Biography

Biography

Definition:

Roots:

"bio" - life,"graph" - write, "auto" - self

Biography is the written account of a person's life.
An autobiography is the written account of a person's life written by that person.

For a more descriptive definition and a brief history on biographies, check out the following website:
www.answers.com/topic/biography

Selection Criteria: (See bibliography below)

Relates to curriculum
Availability of biographies on that person
Accuracy of content
Reading level appropriate for audience
Illustrations, photographs, or documents scans
Consider diversity (physical, racial, socioeconomic, etc.)
Contains index, table of contents, and for "further reading" section
Character well-developed
Unifying theme
Integrate facts and story line (interesting, accurate, and relevant)

Sources or Vendors:

Scholastic www.scholastic.com
Follett www.follett.com
Capstone Press www.capstonepress.com
Harper Collins Children's Books www.harperchildrens.com/hch/
Barnes and Noble www.bn.com
Bound to Stay Bound www.btsb.com
Permabound www.perma-bound.com/PermaBound
Kids Can Press (includes download activities) www.kidscanpress.com

Useful tips:

Remind students who are doing research that they do not have to read the entire biography.
The more illustrations, photographs, and primary documents available inside the book, generally the more accessible it will be to readers.
Point out the Dewey numbers for individual biographies (921) and group biographies (920).
Check the computer catalog for your person. Some biographies are not always where you think they might be.
For an extensive list of biographies that have won awards, check out Barnes and Noble's Book Browser, Notable Social Studies Trade Books, Outstanding Science Trade Books, and ALA's Biography Outstanding Books for the College Bound Titles.

www.bn.com
www.socialstudies.org/resources/notable/
www.nsta.org/ostbc
www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/outstandingbooks/biographyoutstanding.htm

Personal recommendations:

Authors:
Russell Freedman
Jean Fritz
Milton Meltzer
Walter Dean Myers
Andrea Pinkney
Robert Quackenbush
Peter Sis

Books and Series:
Elementary
Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport
Mandela by Floyd Cooper
Character Building Books series by Kiki Mosher
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
Martin Luther King by Rosemary Bray

Intermediate/Middle School
Ben Franklin's Almanac by Candace Fleming
Seeker of Knowledge by James Rumford
Sky Pioneer by Corinne Szabo
Famous Dead People series by Alan MacDonald
Women of Hope by Joyce Hansen

Young Adult
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl (autobiography)
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself

Instructional Uses:

Reading - explore genre of biography, study the biography of a biographer
Social Studies/Science/Math - understand famous people and how they affect us
Language Arts - springboard to write a biography or autobiography, study a writer's life to determine how it affected his or her writing style
All subjects - compare biographies of the same person

Bibliography

Biography: criteria and book list. (2005). Retrieved Feb. 26, 2005, from literatureplace.com Presents Biographies for the Classroom Web site: http://www.literatureplace.com/bookfolios/info/core_biography.asp.

Galda, L., & Cullinan, B. (2002). Literature and the child. 5th ed. Toronto: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Van Orden, P., & Bishop, K. (2001). The collection program in schools: concepts, practices, and information sources. 3rd ed. Englewood, CO: Greenwood Publishing.