Young Adult Biography

Socrates: A Life Worth Living traces the life and ideas of one of Western civilization’s founding philosophers, whose influence is still felt more than two thousand years later. Socrates is famous for how he died, executed by the Athenian government for corrupting the youth of Athens, but his most important contribution was to challenge the people around him to test their ideas and beliefs in conversation with each other, in the belief that in this way we could become a society that knows the difference between truth and falsehood, and find what makes a life worthwhile.

My story starts the day that my parents told me we must leave our adopted home forever. Because of the soldiers and the drought we barely had enough to eat and we could no longer stay to help the people in our village.

In this incredible narrative, Erica Armstrong Dunbar reveals a fascinating and heartbreaking behind-the-scenes look at the Washingtons when they were the First Family and an in-depth look at their slave, Ona Judge, who dared to escape from one of the nation’s Founding Fathers. Born into a life of slavery, Ona Judge eventually grew up to be George and Martha Washington’s “favored” dower slave. When she was told she was going to be given as a wedding gift to Martha Washington’s granddaughter, Ona made the bold and brave decision to flee to the North, where she'd be a fugitive.

When Harold Ross founded The New Yorker in 1925, he described it as a “comic weekly.” And although it has become much more than that, it has remained true in its irreverent heart to the founder’s description, publishing the most illustrious literary humorists of the modern era. This anthology gathers together, for the first time, the funniest work of more than seventy New Yorker contributors.

Omar Sharif grew up in London surrounded by gangs with fierce loyalties. Carrying a knife offered him protection; belonging; family. But after three of his friends were murdered, Omar sought to change his life. He is now a Pride of Britain Award winner and coach who inspires teens and young people with his story, helping them grow self-belief, resist peer pressure and reach their potential.

Emma Goldman made trouble her whole life. The first time was by accident. Her birth (in Lithuania, in 1869) angered her father. He had wanted a dutiful son, not a headstrong daughter. The other times were on purpose. When she arrived in America as a young woman, she loved its democratic ideals but was appalled by its hypocrisy. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness seemed to be only for those at the top. Something had to be done for everyone else. Someone had to speak up. Soon Emma was delivering rousing speeches on topics like workers’ rights, feminism, and the atrocities of capitalism.

The biggest hit show of 2010 for Nickelodeon now hits the comic page! Four friends from Minnesota started a pop-singing group on the show, and now you can learn the back story of these four young men and their co-stars. Find out where Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James came from, and see what brought these four young men into the limelight for all the world to see. Be here as you join the phenomenon that is sweeping the nation.

In 2013, Edward Snowden shocked the world when he revealed that the United States government was secretly building a system of mass surveillance with the ability to gaze into the private lives of every person on earth. Phone calls, text messages, emails - nothing was safe from prying eyes. Now the man who risked everything to expose the truth about government spying describes for a new generation how he helped build that system, what motivated him to try to bring it down, and how young people can strive to protect their privacy in the digital age.

One day, not so very many years ago, a small peasant boy was chosen to study ballet at the Beijing Dance Academy. His mother urged him to take this chance of a lifetime. But Li was only eleven years old and he was scared and lonely, pushed away from all that he had ever known and loved. He hated the strict training routines and the strange place he had been brought to. All he wanted to do was go home - to his mother, father, and six brothers, to his own small village. But soon Li realised that his mother was right. He had the chance to do something special with his life - and he never turned back.

Born in 1102 to King Henry of England and Queen Matilda of Scotland, Matilda's uniquely royal Norman, Saxon, and Scottish heritage was meant to unify an England still divided by her grandfather's conquest in 1066. When the 1120 White Ship Disaster made her the only surviving child of her parents, Matilda suddenly became heiress to the English throne in a time when the old Saxon Witan, not the king's Will, still decided the succession. Discover the true story of the first woman to claim the throne of England in her own right and be inspired!

Twenty-four hours: that's how long fourteen-year-old Elvira Gonzalez is given to come up with the $40,000 she needs to save her kidnapped mother from a drug cartel. It's 2006 and Elvira's hometown of Laredo, Texas, has become engulfed by the Mexican Drug War. Elvira's life is unraveling around her—setting her on a harrowing path that leads her to being locked up in one of South Texas's worst juvenile detention centers. After Elvira's released from juvie, she's resolved to never go back. That's when her unexpected salvation arrives in the form of 33-inch-high plastic hurdles.

Winner of two world championships, three U.S. national championships, and an Olympic Silver Medal, Michelle Kwan is a true champion. Her warm, friendly confidence and extraordinary skating talent have made her a legend in her own time.

Michelle has had to work hard and make sacrifices to get to the top. Now she shares her thoughts and experiences to help others make their dreams come true. Vision, discipline, and dedication head her list of requirements for success.

For more than 200 years, the wreck of the Whydah (and the riches that went down with it) eluded treasure seekers, until the ship was finally found in 1984 by marine archaeologists. The artifacts brought up from the ocean floor are priceless, both in value and in the picture they reveal of life in that much-mythologized era, changing much of what we know about pirates.

Coyote Peterson, YouTube star, animal enthusiast, and creator of the Brave Adventure series, has tracked down some of the world's most painfully stinging insects and chronicled getting stung by each of them on his YouTube channel. Coyote has saved the best - or possibly the worst - for last, and he's finally ready to share his experience with the most painful sting in the world: the Executioner Wasp. Packed with facts about nature's most misunderstood creatures, The King of Sting is a dream book for any kid that loves animals, bugs, outdoor exploration, and danger!

Kevin Breel burst into the public's awareness when at 19 his TED talk became a worldwide phenomenon. Through the lens of his own near suicide, he shared his profoundly vulnerable story of being young, male, and depressed in a culture that has no place for that. Boy Meets Depression is a book that explores what it means to struggle and tells an honest, heartfelt story about how a meaningful life isn't found in perfection; it's found in our ability to heal and accept the dark parts of ourselves.

Este audiolibro es una recopilación de 17 testimonios de atletas olímpicos mexicanos, quienes relatan el momento en el que lograron la victoria más importante de su vida y subieron al podio olímpico. Las historias son sustancia viva y se transforman todos los días, mutan, se añejan en los rincones de nuestra memoria.

Explore the many facets of your identity through hundreds of big and small questions. In this affirmations audiobook created for Black girls, M. J. Fievre tackles topics such as family and friends, school and careers, body image, and stereotypes. By reflecting on these themes, you confront the issues that can hold you back from discovering your inner Black joy. Embrace authenticity and celebrate who you are. Finding the courage to live as you are is not easy, so Badass Black Girl is designed to help you nurture creativity and positive self-awareness.

Adapted for middle-schoolers by Grace T. Hallock from Madame Curie, A Biography, written by her daughter Eve Curie and translated by Vincent Sheean, this concise summary highlights the challenges, successes and struggles Marie Curie experienced throughout her lifetime. This short audiobook dives into her difficult childhood, the hurdles she overcame in order to get an education in Russia controlled Poland, as well as the endless travails she had as one of the few female scientists at the turn of the 20th century.

Life is weird. Nothing gives you a sense of perspective like finding out just how weird. I'm an extremely curious chap and with this book I wanted to share the content of my noggin, because I think these are the 147 things that have helped me through this thing we call life. Sometimes because it shows how lucky we are to be here at all, but often because I'm a moron and learned whatever lesson it taught me the hard way, and I'd like to save you the pain of making the same mistakes (I refer here to the waxing of my pubic hair).

Still I Rise takes its title from a work by Maya Angelou, and it resonates with the same spirit of an unconquerable soul, a woman who is captain of her fate. This book embodies the strength of character of the inspiring women profiled within. Each chapter outlines the fall and rise of great women heroes who smashed all obstacles rather than let all obstacles smash them. Still I Rise offers hope to those undergoing their own Sisyphean struggles. Intrepid women heroes are the antithesis of the traditional damsels in distress; rather than waiting for the prince, they took salvation into their own hands.