Biographies

 Biography

There are many ways to tell the story of a real person. Picture books generally tell of one eventful time in a person’s life, as Olshan does in A voyage in the Clouds. Because they are usually designed for children, some picture books tell more about the person in question, including background on the childhood. Barnum’s Bones by Tracey Fern does a particularly good job of this. Many picture books use a small amount of text but others use a great deal of text and are really written for older readers, even though there are pictures to go with the story. Some picture book biographies embellish the story to make it interesting and engaging for young readers. Olshan gets away with this because he gives more faculty information in his notes section and he makes clear which parts are conjecture on his part. Others use only the known facts, but still tell the story in a way that is engaging and keeps the attention of young readers. Whether you like a wordy, informative book, or a more low-key book that gives just enough information to whet your appetite for more, you will find something to like in this latest collection from MacMillan. I would just remind the publisher and editors at MacMillan: there are historical figures that are not white and male. Let’s have a few of their stories next time.

Listen: How Pete Seeger Got America Singing by Leda Schubert, Pictures by Raul Colon

Schubert gives some important information about Pete Seeger and his life as a singer and activist. But, the information is scattered and interspersed with song titles, making the narrative somewhat choppy. The timeline at the end of the book gives a more linear and easy to understand glimpse at Seeger’s life.

Newton’s Rainbow: The Revolutionary Discoveries of a Young Scientist by Kathryn Lasky, 

Pictures by Kevin Hawkes

Chock full of ideas, anecdotes and stories about Newton’s life, especially his years as a child and adolescent. Both his great cleverness of mind and serendipity played a role in his becoming a world renown scholar and scientist. Lasky is wordy and gives example after example of how Newton made his discoveries and why these discoveries are important to the world of science and technology. While presented in a picture book with lavish drawings on every page, this is not for the younger readers, but rather a super resource for intermediate readers who yearn to learn more about science and the greats within the field.

Barnum’s Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World

by Tracey Fern, Pictures by Boris Kulikov

From the first page with a description of how Barnum Brown got his name, Fern has captured my attention and I am sure she will capture the attention of child readers, especially those who are interested in paleontology. Barnum Brown is a fascinating character and both the words and pictures work seamlessly together to tell his story in an engaging way. Imagine the two page spread where Fern describes searching for dinosaur bones in the badlands of Montana. It is October and growing cold. Barnum packs up his bones on a wagon to be carted 130 miles to a train. “Along the way, Barnum couldn’t resist collecting some interesting leaves and what he thought might be four ancient crocodile skeletons, too.” And the illustration shows him striding behind a wagon piled high with bones, cloaked in a full length fur coat, with the skeletons of several crocodiles tucked under his arm. What a picture for the imagination to run with!

Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra by Stephen Costanza

Given the title, I imagined that this book would be a partial biography telling about an event in the life of Vivaldi, the composer. Had I paid more attention to the cover illustration, I might have had a better idea of how this story would go. Basing the book on some true events, the author has improvised a tale that tells of the possible author of four sonnets that go with Vivaldi’s renown piece of music, “The Four Seasons.” While the story is somewhat fanciful, it is also full of facts about Vivaldi and his practice of writing music for a group of female orphans who performed his music hidden behind a curtain. There is also information here about the practice of copying musical scores by hand.

John Deere, That’s Who! By Tracy Nelson Maurer, Illustrated by Tim Zeltner

Who hasn’t heard of John Deere? While many of us have heard of the company and know what a John Deere tractor is, few know the story of the original John Deere or how he invented a plow that would work well in mid-western farmland. The story of a resourceful man who used his observation of the world and his knowledge of blacksmithing to invent a tool to make farmers’ lives better. What could be better than that!

John Ronald’s Dragons: The Story of J. R. R. Tolkien by Caroline McAlister, 

Illustrated by Eliza Wheeler

As a young orphaned boy, living with an unfriendly aunt, John Ronald dreamed of dragons. Years later, as a professor at Oxford, his mind once again turned to dragons and he began writing stories, including The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Author’s Note adds more details about Tolkien’s early life as well as details about his writing of his most famous works. Wheeler has given us realistic drawings of Tolkien as a boy, which alternate with the fanciful pictures of the dragons in his imagination. Throughout, the use of lush colors adds to the appeal of this book.

A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Flight by Balloon in 1785 by Matthew Olshan, Illustrated by Sophie Blackall 

In 1875, Dr. John Jeffries and Jean Pierre Blanchard successfully crossed the English Channel in a hot air balloon. As Olshan tells the story, there was disagreement from in incept and they barely made it across the channel with their two dogs, Henry and Henri. The Author’s Note gives insight into which parts are factual and which are things that he has surmised from reading the accounts of the day. Blackall uses cartoonish faces and dark colors to represent the two men on their eventful voyage. 

Thanks to MacMillan for providing these books.