The Best Historical Biographies for Kids
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Biographies are wonderful for bringing historical people to life for kids. Through the stories of notable people from history, kids connect with them and see them in a different light than they do from facts in a textbook. Introducing biographies at a young age equips kids for more difficult non-fiction studies later on, and they might even find a favorite person they want to learn more about. Teedie: The Story of Young Teddy Roosevelt (see below) is one of my youngest son’s favorite books, and he became interested in the life of Teddy Roosevelt after we read it the first time. This led to him wanting to learn all he could about Teddy Roosevelt through other books and research on the internet. At a young age, my son was learning research skills due to the spark that a simple picture book started.
Biographies for Kids is a difficult topic to narrow down, but I’ve compiled this list of our top favorites for young kids. I hope you’ll find something that interests you from my list. If you have any recommendations to add, let us know in the comments below.
Happy reading!
Freebie: Presidents Activity Pack Printable
Click here or on the image below for our free printable activity pack! This activity pack is perfect for celebrating Washington’s Birthday, Lincoln’s Birthday, and President’s Day. It includes library checklists for books about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, Fact vs. Opinion activity, Venn Diagram activity, copywork, and notebook pages. (Elementary, Middle)
Our favorite historical biographies for kids
- Me . . . Jane
- Teedie: The Story of Young Teddy Roosevelt
- Snowflake Bentley
- Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei
- The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon (Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12)
- Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books
- Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving
- Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (Caldecott Honor Book)
- The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss
- Prairie Girl: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House)
- From the Good Mountain: How Gutenberg Changed the World
- The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According To Susy)
- Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World
- The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane
- The Story Of Ruby Bridges: Special Anniversary Edition
- Henri’s Scissors
- Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement (Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor (Awards))
- How I Learned Geography
- The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (Caldecott Honor Book)
- Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave
- The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey
- George Washington
- The Hiding Place
- Franklin and Winston: A Christmas That Changed the World (Junior Library Guild Selection)
The most popular post from last week was:
HOW TO GUARANTEE THAT OUR KIDS DON’T END UP LIKE… from How To Guru
Our hosts will still share a themed selection of our favorite books each week.
If you’d like to join us as a co-host for What to Read Wednesday, please contact Anne.
This list has our book themes for 2016, but you don’t have to stick to that to link up–any family-friendly posts are welcome. So, come on! Join in the fun!
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Pinned! I love reading biographies with my boys. So many books….. not enough time to read them ALL!
Exactly how I feel–there just aren’t enough hours in the day to read all I want to read!