BIOGRAPHIES WHICH HIGHLIGHT UNIVERSAL HUMAN VALUES

Beth R. Kroll posted this list in February 1996 to Child_lit.

When the genre for class discussion was "Historical Fiction and Biography", each member was asked to identify a specific human value that made the main character memorable enough for a book to be written about them. The conclusion was reached that the biographied people had exemplified some basic value and wanted to share their favorite book title and author under each category.

COURAGE - took risks - stood up for what's right

*A Picture Book of Rosa Parks* by David A. Adler
*Young Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream"* by Joanne Mattern
*You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton* by Jean Fritz
*Sojourner Truth* by Peter Krass
*The Ballad of the Pirate Queens* by Jane Yolen

SURVIVAL

*Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo* by Zlata Filipovic
*Helen Keller* by Lois Markham
*Child of the Warsaw Ghetto* by David A. Adler

CLEVER - DISCOVERER - CREATIVE

*Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare* by Diane Stanley
*Frank Thompson - Her Civil War Story* by Bryna Stevens
*A Twilight Struggle - The Life of JFK* by Barbara Harrison, David Terri

DEFIES CONVENTION - NON-CONFORMIST

*Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree* by William Miller
*Good Queen Bess* by Diane Stanley, Peter Vonnama
*Isabella of Castile* by Joann J. Burch
*Louisa May Alcott Her Girlhood Diary* edited and compiled by Cary Ryan

DETERMINATION - PERSISTENCE

*Lewis & Clark - Explorers of American West* by Steven Kroll
*The Real McCoy* by Wendy Towle
*Mary McLeod Bethune* by Eloise Greenfield
*Thurgood Marshall: A Life for Justice* by James Haskins
*Sorrow's Kitchen: The Life and Folklore of Zora Neale Hurston* by Mary Elyons

COMPASSION

*"My Name Is Pocahontas"* by William Accorsi

TALENTED

*Walt Whitman* by Catherine Reef
*Rosa Bonheur* by Robyn Montana Turner
*Nijinsky* by Catherine Brighton
*Ezra Jack Keats* by Dean Engel and Florence B. Freedman
*Mary Cassatt* by Robyn Montana Turner

compiled by Children's Literature, UF edited by Beth Kroll