4^th Grade and Up

So here they are! The other three books in the ‘Kid Legends’ series

Kids Author: True Tales of Childhood from Great Writers

Before the bestsellers, fan clubs, and beloved stories we know today, the world’s most celebrated writers had regular-kid problems just like you.

Learn all about the young lives of 15 different authors.

 

This book includes a variety of authors, who grew up during different time periods and lived all over the world. But I noticed that most of the authors had a few things in common; they loved to read, had great imaginations, and had a hard time fitting in or were even bullied. I loved learning about how their childhood experiences shaped and inspired their writing.

 

I especially enjoyed learning about the childhoods of J.R.R. Tolkien, Zora Neale Hurston and Roald Dahl.A young J.R.R. Tolkien was bitten on the foot by a Hercules Baboon Tarantula, one of the largest, heaviest and rarest spiders in the world. Zora Neale Hurston used her imagination to play out adventures with an ear of corn, a bar of soap and an old doorknob. Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was based on his real life experience as a top-secret candy taster for a candy company called Cadbury.

 

Unfortunately, only so many authors could fit into one book. Fortunately, some fun facts about other famous writers who didn’t make the cut are included in the back of the book. Personally, I would have rather have learned about Agatha Christie than Jeff Kinney.

 

Kid Scientists: True Tales of Childhood from Science Superstars

Before their experiments, inventions, and discoveries that changed the world, the world’s most celebrated scientists had regular-kid problems just like you.

Learn all about the young lives of 16 different scientists.

 

This book features a variety of scientists, diverse in race, gender, and scientific field. Some showed high intelligence at a young age like Katherine Johnson. Some were thought to be slow because they didn’t talk right away or acted odd like Temple Grandin. All of these young scientists came from different upbringings but they were all curious and asked lots of questions.

 

I especially enjoyed learning about the childhoods of Katherine Johnson, George Washington Carver, and Temple Grandin. Katherine Johnson was so smart that she started 2^ndgrade at the age of six, started high school at the age of ten, and graduated from high school and earned a full scholarship to West Virginia State College at the age of fourteen. George Washington Carver had his own secret garden where he would pay close attention to what he called his ‘floral beauties.’ Temple Grandin threw a book at a classmate who taunted her and was expelled from her junior high school.

It would have been better if more dates had used as a way to help frame the time period some of the scientists grew up in.It would be better for a child learning about historical people to known what years their lives took place.

 

I didn’t like the illustrations in this book as much as the first four. For one thing, the outfits didn’t seem historically accurate. I don’t know why the series changed illustrators, but I for one do not approve.

 

The thing I like most about this book is that out of the 16 scientists featured, 9 of them are women.

 

Unfortunately, only so many authors could fit into one book. Fortunately, some fun facts about other famous writers who didn’t make the cut are included in the back of the book. Personally, I would have rather have learned about Carl Sagan than Rachel Carson.

 

Kid Activists: True Tales of Childhood from Champions of Change

Every activist started out as a kid and in some cases they were kids when their activism began! But even the world’s greatest champions of civil liberties had relatable interests and problems often in the middle of extraordinary circumstances.

Learn all about the young lives of 16 different activists.

 

This book includes a variety of different activists who have helped changed the world both past and present and the many injustices they fought to changes.

 

It’s probably because I was born in this time period that I just don’t understand why people of the past were so hostile towards blacks, gays, lesbians, and etc. It just makes me sad that so many people have to fight so hard just to be treated with, what I believe to be, common decency.

 

I especially enjoyed learning about the childhoods of Harney Milk, Ruby Bridges, and Malala Yousafzai. Harvey Milk grew up in an era when gay people had no rights at all, in fact, the word “gay” wasn’t even in common use (I also love his name).  Ruby Bridges was only six years old when she faced down angry crowds as the first black student at an all-white school. Malala Yousafzai, at age seventeen, became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

These books are similar to Brad Meltzer’s Ordinary People Change the World series, both books concentrating more on the person’s childhood and are full of colorful illustrations. Except these books have more information about multiple famous people.