Did you know Barack Obama's family comes from three different countries? His mother was born and raised in the United States. His father came from Kenya, in Africa. His stepfather came from Indonesia.

In graphic novel format, tells the story of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the United States' reaction to the event.

Trapped in silence and darkness, Helen Keller longed to communicate with the world. Both deaf and blind, she struggled to express the thoughts locked in her mind. When Annie Sullivan became her teacher she learned to sign, read, and write. After graduating from college, Keller spent the rest of her life travelling around the world as an advocate for the deaf and blind.

From the time he was a young boy on a farm in Alabama until he received his fourth Olympic gold medal in Berlin in 1936, all Jesse Owens wanted to do was run. Overcoming sickness, poverty, and racial discrimination, Jesse worked hard, shattered many track and field records, and earned countless medals and trophies. But perhaps his greatest and most important accomplishment came when he stood up to the hatred of Adolf Hitler and proved that the belief in the superiority of German athletes was false. This beautifully illustrated and simply told biography tells the inspirational story of a man with strength of spirit and heart.

True or False? Marian Anderson once received a standing ovation before she even sang her song. True! On January 7, 1955 Marian Anderson was the first black person to sing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The audience applauded for five minutes before she could start singing.

Introducing new readers to some of history's most interesting and important people, these biographies focus on the pivotal episodes that show what kind of person the subject is (or was) and how he or she came to be famous. Although written in a story format, these books are not fictionalized accounts. A chronology of major events follows the story, along with a brief summary of the subject's life. Trapped in silence and darkness, Helen Keller longed to communicate with the world. Both deal and blind, she struggled to express the thoughts locked in her mind. When Annie Sullivan became her teacher she learned to sign, read, and write. After graduating from college, Keller spent the rest of her life travelling around the world as an advocate for the deaf and blind.

Michelangelo saw something—someone—special in the stone. No one wanted the “giant.” The hulking block of marble lay in the work yard, rained on, hacked at, and abandoned—until a young Michelangelo saw his David in it. Night and day, Michelangelo worked in secret, lovingly coaxing statue out of the stone. Its majesty endures even today. This is the story of how a neglected, discarded stone became a masterpiece for all time. It is also a story of how humans see themselves reflected in art. Back matter includes further information about David and a selected bibliography

Babe Didrikson was running and jumping hedges at the age of eight. Her dedication to training and practicing resulted in her becoming one of the greatest woman athletes of the century. Although she won two gold medals and one silver medal in track and field events at the 1932 Olympics, Babe excelled in every sport that she played.

When Jane Sutcliffe sets out to write a book about William Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre, in her own words, she runs into a problem: Will's words keep popping up all over the place! What's an author to do? After all, Will is responsible for such familiar phrases as "what's done is done" and "too much of a good thing." He even helped turn "household words" into household words. But, Jane embraces her dilemma, writing about Shakespeare, his plays, and his famous phrases with glee. After all, what better words are there to use to write about the greatest writer in the English language than his very own? As readers will discover, "the long and the short of it" is this: Will changed the English language forever. Backmatter includes an author’s note, a bibliography, and a timeline.

A short look at the life of President Kennedy.