Kids Life

During the early 20th century, groundbreaking technology revolutionized transportation both on the ground and in the sky, with new motors making automobiles and airplanes a reality in the 1910s. Around that same time, the feminist movement was underway in the United States, spearheaded by women seeking the right to vote, lobbying for the temperance movement, and trying to make their voices heard. It was at that crossroads that flight pioneer Amelia Earhart found herself in 1919.

Over 450 years after his reign, Henry VIII is still the most famous and recognizable King of England, but it’s for all the wrong reasons. Though well regarded by contemporaries as a learned king and "one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne", he is best remembered today for his gluttony and multiple marriages. History for Kids: An Illustrated Biography of King Henry VIII chronicles Henry VIII’s life and reign.

On November 4, 2008, 47-year-old Barack Obama was officially declared president-elect of the United States. Though he was still young by presidential standards, the biracial native of Hawaii had already traveled a great distance physically and spiritually. History for Kids: The Illustrated Life of Barack Obama chronicles the amazing life story and Obama's path to the presidency, from his unique roots to his unique victory.

John Adams has become one of the more popular presidents in history relatively recently, but it was not always so. For most of his life he was seen as a bit of an outsider, different from his fellow first presidents in his temperament, birth, life, and politics. Adams and his son were the only presidents out of the first seven who were born north of the Mason Dixon line, and he was not an easy man to understand or work with.

The lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright are quintessential American stories. But at the end of the 20th century, one of the brothers’ passions became an obsession, making history's first successful powered flights. History for Kids: The Illustrated Lives of the Wright Brothers profiles the lives, careers, and legacies of the famous brothers. Your kids will learn about the Wright Brothers like never before.

History for Kids: The Illustrated Life of Franklin D. Roosevelt covers all the well known highlights of Roosevelt's life and presidency, but it also humanizes the nation's longest-serving president, covering Roosevelt's family and famous wife, the philosophical shift Roosevelt led the country through with the New Deal, and the tenacious fighter who battled polio and Adolf Hitler.

Rosa Parks is one of the most famous women in American history thanks to the events of December 1, 1955. That afternoon, on her way home from work, Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white person in defiance of Montgomery's segregated bus policies. Within days of her arrest, Montgomery's civil rights activists had organized a wide-scale boycott of Montgomery's buses by blacks. To lead the boycott, organizers formed the Montgomery Improvement Association, electing a young, 26-year-old pastor president of the new group. His name was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

History for Kids: The Illustrated Life of John F. Kennedy humanizes the nation's youngest elected president, explaining the roots of the Kennedy family, the basis for John’s presidential ambitions, his war service and journalism, his political career and assassination, and all of the accomplishments and shortcomings in between. Along the way, your kids will learn interesting facts about JFK you never knew, like which famous relative also died on November 22.

In the 19th century, one of the surest ways to rise to prominence in American society was to be a war hero, like Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison. But few would have predicted such a destiny for Hiram Ulysses Grant, who had been a career soldier with little experience in combat and a failed businessman when the Civil War broke out in 1861. However, while all eyes were fixed on the Eastern Theater at places like Manassas, Richmond, the Shenandoah Valley, and Antietam, Grant went about a steady rise up the ranks through a series of successes in the West.

Teddy Roosevelt is remembered for being an explorer, hunter, author, soldier, president, and safari adventurer, all of which combine into one unique reputation. Roosevelt is often portrayed more as a quintessential man’s man, to the point that the legend obscures the actual man. History for Kids: The Illustrated Life of Theodore Roosevelt covers the amazing and various facets of Roosevelt’s life and career, while also looking at his personal life and assessing his ongoing legacy.

While Halley’s Comet lit up Earth’s sky in 1835, America’s biggest literature star was born. Though Samuel Langhorne Clemens toiled in obscurity as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi and to this day remains a name oft forgotten, that young man became famous around the globe under his unforgettable pseudonym, Mark Twain. Although Twain spent the first 30 years of his life working odd jobs, his printing background, sharp wit, and humor helped establish him first as a journalist and later an author.

The Founding Fathers have become so revered by Americans in the last 200 years that the "Father of the Constitution" himself is often overlooked among the rest of the pantheon. Today James Madison's legacy mostly pales in comparison to the likes of George Washington, Ben Franklin, and his closest colleague, Thomas Jefferson, but Madison's list of important accomplishments is monumental. A lifelong statesman, Madison was the youngest delegate at the Continental Congress from 1780-83, and at 36 he was one of the youngest men who headed to Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Despite his age, he was the Convention's most influential thinker, and the man most responsible for the final draft of the US Constitution. Along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, Madison was one of the most persuasive advocates for ratifying the Constitution, authoring some of the most famous Federalist Papers, and he drafted the Bill of Rights that was later added to the Constitution.

Harriet Tubman is one of the most famous women in American history, and from an early age, every American learns of her contributions to abolition and the Underground Railroad. The woman who became known as the Moses of her people personally led more than 13 expeditions to free slaves in the South, and she was so integral in helping escaped slaves achieve freedom that her name is practically synonymous with the Underground Railroad today.

The most seminal event of the last millennium might also be its most controversial. As schoolchildren have been taught for over 500 years, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” In October of that year, the Italian Christopher Columbus immortalized himself by landing in the New World and beginning the process of European settlement in the Americas for Spain, bringing the Age of Exploration to a new hemisphere with him.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) needs no formal introduction. He is known around the world as one of history’s most brilliant geniuses, and one of its most influential scientists. History for Kids: The Illustrated Life of Albert Einstein profiles the life and legacy of the famous scientist, while examining his career and contributions to science and technology.

With the possible exception of Martin Luther King, Jr., no African American has been more instrumental in the fight for minorities' civil rights in the United States than Frederick Douglass 1818 - 1895), an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. His list of accomplishments would be impressive enough even without taking into account the fact that he was born into slavery. Douglass' father was a white man, even perhaps his master Aaron Anthony. When Douglass was about 12, his slaveowner's wife, Sophia Auld, began teaching him the alphabet in defiance of the South's laws against teaching slaves how to read. When her husband Hugh found out, he was furious, reminding her that if the slave learned to read, he would become dissatisfied with his condition and desire freedom. Those words would prove prophetic.

Thomas Jonathan Jackson is one of the most famous generals of the Civil War, but many of the people he continues to fascinate probably don't remember his whole name. That's because Jackson earned his famous "Stonewall" moniker at the First Battle of Manassas or Bull Run, when Brigadier-General Bee told his brigade to rally behind Jackson, whose men were standing like a stone wall. Ironically, it's still unclear whether that was a compliment for standing strong or an insult for not moving his brigade, but the nickname stuck for the brigade and the general itself.

Thomas Edison holds a unique legacy in the United States, but there's no denying that his inventions have benefited the world as a whole. Known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park", every American knows that their nation's most prolific inventor harnessed the power of electricity to create the first light bulb. But that was just one of over 1,000 patents Edison would establish during his life, as he not only dreamed up new devices but also revolutionized the way materials were mass produced.

The name "Geronimo" evokes a number of different emotions. Those who believed in 19th-century America’s "Manifest Destiny" viewed Geronimo and all Native Americans as impediments to God's will for the nation. Descendants of people killed by "hostile" natives certainly considered warriors like Geronimo to be murderers and thieves, whose cultures and societies held no redeeming values. Even today, many Americans associate the name Geronimo with a war cry, and the name Geronimo itself only came about because of a battle he fought against the Mexicans. Over time, however, the historical perception of the relationship between America and native tribes changed drastically.

In Charles River Editors' History for Kids series, your children can learn about history's most important people and events in an easy, entertaining, and educational way. The concise but comprehensive book will keep your kid's attention all the way to the end. Includes Helen's writings and explanations about how she overcame her disabilities.