On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon and, to an audience of over 450 million people, proclaimed his step a "giant leap for mankind." This Eagle Scout built his own model planes as a little boy and then grew up to be a test pilot
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. won the world heavyweight championship at the age of 22, the same year he joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He would go on to become the first--and only--three-time (in succession) World Heavyweig
Born into a close knit family in Chicago, Michelle Robinson was a star student who graduated from Princeton and Harvard Law. Then in 1992, she married another promising young lawyer and the rest, as they say, is history.
Grab your Js and hit the court with this Who Was? biography about NBA superstar Michael Jordan.
Meet the man who changed the game forever. Michael Jordan has always been competitive--even as a young boy, he fought for attention. His need to be the best
Malala Yousafzai was a girl who loved to learn but was told that girls would no longer be allowed to go to school. She wrote a blog that called attention to what was happening in her beautiful corner of Pakistan and realized that words can bring about cha
Even as a kid, everyone thought Jeff Kinney was talented. People loved his drawings, and when he went to college, his comic strip Igdoof was so popular that it spread to other universities! Still, Jeff faced challenges. His cartoons were rejected by syndi
Jane Goodall, born in London, England, always loved animals and wanted to study them in their natural habitats. So at age twenty-six, off she went to Africa! Goodall's up-close observations of chimpanzees changed what we know a
Everyone loves Harry Potter. Now kids can learn about Harry's creator!
In 1995, on a four-hour-delayed train from Manchester to London, J. K. Rowling conceived of the idea of a boy wizard named Harry Potter. Upon arriving in London, she began imme
As a field reporter in the 1960s, Gloria Steinem worked hard to dig up important stories. She went undercover to expose the grim realities of gender inequality in America. As her message continued to grow, she became the spokeswoman of the women’s liberat
As a child his passions were comics and cars, but George Lucas grew up to be one of the most successful filmmakers of all time. He is a producer, screenwriter, director and entrepreneur whose company Lucasfilms pioneered the movie effects that changed th
Born in a little cabin in Tennessee, Dolly Parton always dreamed big, and she was right to! She wrote her first song at age five and became a country music star by the time she was in her early twenties. Of course, her success didn't stop there. Doll
When Derek Jeter was eight years old, he announced that he was going to play baseball for the New York Yankees. Jeter earned the attention of major league scouts in high school and was drafted to the New York Yankees in 1992. Named Rookie of the Year, he
How did an Irish schoolboy become the lead singer of a world-famous rock band and the founder of several humanitarian groups? Track Bono's rise to fame in this exciting addition to the Who Was? series.
A singer-songwriter, musician, and artist, Bob Dylan is an American icon. In the past five decades, Dylan's work has influenced everyone from John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, and David Bowie to rapper Eminem. Young music lovers will be fascinated by t
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 revoluti
As the world now knows, Barack Obama has made history as our first African-American president.
With black-and-white illustrations throughout, this biography is perfect for primary graders looking for a longer, fuller life story than is found in the aut
The Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending takes us on a rich, witty tour of Belle Epoque Paris, via the life story of the pioneering surgeon Samuel Pozzi
In the summer of 1885, three Frenchmen arrived in London for a few days’ shopp
In Understanding Chang-rae Lee, Amanda M. Page provides the first critical survey of the work of one of America’s most acclaimed contemporary novelists. Chang-rae Lee, the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor of English at Stanford University, has bee
For three decades Dario Fo has been the world's most performed living playwright and Europe's leading radical dramatist. He was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of 71 for his contributions as a writer, actor and mime artist