This is a richly layered biography, best enjoyed by late elementary ages. Ada Byron Lovelace possessed an inquisitive mind that relished numbers, patterns, and challenge. However, she grew up during a time when measles and cholera puzzled the medical community, and both left her very ill. It was also a time when men were more readily associated with the mathematical work and invention for which Ad ...

While his early schooling suggested a lack of potential, Einstein kept learning, and his thinking changed the world. A remarkable biography scaled for newly independent readers.

Young readers are introduced to America's most famous physicist, Albert Einstein, in this book that explores his groundbreaking work with light and energy. Full color.

Gazing up at the stars, Benjamin Banneker longed to understand how and why things worked as they did. In a time when most black Americans were slaves, Banneker lived a life of freedom and became known as America's first black American man of science. He helped survey Washington, D.C., and became the first black American to write an almanac. Through his accomplishments, he helped advance the cause ...

High in the sky, Bessie Coleman could soar like a bird. She was free--at least until she landed. As a black woman in the 1920s, she wasn't allowed to learn how to fly. Forced to travel to France to learn, she became the first African American woman to earn her pilot's license. Whether she was wing-walking, giving a speech, parachuting, or flying, Coleman inspired people with her bravery and resolv ...

Rich descriptors establish this memoir’s compelling setting so that readers feel the African heat , the desperation of starving families seeking sustenance from dry, barren farmland, and the wind’s power to help a helpless community. Against this backdrop a small, young boy with an insatiable appetite for knowledge lets curiosity drive his desire to help his family and his village. T ...

This biography for the independent beginning reader tells the life story of the woman who formed the American Red Cross. Full color.

Based on the true story of the boy who flew in the Wright brothers' glider, this title is "a good introduction to the Wright Brothers from a child's point of view."--("Booklist"). Full-color illustrations.

Growing up in a wealthy family that believed nursing wasn't a respectable job, Florence Nightingale was determined to help others. After more than sixty years of service as a nurse, she had helped to make nursing an honorable profession, left behind safer, cleaner hospitals, and saved countless lives.

Born a slave near the end of the Civil War, George Washington Carver was a small and sickly child. Too frail to work in the fields of the Missouri farm where he grew up, George did chores around the house. But when his work was done, he headed for the woods. There his lifelong love of nature was born. As a teacher and scientist at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute in the 1900s, George Washington Carver ...

Once a kidnapped slave baby, George Washington Carver found freedom in learning everything he could about the world around him. Overcoming poverty and racism, George became a brilliant scientist and a gifted professor who dedicated his expertise to helping black farmers escape the devastating grip of poverty. George's scientific creativity knew no limits. His ingenious experimentation with peanut ...

Shetterly highlights an important segment in US History by focusing on four intelligent ladies whose skill earned them places in what is now NASA. Their acceptance into this program was blocked, at first, because misguided beliefs about their skin color and gender prohibited their participation. Context, setting, and a timeline of events is beautifully conveyed and displayed for readers to underst ...

A brilliant mathematician who worked at NASA in the early 1950s until retiring in 1986, Johnson's unparalleled calculations (done by hand) helped plan the trajectories for NASA's Mercury and Apollo missions. A special section includes extras on subjects like history and math, plus inspiring careers for math lovers. Full color.

Lasky pens this colorfully illustrated biography of the Greek philosopher and scientist Eratosthenes, who compiled the first geography book and accurately measured the globe's circumference.

Tells more of the story than just the invention of the telephone. A fun read that presents its subject as fully human.

A childhood dream finally comes true in this biography of the first African-American female astronaut. This is an excellent biography presented in an easy-to-read format.

An amazing story of determination and perseverance born from post-war times of struggle! Young readers (and their adult companions) will love learning about the origins of this now familiar food.

Jacques Costeau was a man who dreamed big, and this book invites readers to use his story to inspire their own. Full of details about the choices he made and how he persevered, he is a brilliant example of the effects of hard work, creativity, and determination. By the end of the story readers will be anxious to find their passion and make a difference.

Jacques Costeau was a man who dreamed big, and this book invites readers to use his story to inspire their own. Full of details about the choices he made and how he persevered, he is a brilliant example of the effects of hard work, creativity, and determination. By the end of the story readers will be anxious to find their passion and make a difference.

This reader relates the true story of dinosaur hunter Barnum Brown, who discovered the first fossilized skeleton of a "Tyrannosaurus rex" in the United States in 1902. Full color.