Jen Bryant

Hall-of-famer Elgin Baylor was one of basketball's all-time-greatest players-an innovative athlete, team player, and quiet force for change. One of the first professional African-American players, he inspired others on and off the court. But when traveling for away games, many hotels and restaurants turned Elgin away because he was black. One night, Elgin had enough and staged a one-man protest that captured the attention of the press, the public,...

"Louis Braille was just five years old when he lost his sight. He was a clever boy, determined to live like everyone else, and what he wanted most of all was to be able to read. Even at the school for the blind in Paris, there were no books for him. And so he invented his own alphabet--a whole new system for writing that he could read by touch. A system so ingenious that it is till used by the blind community today."

Artist Georgia O'Keeffe was interested in the shapes she saw around her, from her childhood on a Wisconsin farm to her adult life in New York City and New Mexico.

"August Wilson (1945-2005) was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who had a particular talent for capturing the authentic, everyday voice of Black Americans. As a child, he read off soup cans and cereal boxes, and when his mother brought him to the library, his whole world opened up. After facing intense prejudice at school from both students and some teachers, August dropped out. However, he continued reading and educating himself independently....

Traces the life of the Trappist monk who became one of America's best known spiritual writers, describing his childhood and worldly education, his faith journey, writing career, and his involvement in social issues of his time.

Young Abe Lincoln learns the meaning of selflessness and freedom when he encounters a soldier on a country road and gives up his prized possession: a fish he caught for the family's evening meal. Includes author's note on the early life of the sixteenth president.

Traces the life of Lucretia Mott, an active leader of the abolitionist and feminist movements, from her humble roots in New England to her days at a New York Quaker boarding school, and through her decades of social service in Philadelphia.

While detained in a German prison camp, a French composer is given a rare opportunity to write music again.

Hall-of-famer Elgin Baylor was one of basketball's all-time-greatest players-an innovative athlete, team player, and quiet force for change. One of the first professional African-American players, he inspired others on and off the court. But when traveling for away games, many hotels and restaurants turned Elgin away because he was black. One night, Elgin had enough and staged a one-man protest that captured the attention of the press, the public,...

August Wilson (1945—2005) was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who had a particular talent for capturing the authentic everyday voice of Black Americans. As a child, he read off soup cans and cereal boxes, and when his mother brought him to the library, his whole world opened up. After facing intense prejudice at school from both students and some teachers, August dropped out. However, he continued reading and educating himself independently....