From the category archives:
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (Harcourt, 2003)
A heartfelt account of Chavez’s childhood, his days as a field laborer and as the nonviolent organizer of the 1965 grape boycott.
America’s Library posts several great stories about Chavez for kids.
Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson by Charles R. Smith Jr., illustrated by Shane W. Evans (Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press, 2010)
It was the “Battle of the Century”, July 4, 1910, and Jack Johnson made history. He was the first black heavyweight champion of the world. But he wasn’t always brave and he had to learn how to fight. This is his story.
Unforgivable Blackness, a film by Ken Burns, featured Johnson. Read about it on PBS.org.
Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt (Harcourt, 1995)
Van Gogh was the artist who cut off his ear and drank a lot of coffee, although the two were not related. Even though he was extraordinarily productive, he never saw acclaim in his lifetime.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers timelines, essays and images of Van Gogh’s life and work.
Lives of the Presidents: Fame, Shame (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt (Harcourt, 1998)
This collective biography devotes one paragraph to the tenth commander and chief. Interesting factoid: Tyler had more children than any other president.
Basic information about Tyler can be found on the Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia site.
She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story by Audrey Vernick, illustrated by Don Tate, Collins, 2011.
When Effa Manley questioned the status quo, people told her, “That’s just the way things are.” But that did not set well with Manley and she became a life-long advocate for positive change in her role as a citizen, a woman and the owner of a baseball team.
Visit the Baseball Hall of Fame to read more about its first and only woman inductee, Effa Manley.
