Who Was J.R.R. Tolkien?

Author	Dana Meachen Rau
ISBN	0448482355

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 in British-occupied India. Though he studied law in London and spent his early adulthood in South Africa, he remained devoted to his homeland and spent the later part of his life working to make India an independent nation.

Calling for non-violent...

Author

Sydelle Kramer

When Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in 1519, he believed he could get to the Spice Islands by sailing west through or around the New World. He was right, but what he didn't know was that the treacherous voyage would take him three years and cost him his life. Black-and-white line...

Author	Geoff Edgers
ISBN	0448482975

Born in California in 1912, Julia Child enlisted in the Army and met her future husband, Paul, during World War II. She discovered her love of French food while stationed in Paris and enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu cooking school after her service. Child knew that Americans would love French food as much as...

Author	Stephanie Spinner
ISBN	0448479532

Clarissa "Clara" Barton was a shy girl who grew up to become a teacher, nurse, and humanitarian.  At a time when few women worked outside the home, she became the first woman to hold a government job, as a patent clerk in Washington, DC.

In 1864, she was appointed "lady in charge" of the hospitals...

Author	Roberta Edwards
ISBN	0448443015

Leonardo da Vinci was a gifted painter, talented musician, and dedicated scientist and inventor, designing flying machines, submarines, and even helicopters.  Yet he had a hard time finishing things, a problem anyone can relate to.  Only thirteen paintings are known to be his; as for the illustrated...

Author

Gail Herman

After breaking or tying more than sixty records in hockey, it's no wonder that Wayne Gretzky is known as "The Great One." Born in Brantford, Ontario, on January 26, 1961, in a nation obsessed with the sport, he threw himself into the game practically from the time he first laced up a pair of skates. When...

Author	Nico Medina
ISBN	0448480832

He came. He saw. He conquered. Julius Caesar was a force to be reckoned with as a savvy politician, an impressive orator, and a brave soldier. Born in Rome in 100 BC, he quickly climbed the ladder of Roman politics, making allies--and enemies--along the way. His victories in battle awarded him the support...

Author	Jim O'Connor
ISBN	0448464616

This book should have been called "Who Was Bob Dylan a Dick To?" The author seems to have a giant vendetta against Dylan, and did not want this assignment. The 'Who Was/Is..." series of books never shies away from the darker side of its subjects, but this book just seemed to be a long series of people Dylan...

Author	Janet B. Pascal
ISBN	0448479133

Born prematurely on Christmas day, Isaac Newton would soon change the world.

I find it very interesting that Newton was guided towards his discoveries through some key incidents.

1) His mother moved into his step-father’s house abandoning him. He despised his step-father and...

Author	April Jones Prince
ISBN	0448479117

Born into slavery in Maryland in 1818, Frederick Douglass was determined to gain freedom--and once he realized that knowledge was power, he secretly learned to read and write to give himself an advantage. After escaping to the North in 1838, as a free man he gave powerful speeches about his experience...

Author	Ann Waldron
ISBN	0448449854

Claude Monet is considered one of the most influential artists of all time. He is a founder of the French Impressionist art movement, and today his paintings sell for millions of dollars. While Monet was alive, however, his work was often criticized and he struggled financially. With over one hundred...

Author

Kathryn Waterfield

Alexander the Great conquers the New York Times best-selling Who Was...? series!

When Alexander was a boy in ancient Macedon, he already had grand ambitions. He complained that his father, the great king of Macedon, wasn't leaving anything for him to conquer! This, of course, was not the case....

Author	Yona Zeldis McDonough
ISBN	0448486784

Almost 100 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, Sojourner Truth was mistreated by a streetcar conductor. She took him to court--and won! Before she was Sojourner Truth, she was known simply as Belle. Born a slave in New York sometime around 1797, she was later sold and separated from...

Author	Jim Gigliotti
ISBN	0448482991

Born a humble girl in what is now Albania, Agnes Bojaxhiu lived a charitable life. She pledged herself to a religious order at the age of 18 and chose the name Sister Teresa, after the patron saint of missionaries. While teaching in India, where famine and violence had devastated the poor, Teresa shed...

Author

Sarah Fabiny

Born into wealth in 1860’s London, Beatrix Potter always had a vivid imagination. Her early interests included natural history and archaeology, and Potter delighted in sketching fossils and fungi. After briefly illustrating Christmas cards with her brother, Bertram, Potter wrote and illustrated...

Author	Kirsten Anderson
ISBN	0448488477

Meet the man behind the board games: Milton Bradley.

Born in Maine in 1836, Milton Bradley moved with his family to the working-class city of Lowell, Massachusetts, at age 11. His early life consisted of several highs and lows, from graduating high school and attending Harvard to getting laid...

Author

Patricia Brennan Demuth

Bill Gates, born in Seattle, Washington, in 1955, is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author.

In this Who Was...? biography, children will learn of Gates' childhood passion for computer technology, which led him to revolutionize personal computers. Through...

Author

Megan Stine

Born in Gary, Indiana, on August 29, 1958, Michael Jackson was definitely not a regular kid. A superstar with The Jackson 5 before he was eight years old, he became the King of Pop as a solo artist. Michael was a creative--yet deeply troubled--genius who always remained devoted to his art right up until...

Author	Michael Burgan
ISBN	0448479451

He was only 42 years old when he was sworn in as President of the United States in 1901, making TR the youngest president ever.  But did you know that he was also the first sitting president to win the Nobel Peace Prize? The first to ride in a car? The first to fly in an airplane? Theodore Roosevelt’s achievements...

Author	James Buckley Jr.
ISBN	0448483076

At the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, track and field star Jesse Owens ran himself straight into international glory by winning four gold medals. But the life of Jesse Owens is much more than a sports story. Born in rural Alabama under the oppressive Jim Crow laws, Owens's family suffered many hardships....