Out of the forty categories listed, choose the number your child intends to complete, one book per category from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.Children in grades K-12 can choose to read 10, 20, 30 or 40 books between June 1, 2019 and August 31, 2019. Books must be recorded and responses given on the official record sheet. You do not have to check out your books from Meriadoc Homeschool Library, but many categories may be easier to find in MHSL than in other libraries or at home. Books can be read and recorded in any order you choose.
The fourth category for this challenge is to read “a biography of your choice.”
So, your biography could be anything from a picture book biography to a young adult level Messner biography or anything in between. Since I did a whole series of posts on picture book biographies just a couple of months ago, here’s a list of some of my favorite biographies for elementary, middle school, and high school readers.
Unbroken: An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive, Adapted for Young Adults by Laura Hillenbrand. Did you know there was a “youth edition” of this justly popular biography about Olympian and war hero Louis Zamperini? It’s just as good as the adult book, and just as inspiring.
Abe Lincoln’s Other Mother: The Story of Sarah Bush Lincoln by Bernadine Bailey. Excellent biography of Lincoln’s stepmother and a good introduction to the life of Lincoln himself. This book is one of the aforementioned Messner biographies, published by Julian Messner Publishing in the mid-twentieth century, and if you go to the link above, you can find a list of some of the other Messner biographies that I’ve read and reviewed. I’ve enjoyed all of them.
Texas Yankee; The Story of Gail Borden by Nina Brown Baker. Did you know that the inventor of condensed milk, a great step in preventing health problems and starvation for babies traveling across the ocean or the continent with the pioneers, was a Texan? Gail Borden, inventor and Texas pioneer, is a man worth reading about, even though some of his ideas and inventions were not quite as successful as condensed milk. There’s a good reason you’ve never heard of the Borden Meat Biscuit (condensed meat!).
The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill: Growing Up Billy Cody in Bleeding Kansas by Andrea Warren. Good biographies are being written and published nowadays, too. This one about Buffalo Bill Cody concentrates on his boyhood and young adulthood growing up in Kansas before, during and immediately after the Civil War. An exciting story, well told.
Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson. This bio of the famous Russian composer was absolutely fascinating and sent me to listen to his Symphony for the City of the Dead, which is spine-chilling in light of the information in the book. The war story of Shostakovich is horrible and distressing to read about, so it should be reserved for young adults who are prepared to read about the horrors of war and of Communist persecutions. Nevertheless, this book is highly recommended for those who are reading about World War II and all of its atrocities and after-effects.
Lone Journey: The Life of Roger Williams by Jeanette Eaton. Lone Journey was published in 1944, and was a Newbery Honor book in 1945. I found the book quite fascinating in its portrait of a man who was ahead of his times in many ways.
Wilderness Pioneer: Stephen F. Austin of Texas by Carol Hoff. The author of Johnny Texas and other Texas-themed books gives us an absorbing biography of the Father of Texas, Stephen F. Austin.
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. There’s also a “young reader’s edition” of this biography/history about the mathematicians who helped get America into space: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden.
Seven Kings of England by Geoffrey Trease. Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lion-Hearted, Charles I, Charles II, William III, and George VI all are profiled in this highly readable collection of biographies of kings who ruled at specific turning points in English history. “The particular seven kings in this book have been chosen for the dramatic quality in their lives and the interest (though not always the excellence) of their characters.”
Healing Warrior: A Story About Sister Elizabeth Kenny by Emily Crofford. This biography of a self-educated Australian nurse is a part of the series of Creative Minds Biographies, published by Carolrhoda. Sister Kenny was considered by many to be a fraud and unqualified, but she developed methods of physical therapy that have helped millions of polio victims to live useful and mobile lives.