American Lives

“There is properly no history, only biography,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson—an exaggeration with a lot of truth in it.  When I was growing up, I devoured the Childhood of Famous Americans Series, which fictionalized the formative years of over 200 noteworthy individuals, many of whom I’d never heard of.  I liked biography at least as well as fiction— if it came with imagined dialogue and dramatic tension!  There’s no better way to introduce young children to history, and they can start early with outstanding picture books.  On Friday our fearless librarians, Betsy and Megan, will serve up a list of picture-book biographies.  For today, three new (or new-ish) entries in that field:

Electric Ben: the Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin, by Robert Byrd.  Dial, 2012, 40 pages.  Age/interest level: 6-12.

You think you know Ben Franklin?  Here are some fun facts: he was the youngest son in a family of fourteen children.  In 1758 he wrote what became the first American best-seller: Poor Richard’s Almanac.  He invented streetlights.  He founded the first American hospital, as well as the academy that became the University of Pennsylvania.  He identified and named the positive and negative electrical charge.  He wrote a list of thirteen virtues to live by, and admitted the one he had the most trouble with was humility. 

This biography is oversize and still crowded; even the little pictures in the margins are packed with information.  While accurate about Franklin’s life, the author gets a few peripheral items wrong, such as: Benjamin was reading the Bible at the age of five.  He also read a book called Pilgrim’s Progress, which is the story of a man’s struggle to overcome problems and achieve success through hard work.  It made an early impression on him as to how he must live his life.  Well, maybe that was young Ben’s impression, not the biographer’s, but in either case John Bunyan would be spinning in his grave.

Franklin is sometimes called “the first American” because his life illustrated the young country’s opportunity ethos and can-do spirit:

Franklin believed in moving forward, working hard, and saving to gather wealth.  His principles of looking for opportunity and taking it was the same as the new nation’s. . . His thoughts and actions paralleled the growth of America.  Here, he believed, anything could be accomplished.

Detail-rich illustrations and sidebars enhance the interest, and the appendix includes a timeline, bibliography, and list of “Poor Richard” sayings.  My favorite: People who are wrapped up in themselves make small packages.

Noah Webster and His Words, by Jeri Chase Feris, Illustrated by Vincent X. Kirsch.  2012, Houghton Mifflin, 32 pages.  Age/interest level: 5-8.

Noah Webster always knew he was right, and never got tired of saying so (even if, sometimes, he wasn’t).  He was full of CON-FI-DENCE (noun: belief that one is right) from the very beginning.

Webster might not have been quite as big-headed as this book (with its caricature-like illustrations) makes him appear, but he must have had a lot of CON-FI-DENCE to accomplish all he did.  Determining his mission in life early on certainly helped—he entered Yale at the age of fifteen with the goal of becoming a scholar, published his Blue-Backed Speller at the age of 25 and, with the youth and enthusiasm of his country, traveled tirelessly promoting the idea of a unified nation with a unified language (and spelling).  He simplified English spelling (though not enough for some of us) and put his name to the second most popular book ever printed in the language: his dictionary, of course, which he dedicated to

My fellow citizens . . . .

            For their happiness and learning . . .

            For their moral and religious elevation . . .

            And for the glory of my country.

 Louisa May’s Battle, by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Carlyn Beccia.  Walker (Bloomsbury), 2013, 38 pages.  Age/interest level: 6-10.

Louisa May Alcott was thirty years old in 1862, when she applied to be a nurse at the Union army hospital in Washington D. C.   “I long to be a man, but as I can’t fight, I will content myself with working for those who can.”  Thus, this stay-at-home, unmarried, part-time and not-so-successful writer embarked on her greatest adventure: a 500-mile trip by coach, boat, and train, a bracing plunge into the drama and dirt of 19^th-century medicine, and a brief but intense period of service that eventually struck her down with typhoid fever.  The experience permanently scarred her once-robust health, but gave her something she valued just as much: “though a hospital is a rough school,” it taught her much about human nature.  Hospital Sketches became her first successful book, leading to a steady tide of requests from editors . . . including the one who asked her to write a “girls’ book.”  Even if you’re not a fan of Little Women, you’ll be gratified by this stubborn, gifted woman’s success.  Full-color acrylics give an expressive edge to the story.  Appendices include a list of “Women in Medicine,” a bibliography, and diagrams and descriptions of the Battle of Fredericksburg.

For more illustrated biography, check out Cheryl Harness, especially her Cheryl Harness Histories, published by National Geographic.