms of riots, arson, and a jail sentence. Check our catalog

Small Steps: the Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret  179 pages

• The author describes her battle against polio when she was thirteen and her efforts to overcome its debilitating effects. Check our catalog

The Road From Home: the Story of an Armenian Girl by David Kherdian  238 pages

• A telling of the true story of a childhood interrupted by one of the most devastating holocausts of the century. Vernon Dumehjian Kherdian was born into a loving and prosperous family. Then in the year 1915, the Turkish government began the systematic destruction of its Armenian population.  Check our catalog

Chewing the Cud - an Extraordinary Life Remembered by the Author of Babe, the Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith  196 pages

• Dick King-Smith recounts his life from soldier to farmer to salesman to factory worker to teacher to, finally, author. Check our catalog

Yitzhak Rabin: Israel’s Soldier Statesman by Michael Kort  191 pages

• Was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel from 1974 until 1977 and again from 1992 until his assassination in 1995 by Yigal Amir, a right-wing activist who had strenuously opposed Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords. He was the first local-born Prime Minister of Israel, the only Prime Minister to be assassinated and the second to die in office. Check our catalog

Theodore Roosevelt: Champion of the American Spirit by Betsy Harvey Kraft  180 pages

• A biography of the energetic New Yorker who became the twenty-sixth president of the United States and who once exclaimed "No one has ever enjoyed life more than I have."  Check the catalog

Helen Keller: Rebellious Spirit by Laurie Lawlor  168 pages

• A biography that brings Keller's interior thoughts to life and hints at her highly developed sense of humor. The author does not shy away from pointing out her subject's faults while lauding her many accomplishments. This well-researched account contains a fair amount of social history, placing Keller's life in the context of her time and providing readers with a greater basis to understand the development of her "radical" political beliefs and her "rebellious spirit."  Check our catalog

Little by Little: a Writer’s Education by Jean Little  233 pages

• Jean Little is an accomplished Canadian writer of fiction for young people. She is also severely visually handicapped, legally blind. In this autobiography that focuses on her life from childhood through college.  Check our catalog

No Pretty Pictures: a Child of War by Anita Lobel  193 pages

• The author, known as an illustrator of children's books, describes her experiences as a Polish Jew during World War II and for years in Sweden afterwards.  Check our catalog

One More Valley, One More Hill: the Story of Aunt Clara Brown by Linda Lowery  222 pages

• Chronicles the life of the woman called Aunt Clara Brown, who was born into slavery and became a pioneer and entrepreneur, earning money to bring other former slaves to a new start in Colorado.  Check our catalog

Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan by Chi Fa Lu  212 pages

• Tells the story of the author's struggles after being orphaned at the age of three and how he held on to his dream of coming to the United States as he passed from one relative to another and was even sold to a Communist couple.  Check our catalog

Mark Twain: the Man and His Adventures by Richard B. Lyttle   231 pages

• A biography of the American humorist and writer whose writing greatly reflected the events of his life particularly his boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri.  Check our catalog

George Washington and the Founding of a Nation by Albert Marrin  276 pages

• A biography of the General of the Continental Army and the 1st President of the United States.  Check our catalog

Plains Warrior: Chief Quanah Parker and the Comanches by Albert Marrin  199 pages

• Biographical information about Comanche leader Quanah Parker with a balanced, carefully documented history of the relationship between settlers and the Comanches. Vivid descriptions of life on the Great Plains, compelling anecdotes, and lavish use of black-and-white photographs provide a strong sense of time and place as well as the personalities involved in the struggle to settle the Southwest. Check our catalog

The Sea King: Sir Francis Drake and His Times by Albert Marrin  168 pages

• In this lively, detailed account of his adventurous life, Sir Francis Drake is firmly set within the context of his times--and what times they were! From his circumnavigation of the globe (1577-1580) to his days as a privateer to his part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Drake cuts a dramatic figure.  Check our catalog

Sitting Bull and His World by Albert Marrin  246 pages

• Discusses the life of the Hunkpapa chief who is remembered for his defeat of General Custer at Little Big Horn. Check our catalog

Virginia’s General: Robert E. Lee and the Civil War by Albert Marrin  218 pages

• This biography presents Lee as a gentleman and a soldier. Beginning with Lee's pivotal decision to refuse command of the U.S. Army, the book fills in the details of his childhood, education, marriage, and career, and then concentrates on the Civil War years. Check our catalog

Sojourner Truth: ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ by Patricia McKissack 186 pages

• A biography of the former slave who became well-known as an abolitionist and advocate of women's rights.  Check our catalog

Young, Black and Determined: a Biography of Lorraine Hansberry by Patricia C. McKissack  152 pages

• A biography of the black playwright who received great recognition for her work at an early age. Check our catalog

Andrew Jackson and His America by Milton Meltzer  207 pages

• A look at the life and times of our seventh president. Check our catalog

Columbus and the World Around Him by Milton Meltzer  192 pages

• Describes the voyages of Columbus, the terrible impact of the Spaniards on the Indians, and the ultimate cultural influence of the Native Americans on their white conquerors.  Check our catalog

Theodore Roosevelt and His America by Milton Meltzer  191 pages

• Both critical and appreciative, Meltzer's biography conveys a sense of the complexities and contradictions in the president who led his country during the tumultuous first years of the twentieth century.  Check our catalog

Thomas Jefferson: the Revolutionary Aristocrat by Milton Meltzer  255 pages

• A biography of the third president who was also the author of the Declaration of Independence.  Check your catalog

Tom Paine: Voice of Revolution by Milton Meltzer  175 pages

• The story of the self-educated craftsman who earned a place in history as the voice of the American Revolution. Check our catalog

Walt Whitman a Biography by Milton Meltzer  160 pages

• A biography of the nineteenth-century poet, which presents his life in the context of his times, and includes samples of his writing.  Check our catalog

Barbara Jordan: Getting Things Done by James Mendelsohn  page 192

• Biography of the late congresswoman, this book respects the privacy that Jordan maintained in her lifetime and focuses primarily on her remarkable career in public life. An introductory chapter addresses the climate of segregation into which Jordan was born. Illustrated with selected photos of Jordan and period political events, the following chapters trace her rise through elected office to become the first black woman from the South ever elected to the U.S. Congress, followed by her abrupt retirement from public office. Check our catalog

Pick & Shovel Poet: the Journeys of Pascal D'Angelo by Jim Murphy - 162 pages

• A biography of an Italian peasant who immigrated to America in the early twentieth century and endured poverty and the difficult life of an unskilled laborer, determined to become a published poet. Check our catalog

Bad Boy: a Memoir by Walter Dean Myers  231 pages

• Myers paints a fascinating picture of his childhood growing up in Harlem in the 1940s, with an adult's benefit of hindsight, wrote PW. What emerges is a clear sense of how one young man's gifts separate him from his peers, causing him to stir up trouble in order to belong.  Check our catalog

Malcolm X: ‘By Any Means Necessary’ by Walter Dean Myers  210 pages

• Traces the life of the controversial Black leader, describes his involvement with the Nation of Islam, and looks at his speeches and assassination.  Check our catalog

Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins  192 pages

• This well-known story is considerably refreshed by Parks's personal narrative, punctuated by numerous black-and-white photographs. In simple, gracious, compelling language she describes her childhood, family life, and elusive educational opportunities. She explains how her husband encouraged and supported her participation in civil rights activities, and provides with clarity the generally paltry regard for the contributions of black women by the movement's organizers. In this recounting of her life, she corrects some media-created distortions of events.  Check our catalog

‘This Land Was Made For You And Me’: the Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie by Elizabeth Partridge  217 pages

• A biography of Woody Guthrie, a singer who wrote over 3,000 folk songs and ballads as he traveled around the United States, including "This Land is Your Land" and "So Long It's Been Good to Know Yuh." Check our catalog

Bill Peet: an Autobiography by Bill Peet  190 pages

• The well-known author and illustrator relates the story of his life and work. Check our catalog

Within Reach: My Everest Story by Mark Pfetzer  224 pages

• The author describes how he spent his teenage years climbing mountains in the United States, South America, Africa, and Asia, with an emphasis on his two expeditions up Mount Everest. Check our catalog

John Steinbeck by Catherine Reef  163 pages

• An introduction to the life and most significant works of American author John Steinbeck. Check our catalog

The Upstairs Room by Johanna Reiss  196 pages

• A Dutch Jewish girl describes the two-and-one-half years she spent in hiding in the upstairs bedroom of a farmer's house during World War II. Check our catalog

Standing Like a Stone Wall: the Life of General Thomas J. Jackson by James I. Robertson Jr. 185 pages

• A strong and complete biography of the famous Confederate general. Robertson's detailed portrait of his subject's youth reveals the many experiences that shaped the man.  Check our catalog

William Bradford: Plymouth’s Faithful Pilgrim by Gary D. Schmidt  200 pages

• Paying tribute to both the political skills and the deep spirituality of Plymouth Colony's guiding light, the author paints a warm and cohesive picture of William Bradford's role in that colony's foundation and growth.  Check our catalog

Thomas Jefferson: Architect of Democracy by John B. Severance  192 pages 

• Explores the life of the third president, from his childhood in Virginia, through his involvement in the Revolutionary War, to his years in office.  Check our catalog

A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw by Isaac Bashevis Singer 227 pages

• Nineteen autobiographical stories about the author's childhood in Poland from 1908 to 1918.  Check our catalog

Knots in My Yo-yo String: the Autobiography of a Kid by Jerry Spinelli  148 pages 

• This Italian-American Newbery Medalist presents a humorous account of his childhood and youth in Norristown, Pennsylvania.  Check our catalog

Herman Melville by Rebecca Stefoff  156 pages

• The author’s exceptional biography of Herman Melville is not only accessible in language and structure, but also an exciting read. The opening chapter places Melville and a friend, who have just abandoned their whaling ship, on a Marquesas Islands beach thousands of miles from home and reputedly inhabited by cannibals.  Check our catalog

Behind the Mask: the Life of Queen Elizabeth by Jane Resh Thomas  196 pages

• A well-crafted examination of the second daughter of Henry VIII. Before inheriting the crown, Elizabeth led an often traumatic life including imprisonment by her half-sister, Mary. However, she bore everything with a patience and wisdom that served her well when she took the reins of an England in the throes of war and religious upheaval.  Check our catalog

Behind the Secret Window: A Memoir of a Hidden Childhood During WWII by Nelly S. Toll  161 pages

• The author recalls her experiences when she and her mother were hidden from the Nazis by a Gentile couple in Lwow, Poland, during World War II.  Check our catalog

Carly Patterson: Olympic Idol by Susan Valentine  160 pages

• Information about Carly's early life, start in gymnastics, earlier meets, etc. Most of the meet information was compiled from articles already written about Carly. Does not cover the 2004 Athens Olympics but goes to the 2004 American Cup.  Check our catalog

Hostage to War: a True Story by Tatjana Wassiljewa  188 pages

• The author relates her experiences from 1941-1953 as she struggles to survive as a Russian teenager caught up in all the horrors of World War II and its aftermath.  Check our catalog

Ryan White: My Own Story by Ryan White  260 pages

• Ryan White describes how he got AIDS, engaged in a legal battle to return to school, and became a celebrity and spokesman for issues concerning the deadly disease.  Check our catalog

In the YA Section:

The Diary of a Young Girl: the Definitive Edition by Anne Frank  340 pages

• This new translation of Frank's famous diary includes material about her emerging sexuality and her relationship with her mother that was originally excised by Frank's father, the only family member to survive the Holocaust.  Check our Catalog 

October Sky: a Memoir by Homer Hickam  428 pages

• Originally published as "Rocket Boys", this bestseller--based on a true story--follows a group of boys in a small West Virginia town in 1957 as they light up the skies with their flaming rockets and dreams of glory.  Check our catalog

Red Scarf Girl: a Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Li-Li Jiang  285 pages

• A true-story of Ji-li Jiang, twelve year-old girl, whose family is accused of capitalist crimes during China's Cultural Revolution. Check our catalog

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller  225 pages

• This book–published when Keller was only twenty-two–portrays the wild child who is locked in the dark and silent prison of her own body. With an extraordinary immediacy, Keller reveals her frustrations and rage, and takes the reader on the unforgettable journey of her education and breakthroughs into the world of communication.  Check our catalog

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah  205 pages

• A riveting memoir of a girl's painful coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the 1940s. A Chinese proverb says, "Falling leaves return to their roots." In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair. Check our catalog

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke 276 pages

• Recounts the experiences of the author who, as a young Polish girl, hid and saved Jews during the Holocaust. Check the catalog