Biographies are such a good way to inspire our kids to dream big - to give them examples of extraordinary accomplishments and perseverance.
We've been reading and listening to excellent biographies this summer, and I wanted to share three of our favorite series with you.
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Childhood of Famous Americans
Just as the title of these series implies, these biographies highlight the CHILDHOODS of famous Americans.
Children can relate to these books in such a unique way.
These books are at a upper elementary reading level, but can be used as read alouds for multiple ages. I find that my son (Grade 3 currently) can read them easily on his own, too.
The first book in this series we read was Babe Ruth: One of Baseball's Greatest. I remember Grant being intrigued by all of the trouble Babe Ruth got into as a child.... but how he presevered through it all. We have since read books in this series about Betsy Ross, Thomas Edison, and Knute Rockne.
Christian Heroes: Then and Now / Heroes of History
These biographies give us an insight into the lives of great Christians. As we listen and read these books, my children are learning that these heroes used their unshakable faith in God to do BIG THINGS for Him!
While we have been listening to these recently on audio, they also come in paperback and Kindle formats.
Our experience with these books has been mostly as read alouds and audio books, but my oldest has read some of them independently and enjoys them, too.
My first exposure to them was with the Rachel Saint biography. I was hooked after that!
Our current listen, Lillian Trasher, The Greatest Wonder in Egypt, is riveting. Whenver we hop into our van both of my kids say, "Turn on the CD please!". We can't wait to go somewhere so we can listen to our book.
(Next up: Corrie Ten Boom, Keeper of the Angels' Den)
Again, I have some titles in our bookshelf for Cycle 3. I visited the YWAM booth at The Great Homeschool Convention and stocked up for the year! (These come from the Heroes of History series.)
- Capt. John Smith
- Harriett Tubman
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Ronald Regan
- Alan Shepard
- Ben Carson
- John Adams
- Milton Hershey
Who Was?
The Who Was? series is a fun way to get A LOT of information about a particular person into your child! They are written in quite an easy style, with a lot of fun pictures and cartoons.
I've found them well suited to independent reads for my kids. I can also just leave some of these out around the house and the kids pick them up on their own because they are short and engaging.
A couple of years ago we first read Who Was William Shakespeare? - such a fun book!
We have a few of these on tap for American history this year, such as Who Was John F. Kennedy? and Who Was Abraham Lincoln?
Do you have a favorite biography series?