Showing results for "Life" in Biographies

Minamoto Yoshitsune should not have been a samurai. But his story is legend in this real-life saga. This epic warrior tale may sound like a novel, but this is the true story of the greatest samurai in Japanese history. When Yoshitsune was just a baby, his father went to war with a rival samurai family - and lost. His father was killed, his mother captured, and his surviving half-brother banished. Yoshitsune was sent away to live in a monastery. Skinny, small, and unskilled in the warrior arts, he nevertheless escaped and learned the ways of the samurai.

In Courage to Soar, the official autobiography from four-time Olympic gold-winning and record-setting American gymnast Simone Biles, Simone shares how her faith, family, passion, and perseverance has made her one of the top athletes and gymnasts in the world—and how you too can overcome...

Adapted for young adults from the New York Times bestseller, a riveting and true WWII story of a young man--an American tank gunner--who meets his destiny in an iconic armor duel and forges an enduring bond with his enemy. Shut the hatches. It's time to roll out. You'll find yourself behind...

Discover the fascinating lives of the iconic figures that have shaped Scotland from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Explore the rich history of Scotland’s cultural, social and political landscape, with more than 100 obituaries carefully curated from The Times archive. The...

Teen advocate and trailblazer Jazz Jennings—named one of “The 25 Most Influential Teens” of the year by Time—shares her very public transgender journey, as she inspires people to accept the differences in others while they embrace their own truths. “[Jazz’s] touching book serves...

Navigating life can be tough sometimes, especially as a teen. Bestselling author and former NFL player Trent Shelton has been through some hard times as well, and he shares his own story of finding himself and a better path forward, providing straight-up truths and uplifting advice to help you...

Like many others on the autism spectrum, 20-something stand-up comic Michael McCreary has been told by more than a few well-meaning folks that he doesn’t “look” autistic. But, as he’s quick to point out in this memoir, autism “looks” different for just about everyone with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

This is the inspiring life and legacy of vocal artist and civil rights icon Paul Robeson - one of the most important public figures in the 20th century - adapted for young adults by the acclaimed Robeson biographer. Featuring a foreword by multiple award-winning author Jason Reynolds, Paul Robeson: No One Can Silence Me will introduce listeners in middle and high school to the inspiring and complicated life of one of America’s most fascinating figures, whose story of artistry, heroism, conviction, and conflict is newly relevant today.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus walked across Galilee; everywhere he traveled he gained followers. His contemporaries are familiar historical figures: Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus, Herod the Great, Pontius Pilate. It was an era of oppression, when every man, woman, and child answered to the...

"History" sounds really official. Like it's all fact. Like it's definitely what happened. But that's not necessarily true. History was crafted by the people who recorded it. And sometimes, those historians were biased against, didn't see, or couldn't even imagine anyone different from themselves. That means that history has often left out the stories of LGBTQIA+ people: men who loved men, women who loved women, people who loved without regard to gender, and people who lived outside gender boundaries.

In curiously parallel lives, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were both orphaned at an early age. Both were brilliant students who attended college--one at Princeton, the other at Columbia--and studied law. Both were young staff officers under General George Washington, and both became war...

A lively and accessible introduction to the quintessential philosopher, and the civilized world’s first enemy of the state. Socrates: A Life Worth Living traces the life and ideas of one of Western civilization’s founding philosophers, whose influence is still felt more than two thousand...

Getting to Know Muhammad is a fun, fast-paced verse novel with a poetic style that rhymes, aimed at teenagers and young adults. It’s about the life and struggles of the Prophet Muhammad written in a style that captures and engages the young listener, connecting them to the Prophet on a personal and human level.

Gloria Steinem was no stranger to injustice even from a young age. Her mother, Ruth, having suffered a nervous breakdown at only 34, spent much of Gloria's childhood in and out of mental-health facilities. And when Gloria was only 10 years old, her father divorced her mother and left for California, unable to bear the stress of caring for Ruth any longer.

In his first ever book, The IF in Life: How to Get Off Life’s Sidelines and Become Your Best Self, NFL running back and Dancing with the Stars champion Rashad Jennings shares his inspiring story and experiences, imparts practical advice, and encourages readers to follow their dreams. As a kid...

In the summer of 1971, Jack Gantos was an aspiring writer desperate for adventure, college cash, and a way out of a dead-end job. For ten thousand dollars, he recklessly agreed to help sail a sixty-foot yacht loaded with hashish from the Virgin Islands to New York City, where he and his partners...

Charlotte Salomon was a German-Jewish artist born in Berlin. She is remembered for her autobiographical series of paintings, Life? or Theater?, which consists of 769 individual works painted between 1940 and 1942 while she was in hiding from the Nazis in the south of France, and which has been called a painted parallel to Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and an early graphic novel. In 1943, she entrusted her collection of paintings to a friend.

Starting with Marie Curie's early life, which she spent in a Poland unwillingly meshing into the Russian Empire, the book begins with the five-year-old Manya Sklodovski (Marie Curies native name) in her family home in Poland. The book vividly describes her surroundings and the incidents of her life. Further chapters mention the 14-year-old learning that a friend's brother is to be executed as a rebel, and later her year's holiday after finishing school at 16, time spent in the country and the mountains.

Renowned American astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi (born James Plummer) pens a gripping, gritty coming-of-age memoir, from young boy to graduate-school student, that will resonate with teenagers, especially those of color, who are facing many choices and obstacles as they navigate their young adult...

As a youth, when you're told that your mom should have crossed her legs and broke your neck when she was giving birth to you, you have a tendency to believe that your existence is a mistake. When you are told that you don't deserve to breathe the same air as normal people, you naturally feel worthless and powerless. Ironically though, after a life of murder, prison, and other survival-induced traumas that resulted in blood and sirens, you come to learn that true power comes from knowing of, not believing in, the things that you cannot see.