Pete Maravich, athlete
June 22, 1947-January 5, 1988
Lives of the Athletes: Thrills, Spills (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt (Harcourt, 1997)
Maravich, a college basketball great at LSU, was a Basketball Hall of Famer in 1987.
Click over to the NBA Encyclopedia for a bio of Maravich a.k.a. “Pistol Pete.”
Chen Xiefen, journalist
1883-1923
Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee, illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy (Charlesbridge, 2005)
Chinese women’s rights advocate Xiefen, founder at age 16 of the “Women’s Journal,” also established a girl’s school in her homeland.
From the Minnesota State University at Mankato e-museum, read about the times in which Xiefen lived during the Qing Dynasty.
Lou Gehrig, athlete
June 19, 1903-June 2, 1941
Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man by David A. Adler, illustrated by Terry Widener (Gulliver Books, 1997)
A three-hankie story, Gehrig, the baseball great who suffered from ALS always looked on the bright side of life.
A biography, photos and more can be found at the Lou Gehrig Official Web Site.
Aung San Suu Kyi, political activist
June 19, 1945-
Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee, illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy (Charlesbridge, 2005)
Nonviolent Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize and used the money to promote health and education in Burma.
A timeline of Aung San Suu Kyi’s life is available on the Nobelprize.com site.
Billy Wong, bullfighter
20th century
El Chino by Allen Say (Houghton Mifflin, 1990)
Arizona-born Billy Wong remembered what his father told him-”In America, you can be anything you want to be.” Enchanted by bullfighting, Wong became the first Chinese-American matador.
Read an interview with author/illustrator Allen Say at the Eduplace web site.
Igor Stravinsky, musician
June 17, 1882-April 6, 1971
Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt (Harcourt, 1993)
A Russian-American composer, Stravinsky wrote The Rite of Spring. He is known as one of the only composers to realize overnight success.
For more about Stravinsky, read the article on The TIME 100 site.