Scholastic Biography

George Washington is by far the most important figure in the history of the United States. Against all military odds, he liberated the thirteen colonies from the superior forces of the British Empire and presided over the process to produce and ratify a Constitution that (suitably amended) has lasted for more than two hundred years. In two terms as president, he set that Constitution to work with such success that, by the time he finally retired, America was well on its way to becoming the richest and most powerful nation on earth.Despite his importance, Washington remains today a distant figure to many Americans. Previous books about him are immensely long, multivolume, and complicated. Paul Johnson has now produced a brief life that presents a vivid portrait of the great man as young warrior, masterly commander-in-chief, patient Constitution maker, and exceptionally wise president. He also shows Washington as a farmer of unusual skill and an entrepreneur of foresight, patriarch of an extended family, and proprietor of one of the most beautiful homes in America, which he largely built and adorned.Trenchant and original as ever, Johnson has given us a brilliant, sharply etched portrait of this iconic figure -- both as a hero and as a man.

A biography of the one-handed pitcher for the California Angels baseball team.

Presents information on each of the forty presidents of the United States and describes the process of electing a president.

Story of one of the most famous conductors in the Underground Railroad.

In World War II, a German secret agent is landed in Florida by submarine, his mission to obtain details of U.S. warplanes. The operation goes askew when a priest hears of it in the course of a confession and goes after the spy on his own. By the author of the non-fiction Operation Drumbeat.

The life of the nineteenth-century Frenchman, accidentally blinded as a child, who originated the raised dot system of reading and writing used by the blind throughout the world.

Hannah Senesh was born in 1921 in Hungary. In 1943 she was accepted by the British Air Force to be part of one of the most courageous rescue attempts of World War II -- parachuting back into enemy territory to rescue Allied pilots and Jews, including her mother. This is the story of a daring, brave, young woman.

A biography of the man who, after escaping slavery, became an orator, writer, and leader in the anti-slavery movement of the early 19th century.

In this illustrated chapter book aimed at students between the ages of 8 and 12, Donald J. Sobol recounts the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright, who made aviation history at Kitty Hawk. But before they make history, nothing seems to go right. Orville and Wilbur are almost ready to quit — almost ready to give up their lifelong dream of flying a powered machine. First the wind is too strong for their glider. Then they run out of money for more equipment. And now they are attacked by an army of mosquitoes! "Someday men will fly," Wilbur says, discouraged. "But it won't be in our lifetime." Remarkably, they don't give up. And on December 17th, 1903, on the sands of Kitty Hawk, the Wright Brothers make history!

Traces the life of the successful athlete who plays professional football as well as professional baseball.