From: Robin Smith <smithr>
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 12:05:58 -0600

Jill and Megan bring up such good questions. I teach young children (grade 2) and we study many famous people. There are so many fine biographies around for new readers. Some that I read and discuss with my students have to do with people of courage. I think the following books strike a nice balance between factual accounts, interesting personal details and historical setting. I want the books to be factually correct, but do not want unnecessary personal details. (For instance, I would have a really hard time discussion Helen Keller's communism with 7 and 8 year olds. It is enough to know that some of her ideas were unpopular in her time. I do not think JFK's infidelity needs to be discussed in a biography for the very young reader.) I like biographies to allow the children to look beyond the current eight years (their lifetimes) and connect them to other times, other places and other ways of thinking. I teach in a school which lakes ethnic and economic diversity and books are a way to move outside the children's lives. I think Jill will notice that we read many, many books about less famous people, people more like us. (The * ones are pretty recently published.) I look for those biographies all the time.

Birdie's Lighthouse by Deborah Hopkinson
*A Band of Angels by Deborah Hopkinson
*Maria's Comet by Deborah Hopkinson Snowflake Bentley Jacqueline Briggs Martin Teammates by Golenbock
*Molly Bannaky by Alice McGill More than Anything Else by Marie Bradby A Boy Called Slow by Joseph Bruchac Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express by Margaret Wetterer Heroes by Ken Mochizuki Just a few Words, Mr. Lincoln by Jean Fritz
*Our Neighbor is a Strange, Strange Man by Tres Seymour Starry Messenger by Peter Sis
*Satchel Paige by Lisa Cline-Ransome

Robin Smith Nashville, TN
Received on Wed 01 Nov 2000 12:05:58 PM CST