Biography

Most books listed here are picture book length biographies;
some are compendiums covering either many individuals or providing a few lengthier accounts
* indicate chapter-length books more suitable for older readers

28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World
Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek
Abe Lincon’s Hat
Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas
Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball
Abraham Lincoln
Across a Dark and Wild Sea
Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine
Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science
Ada’s Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World’s First Computer Programmer
The Adventurous Chef: Alexis Soyer
Agatha Christie
*All in a Drop: How Antony van Leeuwenhoek Discovered an Invisible World
All Star!: Honus Wagner and the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever
All Star: How Larry Doby Smashed the Color Barrier in Baseball
Althea Gibson: The Story of Tennis’ Fleet-of-Foot Girl

America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle
And I Paint It: Henriette Wyeth’s World
Anne Frank
Annie and Helen
Anthology of Amazing Women
Antsy Ansel: Ansel Adams, A Life in Nature
*Around the World
*Attucks!: Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team that Awakened a Nation
Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children’s Books
Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade
Barbed Wire Baseball: How One Man Brought Hope to the Japanese Internment Camps of WWII
Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare
Bartali’s Bicycle: The True Story of Gino Bartali, Italy’s Secret Hero
Beatrix Potter and Her Paint Box
Beatrix Potter, Scientist
Beautiful Useful Things: What William Morris Made
Before She Was Harriet

*Before They Were Authors: Famous Writers as Kids
Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the First Black-and-White Jazz Band in History
Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery
Big George: How a Shy Boy Became President Washington
Big Machines: The Story of Virginia Lee Burton
*The Bird in Me Flies
Black Whiteness: Admiral Byrd Alone in the Antarctic
Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci
*Blood Brother: Jonathan Daniel and His Sacrifice for Civil Rights
Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli
The Bluest of Blues: Anna Atkins and the First Book of Photographs
Bon Appetit!: The Delicious Life of Julia Child
A Boy, a Mouse, and a Spider: The Story of E.B. White

A Boy Called Dickens
The Boy who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon
The Boy who Grew a Forest
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdös
Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909
Brave Jane Austen: Reader, Writer, Author, Rebel
The Bravest Woman in America
*Brown Girl Dreaming
Brush of the Gods
Buffalo Bird Girl

Building on Nature: The Life of Antoni  Gaudi
Building Zaha: The Story of Architect Zaha Hadid
Buzzing with Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner
By and By: Charles Albert Tindley, the Father of Gospel Music
Calling the Doves
Caroline’s Comets
Carter Reads the Newspaper
The Cat Man of Aleppo
*Catherine’s War
*Chance: Escape from the Holocaust – Memories of a Refugee Childhood
Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony Inspired by Historical Facts
Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code
Child of St Kilda
Child of the Civil Rights Movement
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Through the Gates and Beyond
*Chuck Close: Face Book

Claude Monet: The Painter Who Stopped the Trains
*Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
Clemente!
Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois
Cook’s Cook: The Cook who Cooked for Captain Cook
Counting the Stars: The Story of Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician
Crossing Niagara: The Death-Defying Tightrope Adventures of the Great Blondin
Cubs in the Tub: The True Story of the Bronx Zoo’s First Woman Zookeeper
The Dalai Lama
Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln
Dancing Through Fields of Color: The Story of Helen Frankenthaler
Dangerous Jane
Danza: Amalia Hernandez and el Ballet Folkloric de Mexico
The Daring Nellie Bly: America’s Star Reporter
Dark Fiddler: THe Life and Legend of Nicolo Paganini
Dark Was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson’s Journey to the Stars
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer’s Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors
Delivering Justice: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights
Digging for Words: José Alberto Gutiérrez and the Library He Built
Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido d”Arezzo
Dolley Madison
Dolley Madison Saves George Washington
Dolores Huerta: A Hero to Migrant Workers
*Dovey Undaunted: A Black Woman Breaks Barriers in the Law, the Military, and the Ministry
Down the Colorado: John Wesley Powell, One-Armed Explorer
Dr. Jo: How Sara Josephine Baker Saved the Lives of America’s Children
Draw What You See: The Life and Art of Benny Andrews
Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon
A Dream of Flight: Alberto Santos-Dumont’s Race Around the Eiffel Tower
*The Dreamer
Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music
Edward Hopper: Painter of Light and Shadow

Eleanor
Eleanor, Quiet No More
Electric Ben
Elephant Man
Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton
Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty
Emmaline Pankhurst
Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
Enormous Smallness: A Story of E.E. Cummings
Everest: The Remarkable Story of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
*Everything Sad is Untrue (a true story)
Evonne Goolagong
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
Extraordinary People

The Fabled Life of Aesop
*Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler
Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Patsy Takemoto Mink and the Fight for Title IX
Fancy Party Gowns: The Story of Fashion Designer Ann Cole Lowe
The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau
The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau
Far Beyond the Garden Gate
Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person Ever to Run a Marathon
Fearless Flyer: Ruth Law and Her Flying Machine
Fearless World Traveler: Adventures of Marianne North, Botanical Artist
Feed Your Mind: A Story of August Wilson
Finding Narnia: The Story of C.S. Lewis and His Brother
First Mothers
Florence Nightingale
*Florence Nightingale: The Courageous Life of the Legendary Nurse
The Flower Hunter: William Bartram, America’s First Naturalist

Flying High: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles
Footwork: The Story of Fred and Adele Astaire
For the Birds: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson
Forest Fighter: The Story of Chico Mendes
Frederick Douglas: A Noble Life
Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History
Fredericks’ Journey: The Life of Frederick Douglass
Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala
Freedom Song: The Story of Henry “Box” Brown
From the Good Mountain: How Gutenberg Changed the World
*Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect
Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras
Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams
The Gardener of Alcatraz
*The Genius Under the Table: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
George Bellows: Painter with a Punch!

George Did It
George Washington
*George Washington, Spymaster
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue
A Girl Called Genghis Khan
Girl on a Motorcycle
Girl Running: Bobbi Gibb and the Boston Marathon
The Girl Who Could Fix Anything: Beatrice Shilling, World War II Engineer
*The Girl Who Drew Butterflies:How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science
The Girl who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney
Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenuous Inventions by Women
Gizmos, Gadgets, and Guitars: The Story of Leo Fender
The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code

Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail
Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho
Growing Up Pedro
Hammering for Freedom
Hans Christian Andersen: The Journey of His Life
Hard Work, But it’s Worth It: The Life of Jimmy Carter
Harlem’s Little Blackbird:The Story of Florence Mills
*Harriet Tubman
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez
Headstrong Hallie!: The Story of Hallie Morse Daggett, the First Female “Fire Guard”
*Heart of a Samurai
Hello, Neighbor: The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers
Henry Aaron’s Dream
Henry’s Freedom Box
Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon
Here Come the Girl Scouts: The Amazing All-true Story of Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low and her Great Adventure
Herstory: 50 Women and Girls who Shook Up the World
Hiawatha and the Peacemaker

Hidden Figures: The Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
The Highest Tribute: Thurgood Marshall’s Life, Leadership, and Legacy
Hildegard of Bingen: Scientist, Composer, Healer & Saint
*His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg
*Hitler
Hokusai: The Man who Painted a Mountain
The House Baba Built: An Artist’s Childhood in China
The House that Jane Built: A Story about Jane Addams
How Emily Saved the Bridge: The Story of Emily Warren Roebling and the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
How Kate Warne Saved President Lincoln
I Am an American: The Wong Kim Ark Story
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark
I Have a Dream: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I, Matthew Henson: Polar Explorer
Ida and the World Beyond Mount Kaiserzipf: The Life of Ida Pfeiffer, Globe-Trotter
Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told

In Mary’s Garden
Indian Boyhood
Into the Deep: The Life of Naturalist and Explorer William Beebe
*Into the Unknown: How Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air
Ira’s Shakespeare Dream
Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto
Irena’s Jars of Secrets
The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse
It Began With a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way
Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin: The Story of Young Itzhak Perlman
I’ve Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jake Makes a World: Jacob Lawrence, a Young Artist in Harlem
Jesus

*Jim Thorpe: Original All-American
Jim Thorpe’s Bright Path
Joan of Arc
Joan Proctor, Dragon Doctor
Joey: The Story of Joe Biden
Johann Sebastian Bach
John Lewis in the Lead: A Story of the Civil Rights Movement
John Muir: America’s First Environmentalist
John, Paul, George, and Ben
John Ronald’s Dragons: The Story of J.R.R. Tolkien
Jonas Hanway’s Scurrilous, Scandalous, Shockingly Sensational Umbrella
Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell
The Journey that Saved Curious George
Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston
Jump: From the Life of Michael Jordan
June Almeida, Virus Detective: The Woman Who Discovered the First Human Coronavirus
Just Being Audrey
Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice
Karl, Get Out of the Garden: Carolus Linnaeus and the Naming of Everything
Kate’s Light: Kate Walker at Robbin’s Reef Lighthouse

Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing
The Kid from Diamond Street: The Extraordinary Story of Baseball Legend Edith Houghton
Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor
Knockin’ On Wood: Starring Peg Leg Bates
A Lady Has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks Out for Women’s Rights
The Leaf Detective: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest
*Leaving China: An Artist Paints His World War II Childhood
Leontyne Price:Voice of a Century
Let ‘Er Buck: George Fletcher, the People’s Champion
*Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters
Let Your Voice Be Heard: The Life and Times of Pete Seeger
Liberty’s Voice: The Story of Emma Lazarus
A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Inés
*The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler

The Life and Times of Martin Luther
A Life Electric: The Story of Nikola Tesla
Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle
A Life Made by Hand: The Story of Ruth Asawa
Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker
Lighter Than Air: Sophie Blanchard, First Woman Pilot
Lights! Camera! Alice!: The Thrilling True Adventures of the First Woman Filmmaker
Like a Diamond in the Sky: Jane Taylor’s Beloved Poem of Wonder and the Stars
*Lincoln: A Photobiography
Lincoln and His Boys
Lincoln Tells a Joke: How Laughter Saved the President (And The Country)
Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, A Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion
Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
The Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, Jazz Legend

Lizzie Demands a Seat!: Elizabeth Jennings Fights for Streetcar Rights
Long-Armed Ludy and the First Women’s Olympics
Long May She Wave: The True Story of Caroline Pickersgill and her Star-Spangled Creation
Look Up!: Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer
Looking at Lincon
*Lost Boy Lost Girl: Escaping Civil War in Sudan
Lost Boy: The Story of the Man Who Created Peter Pan
Lotte’s Magical Paper Puppets: The Woman Behind the First Animated Feature Film
Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer
Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Mad Potter: George Ohr, Eccentric Genius
Madame Saqui: Revolutionary Rope Dancer
Mae Makes a Way: The True Story of Mae Reeves, Hat and History Maker
Magic Ramen: The Story of Momouko Ando
Make Meatballs Sing: The Life & Art of Corita Kent
Make Your Mark, Franklin Roosevelt
Malala: Activist for Girls’ Education

The Man who Loved Libraries: The Story of Andrew Carnegie
Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau
Manjhi Moves a Mountain
Manjiro: The Boy Who Risked His Life for Two Countries
Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime
*March, volumes 1,2, and 3
Marco Polo
Maria Montessori
Marie Curie
Mario and the Hole in the Sky: How a Chemist Saved our Planet
*Marooned: The Strange but True Adventures of Alexander Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe
Martin and Mahalia: His Words, Her Song
Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert
Martin Rising: Requiem for a King

Mary Cassatt: Extraordinary Impressionist Painter
Mary Seacole: Bound for the Battlefield
Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein
Matisse’s Garden
Maya Angelou
Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines
*Maya Lin: Thinking With Her Hands
Me…Jane
*Meet Cindy Sherman: Artist, Photographer, Chameleon
Memphis, Martin and the Mountaintop
Mickey Mantle: The Commerce Comet
Miep and the Most Famous Diary: The Woman who Rescued Anne Frank’s Diary
Miguel’s Brave Knight
Minette’s Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and her Cat

Miracle Man: The Story of Jesus
Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers
Miss Mary Reporting: The True Story of Sportswriter Mary Garber
Miss Moore Thought Otherwise: How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children
Miss Paul and the President: The Creative Campaign for Women’s Right to Vote
Monet Paints a Day
Monument Maker: Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln Memorial
*More Than Marmalade: Michael Bond and the Story of Paddington Bear
Mornings with Monet
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Mother Teresa
Mr. Ferris and His Wheel
Mr. Matisse and His Cutouts

Mrs. Harkness and the Panda
Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Water
Music for the End of Time
The Music of Life: Bartolomeo Cristofori and the Invention of the Piano
My Heart Glow: Alice Cogswell, Thomas Gallaudet, and the Birth of American Sign Language
My Name is Truth: The Life of Sojourner Truth
My Story My Dance: Robert Battle’s Journey to Alvin Ailey
My Wild Life: Adventures of a Wildlife Photographer
Nacho’s Nachos: The Story Behind the World’s Favorite Snack
A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis
Nelson Mandela
Neymar: A Soccer Dream Come True
Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued
Night Flight: Amelia Earhart Crosses the Atlantic
Niki Nakayama: A Chef’s Tale in Thirteen Bites
Nina: A Story of Nina Simone
No Easy Way: The Story of Ted Williams and the Last .400 Season
Noah Webster’s Fighting Words

The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art
Nonsense: The Curious Story of Edward Gorey
Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson
Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics
Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero
Nyjah Huston: Skateboard Superstar
Ocean Speaks: How Maria Tharp Revealed the Ocean’s Biggest Secret
Odetta: Queen of Folk
Of Numbers and Stars: The Story of Hypatia
The Old Man Mad About Drawing: A Tale of Hokusai
The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read
On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein
On Wings of Words: The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson
Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons: An Enslaved Woman Fights for Freedom
One Fun Day with Lewis Carroll: A Celebration of Wordplay and a Girl Named Alice
111 Trees: How One Village Celebrates the Birth of Every Girl
Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen
Out of School and into Nature: The Story of Anna Comstock
Out of this World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington

Paiute Princess: The Story of Sarah Winnemucca
Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist
A Passion for Elephants: The Real Life Adventure of Field Scientist Cynthia Moss
Peace and Me: Inspired by the Lives of Nobel Peace Laureates
Pele: King of Soccer
The People Awards
The Perfect Wizard: Hans Christian Andersen
Perkin’s Perfect Purple: How a Boy Created Color with Chemistry
Piano Starts Here:The Young Art Tatum
Picturing America: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Art
Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Pippo the Fool
A Place to Land: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation
Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai
*The Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero
Pocket Full of Colors: The Magical World of Mary Blair, Disney artist extraordinaire
A Poem for Peter
Poet: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton
The Polio Pioneer: Dr. Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine
Polka Dot Parade: A Book About Bill Cunningham
Portrait of an Artist: Frida Kahlo
The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne
Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis
The Queen and the First Christmas Tree
Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom
Queen of the Falls

The Quest for Z: The True Story of Explorer Percy Fawcett and a Lost City in the Amazon
Quiet Hero: The Ira Hayes Story
Rachel Carson and Her Book that Changed the World
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Sa, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist
Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrender
Regina Persisted: An Untold Story
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul
The Revolutionary John Adams
The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus
Rise!: From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou
A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams
The Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum
Rock & Roll Highway: The Robbie Robinson Story

Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories
Rosa
Sacagawea
Saint Valentine
*Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune
Sanctuary: Kip Tiernan and Rosie’s Place, the Nation’s First Shelter for Women
Sandy’s Circus: A Story about Alexander Calder
Sarah Gives Thanks
*Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow
Saving the Countryside: The Story of Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit
Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library
Sebastian: A Book About Bach
The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver
The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India, and a Hidden World of Art
Seurat and La Grand Jatte: Connecting the Dots
Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story