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Please share your top 5 favorite picture book biographies. Any time period.
Thanks,
Tracey
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MaryM
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Five?...Only five?...are you serious?..... 
OK, I'll try to narrow it down and get back to this thread. 
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Mary M. in Denver
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MaryM
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Tracey...this is killing me...  because there are so many great picture book biographies we really enjoy. Honestly, I can't say if these are my top five - but I guess they are tonight. The first 2 are definites on the list, after that it was really hard to narrow down.
Snowflake Bentley – Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Farmer George Plants a Nation – Peggy Thomas
Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America - Kathi Appelt
Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln – Doreen Rappaport OR Abe Lincoln Remmbers – Ann Turner
(Both are Lincolcn books and I couldn't decide so I guess I "cheated" a little!  )
Abbie Against the Storm: The True Story of a Young Heroine and a Lighthouse - Marcia K. Vaughan and Bill Farnsworth
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Mary M. in Denver
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Mary-
Thanks for responding.
By all means, add more favorites! I didn't want to be greedy in my request but I would love to hear more of your top picks!
Thanks,
Tracey
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Waverley
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Our top five (sorry I don't have the authors handy):
Martin's Big Words: about Martin Luther King Jr.
When Marian Sang: the story of opera singer Marian Anderson and how she came to sing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle - the first woman to swim across the English Channel
Henry's Freedom Box: based on the story of a slave who mailed himself to freedom
Moses: The Story of Harriet Tubman - exquisite illustrations with telling the story of Harriet Tubman and how she became known as the "Moses of her people"
I can't wait to hear what everybody else lists!
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Waverley
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Abbie Against the Storm
... and any of the D'Aulaire books!
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Henry Works
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MaryM
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I know this was over a year and a half ago. I contributed some favorites at the time...but this got me on a run of reviewing more picture book biographies.
I am really attracted to this genre - I think it is where some of the best picture book work is happening right now. There are more and more biographies coming out all the time. So for quite some time I've been working on something to add to this thread. Because there is so much to choose from picking only 5 the first time was hard.
I've now compiled a list of "5 top picks" in a variety of biographical categories - and in some I even had to do a list of males and females because there are so many options. And in some I include more than 5 - well just because I had to - so there are between 4 and 6 for most categories. I tried to include a variety of authors so didn't list all the books by one author even though they are excellent as well. There are quite a few authors who are specializing in picture book biographies. Then there are some that aren't necessarily the best "picture books" in the strict sense of picture books - but are excellent biographies (though more non-fiction that picture book - example Venezia). I included a few of those to show the exent of what is available. I also tried to include only one book on a particular person so there is more variety of individuals covered. For example there are quite a few great biographies on Mary Anning, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Abraham Lincoln, Jackie Robinson, Sacagawea, (to name a few) but I only did one per individual. So what I'm trying to say is this is a big list - but there MANY more really good picture book biographies out there.
Naturalists
The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon (Jacqueline Davies)
In the Belly of an Ox: The Unexpected Photographic Adventures of Richard and Cherry Kearton (Rebecca Bond)
John Muir: America’s Naturalist (Thomas Locker)
Rachel: The Story of Rachel Carson (Amy Ehrlich)
Yellowstone Moran: Painting the American West ( Lita Judge)
Musicians
Men:
Sebastian: A Book About Bach (Jeanette Winter)
Young Mozart (Rachel Isadora)
Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People (Bonnie Christensen)
Once Upon a Time in Chicago: The Story of Benny Goodman (Jonah Winter)
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra (Andrea Pinkney)
Home on the Range: John A. Lomax and His Cowboy Songs (Deborah Hopkinson)
Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido D'Arezzo (Susan Roth)
Women:
Secret World of Hildegard (Jonah Winter)
When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson (Pam Munoz Ryan)
Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa (Andrea Pinkney)
Ragtime Tumpie (Alan Schroeder)
Bessie Smith and the Night Riders (Sue Stauffacher)
Authors/Writers/Poets
Women:
Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (William Anderson)
A Voice of Her Own: A Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet (Kathryn Lasky)
Wanda Gag: The Girl Who Lived to Draw (Deborah Kogan Ray)
The Divide (Emily Arnold McCully)
Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott (Yona Zeldis McDonaough)
Uncle Emily ( Jane Yolen)
Men:
William Shakespeare & the Globe (Aliki)
River Boy, The Story of Mark Twain (William Anderson)
Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman (Marc Tyler Nobleman)
Carl Sandburg: Adventures of a Poet (Penelope Niven)
Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumps in the Life of L. Frank Baum (Kathleen Krull)
Walt Whitman: Words for America (Barbara Kerley)
Frontier & Old West Figures
Daniel Boone's Great Escape (Michael Spradlin)
Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy US Marshal (Vaunda Nelson)
Buffalo Bill (Ingri Parim D’aulaire)
Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy (Andrea Davis Pinkney)
Shooting for the Moon: The Amazing Life and Times of Annie Oakley (Stephen Krensky)
Cooks & Chefs
Fannie in the Kitchen (Deborah Hopkinson)
The Greatest Potatoes (Penelope Stowell)
Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You a Pie: A Story of Edna Lewis (Robbin Gourley)
The Adventurous Chef: Alixis Soyer (Ann Arnold)
Hiromi's Hands (Lynne Barasch)
War Heros
Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story (Janet Halfmann)
Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen (Luba Tryszynska-Frederick)
They Called Her Molly Pitcher (Anne Rockwell)
Hold the Flag High (Catherine Clinton)
Presidents
Farmer George Plants a Nation (Peggy Thomas)
Theodore (Frank Keating)
Abe Lincoln Remembers (Ann Turner)
A Picture Book of John & Abigail Adams (David Adler)
A Boy Named FDR:How Franklin D. Roosevelt Grew Up to Change America (Kathleen Krull)
A Picture Book of Dwight David Eisenhower (David Adler)
First Ladies & Ladies in Politics
Dolley Madison Saves George Washington (Don Brown)
Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America (Kathi Applet)
Eleanor (Barbara Cooney)
Ballots for Belva: The True Story of a Woman’s Race for the Presidency (Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen)
I Could do That!: Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote (Linda Arms White)
Saints
Mother Teresa (Demi)
St. George and the Dragon (Margaret Hodges)
Pascual and the Kitchen Angels (Tomie dePaola)
Moses (Brian Wildsmith)
St. Francis and the Animals (Leo Politi)
Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Tale (Bryce Milligan)
Explorers
Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau (Jennifer Berne)
I, Matthew Henson, Polar Explorer (Carole Boston Weatherford)
Reaching for the Moon (Buzz Aldrin)
Columbus (Alice Dalgliesh)
I Am Sacajawea, I Am York (Claire Rudolf Murphy)
Into the Deep: The Life of Naturalist & Explorer William Beebe (David Sheldon)
Inventors
Men:
The Day-Glo Brothers ( Chris Barton)
The Man Who Made Time Travel (Kathryn Lasky)
It's a Snap: George Eastman's First Photograph (Monica Kulling)
A Wizard From the Start: The Incredible Boyhood and Amazing Inventions of Thomas Edison (Don Brown)
How Ben Franklin Stole Electricity (Rosalyn Schanzer)
Women:
Marvelous Mattie (Emily Arnold McCully)
Vision of Beauty: The Story fo Sarah Breedlove Walker (Kathryn Lasky)
Athletes
Women:
Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings(Deborah Hopkinson)
Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman (Kathleen Krull)
America’s Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle (David Adler)
Catching the Moon: The Story of a Yong Girl’s Baseball Dream (Crystal Hubbard)
Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam her Way to Fame (Shana Corey)
Nothing but Trouble: The Story of Althea Gibson (Sue Staufafcher)
Men:
Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream (Doloris Jordan)
Stealing Home: Jackie Robinson Against the Odds (Robert Burleigh)
Win One for the Gipper: America’s Football Hero (Kathy-Jo Wargin)
Joe Louis, America’s Fighter (David Adler)
Jim Thorpe’s Bright Path (Joseph Bruchac)
Major Taylor, Champion Cyclist (Lesa Cline-Ransome)
Scientists/Discoverers
Men:
Snowflake Bentley (Jacqueline Briggs Martin)
Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas (Cheryl Bardoe)
A Man for all Seasons: The Life of George Washington Carver (Stephen Krensky)
Blockhead: The Boy Who Became Fibonacci (Joseph D'Agnese)
Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Heiroglyphics (James Rumford)
Dear Benamin Banneker (Andrea Davis Pinkney)
Women:
Marie Curie (Leonard Everett Fisher)
Maria’s Comet (Deborah Hopkinson)
Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian (Margarita Engle)
Stone Girl, Bone Girl: The Story of Mary Anning (Laurence Anholt)
Civil Rights Leaders
Rosa (Nikki Giovanni)
Martin’s Big Words (Doreen Rappaport)
Coretta Scott (Ntozake Shange)
Delivering Justice: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights (Jim Haskins)
The Story of Ruby Bridges (Robert Coles)
Artists
Women:
Art From Her Heart:Folk Artist Clementine Hunter (Kathy Whitehead)
Through Georgia's Eyes (Rachel Rodriguez)
Beatrix Potter (Alexandra Wallner)
Vinnie and Abraham (Dawn FitzGerald)
Men:
Rockwell: A Boy and His Dog (Loren Spiotta DiMare)
Cowboy Charlie: The Story of Charles M. Russell (Jeanette Winter)
Picasso and Minou (P.I. Maltbie)
Da Vinci (Mike Venezia)
Linnea in Monet's Garden (Christina Bjork)
Aviators
To Fly: The Story of the Wright Brother’s (Wendie Old)
Talking About Bessie (Nikki Grimes)
Brave Harriet (Marissa Moss)
The Glorious Flight (Alice Provensen)
Cromwell Dixon's Sky Cycle (John Abbott Nez)
Abolishionists & Underground Railroad
Men:
More Than Anything Else (Marie Bradby)
John Brown: His Fight for Freedom (John Hendrix)
Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship ( Nikki Giovanni)
Henry's Box (Ellen Levine)
Women:
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (Carole Boston Weatherford)
Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth (Anne Rockwell)
Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells: The Daring Life of a Crusading Journalist (Philip Dray)
A Picture Book of Harriet Beecher Stowe (David Adler)
Folk Heroes & Larger-than-life Characters
Sam Patch: Daredevil Jumper (Julie Cummins)
Johnny Appleseed: The Story of a Legend (Will Moses)
John Henry: American Legend (Ezra Jack Keats)
The Giant of Seville (Dan Andreasen)
A Picture Book of Harry Houdini (David Adler)
Amazing Women (who don't fit another category)
Steamboat: The Story of Captain Blanche Leathers (Judith Guilliland)
Helen Keller: The World in Her Heart (Lesa Cline-Ransome)
My Heart Glow: Alice Cogswell, Thomas Gallaudet, and the Birth of American Sign Language (Emily Arnold McCully)
A Picture Book of Florence Nightingale (David Adler)
Stand Straight Ella Kate: The True Story of a Real Giant (Kate Klise)
Oh, and let's keep adding...
We could literally do a thread for several individuals listed.
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Mary M. in Denver
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SeaStar
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What a goldmine! Thanks, Mary!
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Nique
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SeaStar wrote:
| What a goldmine! Thanks, Mary! |
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Ditto - thank you SO MUCH for sharing! Copying this out right now and then on to the Library
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I had always thought that once you grew up you could do anything you wanted - stay up all night or eat ice cream straight out of the container. ~Bill Bryson
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MaryM
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Some new picture book biographies to add:
J.R.R. Tolkein by Alexandra Wallner
Joan of Arc by Demi
Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto by Bill Farnsworth
Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero by Marissa Moss
Lipman Pike: America's First Homerun King by Richard Michelson
Any you've run across lately to contribute to the list?
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Mary M. in Denver
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Nique
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Thanks Mary!
Got through your first list, can't wait to see what our library has with this one.
You de best 
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I had always thought that once you grew up you could do anything you wanted - stay up all night or eat ice cream straight out of the container. ~Bill Bryson
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JennGM
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We just read "Fannie in the Kitchen" and just loved it! I don't know how I missed it before.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Nique
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Just been over to the library via the internet. Ours had 2 on your list, the other 3 I'm hoping (through interlibrary loan) they will find.
Thank you so much for sharing your treasures with us!
Really appreciate it
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I had always thought that once you grew up you could do anything you wanted - stay up all night or eat ice cream straight out of the container. ~Bill Bryson
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Chris V
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So glad this thread resurfaced! Wow! Wonderful list! Thank you, Mary!
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Chris
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Mama to My Five Girls ('04~'07~'09~'11~'11) 
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jawgee
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So many great biographies in these posts!! Adding another that we really liked:
Louis Braille: The Blind Boy Who Wanted to Read by Dennis B. Fradin
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Monica
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MaryM
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Thanks. I haven't seen that one, Monica. And you know if there is a picture book I haven't read I'm going to have to get ahold of it. Sounds good - I like Fradin books.
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Mary M. in Denver
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MaryM
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For the Birds: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson (Peggy Thomas)
Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat (Susanna Reich)
Bon Appetit! The Delicious Life of Julia Child (Jessie Hartland)
Annie and Helen (Deborah Hopkinson)
~I'm wondering if there is some Helen Keller anniversary as there are a few new books about her this year. Another picture book which comes out in a few weeks that looks great is Helen's Big World (Doreen Rappaport). I have it reserved from our library when they get it.
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Mary M. in Denver
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knowloveserve
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3 more artist biographies illustrated by my beloved Bimba Landmann:
A Boy Named Giotto
The Genius of Leonardo
I Am Marc Chagall
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Ellie
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knowloveserve
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Helen Keller was just introduced to my son in his ILL book! I'm definitely going to have to hunt down some of these supplements; thanks.
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Ellie
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4Real Forums : Picture Book Discoveries
Topic: Favorite Biographies
