What's So Great About...?
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The Buffalo Soldiers
by Tamra Orr
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
As peacekeepers on American soil and as soldiers fighting the Spanish-American War, the Buffalo Soldiers saved lives and gave their own to help the United States grow. Find out what roles they played, and how, as soldiers, they took a major step toward desegregating the military and in gaining civil rights for future generations.
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Pocahontas
by Susan Sales Harkins
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Pocahontas was just a child when her world changed forever. White men from across the ocean built a fort near her village. Most likely, Pocahontas had never seen a white man before. Some of her people feared the settlers, but Pocahontas wanted to know more about them. She took the settlers food and taught Captain John Smith her language. Find out how this bright, brave young girl became an ambassador for her people, helping to keep the peace between them and the settlers‚ at least for a while. Discover how she charmed all of England, and why she still captures the hearts of Americans.
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Galileo
by Jim Whiting
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
From an early age, Galileo Galilei was curious about the world around him. He began conducting scientific experiments. No one had ever done that before.
He invented many useful devices, such as improved clocks and tools to help sailors find their way at sea. His greatest fame came after he invented a more powerful version of the telescope. This new telescope allowed him to observe the skies in more detail than anyone before him. His observations soon led him to believe that Earth revolved around the sun.
This belief landed him in trouble with the Catholic Church, which for many centuries had taught that the sun revolved around Earth. Church leaders put him on trial. They would determine whether Galileo lived or died.
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Christopher Columbus
by Amie Jane Leavitt
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Read about the life of Christopher Columbus, from his birth in Genoa, Italy, to the voyages that changed both the Old and New Worlds forever.
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The Tuskegee Airmen
by Tamra Orr
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
In the 1940s, when the world was at war, finding enough pilots for the military was a national challenge. The solution came from a small university tucked in the middle of Alabama. Tuskegee University was teaching African Americans how to fly, but was the rest of the world ready to accept black pilots? In the beginning, the answer was a clear no. However, hundreds of missions and amazing aerial acrobatics turned that opinion around. Today, the Tuskegee Airmen are considered key role models in the country's fight for civil rights and equality for everyone.
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Jacques Cartier
by Marylou Morano Kjelle
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Jacques Cartier wondered about the world. Was it flat or round? How large was it? Was there a Northwest Passage-;a way to travel from Europe to Asia without having to sail around Africa? Cartier was a French navigator who had been familiar with the sea from a young age, and he wanted to learn the answers to these questions. In 1534, he was given a commission by King Francis I to find the Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia. Instead, he discovered a new land-Canada and the mighty river that flows through it, the St. Lawrence. Although it has been over four hundred years since Cartier made his discoveries, Canada, and its people, continue to feel the influence of this great explorer.
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Rosa Parks
by Jim Whiting
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
On the morning of December 1, 1955, hardly anyone in Rosa Parks' home town of Montgomery, Alabama had heard of her. By the time that night fell, she was on her way to becoming a household name all over the United States. That morning, she had refused to give up her bus seat to a white person. Rosa, who was African American, was tired of being pushed around because of the color of her skin. The news of her arrest spread like wildfire. African American leaders decided to urge their fellow African Americans not to ride the buses until they were treated equally. It took a year, but the movement that Rosa Parks began ended in triumph.
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Amelia Earhart
by Amie Jane Leavitt
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
From the moment Amelia Earhart took her first airplane ride in 1920, she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life flying. Her achievements opened doors for women pilots around the world. Her disappearance remains a mystery.
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Michelle Obama
by Joanne Mattern
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
In this colorful biography, find out how Michelle Robinson's family always encouraged her to reach for the stars. From her early days as a schoolgirl to her college years in Chicago and later at Princeton University, Michelle was always determined to do her best. After meeting and marrying Barack Obama, Michelle became part of a powerful team that changed history when Barack was elected the nation's first African-American president. Despite her fame, Michelle has always placed her family first. She has also become a role model for helping others and building a strong community.
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Robert Fulton
by Jim Whiting
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
From the time he was young, Robert Fulton liked to work with his hands. For a while he thought he wanted to be an artist, but it was hard to make a living as a painter. Fulton turned to inventing things, including a very early version of the submarine. He is most famous for building the first practical steamboat. Others had tried and failed, but his North River Steam Boat was successful. It sailed regularly between New York City and Albany, the capital of New York. The success of the North River Steam Boat inspired Fulton to build other steamboats, improving commerce for the nation and the world.
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Barack Obama
by Claire O'Neal
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Born to a white mother and an African father, Barack Obama struggled to understand his place in the world. He found it in the gritty streets of South Side Chicago. There, his talent as a community organizer made him a voice for the voiceless. As his voice grew stronger, he rose from the Illinois State Senate to the U.S. Senate. In 2009, he became the first African American President of the United States. Obamas story is that of the American Dream, where hard work and big dreams find one answer: Yes We Can.
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Francis Scott Key
by Marylou Morano Kjelle
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
On a September morning in 1814, an eyewitness to the British bombing of Fort McHenry scribbled a poem about the American flag on the back of an envelope. The sight of the flag waving through the battle told this poet and lawyer that the Americans were holding strong. Francis Scott Key put the pride he felt into the words of this poem, which later became The Star-Spangled Banner. Today most Americans know Key s words and sing them as their national anthem. Key went on to create an African republic where former slaves could live in freedom. He helped President Andrew Jackson settle differences between Native Americans and settlers in Alabama, and he was made district attorney for Washington, D.C. But it is for The Star-Spangled Banner that he is most remembered. Here is the story of the man who was the first to call the fledging United States of America the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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Ferdinand Magellan
by Jim Whiting
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Ferdinand Magellan made one of the most famous ocean voyages of all time. He left Spain in 1519 with five ships. He was trying to find a quicker route to the Spice Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, he encountered many problems. Many of his men turned against him. He ran into heavy storms. Food and fresh water were often in short supply. But he kept going-until he was killed in battle. A year later, one of his ships returned to Spain. It was the first time anyone had sailed all the way around the world. Although Magellan did not complete the trip, he is given credit, for without his inspired leadership, the voyage would never have succeeded.
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Lewis and Clark
by Carol Parenzan Smalley
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
The footsteps of Lewis and Clark changed history. In the early 1800s, after journeying over 8,000 miles on land and water, Lewis, Clark, and their Corps of Discovery found new plants, animals, people, and lands. Ordered by President Thomas Jefferson, they reached the Pacific Ocean before other explorers, claiming land west of the Mississippi River for the United States. Along the way, they encountered deadly grizzly bears, saw herds of buffalo, overcame starvation and freezing temperatures, lost their way in the woods, sought guidance from the Native Americans, portaged raging waterfalls, and even survived a stray bullet. Lewis and Clark opened travel to the west. America was growing, and these brave explorers led the way.
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Annie Oakley
by Jim Whiting
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Annie Oakley had a difficult childhood. Her father died when she was six, so she had to live with other people, including a family who threw her out of the house in the middle of a snowstorm. But Annie persevered. She found she had a natural gift for shooting, and she used her gift to defeat a traveling marksman named Frank Butler. Soon they were married and partners in shooting exhibitions. When Annie joined Buffalo Bill s Wild West Show, she became one of its most famous acts. People were amazed at her shooting. Annie was proud of her accomplishments. She knew that many women looked up to her. She always set a good example for them, teaching them to aim high.
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Johnny Appleseed
by Daryl Davis Zarzycki
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
John Chapman was a simple-living man with a vision to plant apple trees across the Northwest Territory. He wanted the pioneers to have something to eat, the versatile apple, as they traveled and laid down their own roots. He followed his dream and became a wealthy businessman-but that may not have been his aim, for in his clothing made of sack and wearing no shoes, he lived like a pauper. Children and grown-ups alike looked forward to visits from the man they called Johnny Appleseed. But were his feet really as tough as an animal s paw? Did he travel hundreds of miles just to find more apple seeds? Find out what is truth and what are tall tales in this revealing book about the legendary pioneer planter.
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Anne Frank
by Jim Whiting
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Anne Frank was bright, cheerful, and full of hope when her family moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The family, who were Jewish, had left Germany because Adolf Hitler, the country's leader, was trying to kill as many Jews as possible. Soon the Germans invaded their new country. Anne, her family, and four others hid in a tiny apartment for more than two years. Anne wrote in her diary about her feelings and experiences during this difficult time. When the Franks' hiding place was discovered, Anne and the others were sent to German concentration camps. Her father was the only one of the eight to survive. After the war ended, he published her diary. Millions of people have read Anne's words. Her story underlines the tragedy of lost humanity.
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The Donner Party
by Susan Sales Harkins
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Tells the story of a group of California bound American settlers who set out in the spring of 1846and became snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas during the winter of 1846 and 1847.
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George Washington Carver
by Amie Jane Leavitt
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
George Washington Carver worked his way through school and college to become a professor of agriculture. He taught students and farmers how to save the land by growing a greater variety of crops, including peanuts and sweet potatoes.
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Daniel Boone
by Russell Roberts
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
While his name is familiar to many people, his many deeds and exploits are not. Throughout his life, Daniel Boone switched from one adventure to another. He explored new places despite the presence of danger and death, and he went on long wilderness hunting trips that were daily battles of survival. Through it all Boone moved steadily onward, consumed with a burning desire to see what was over the next ridge or where the next trail would lead. His courage and determination were extraordinary. Stories of his life became legendary.
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Harriet Tubman
by Amie Jane Leavitt
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Harriet Tubman was known as the Moses of her people. She helped deliver hundreds of slaves out of bondage in the South to the freedom of the North. Each time Harriet went back into the South to rescue more of her people, she ran the risk of being caught herself. Later, she helped the Union forces as a spy, nurse, laundress, scout, and cook. When she led a group of men to attack Confederate forces, she became the first woman to lead an armed raid. Harriet Tubman's example of courage and determination continues to be an example to people all over the world.
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Sam Houston
by Susan Sales Harkins
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Sam Houston is remembered in the name of a major city in the place he loved-Texas. Not only did he defeat Santa Anna s army to free Texas from Mexico, he worked hard to make the Republic of Texas a state and, as the Civil War loomed, to keep it in the Union. He served as president of the Republic of Texas, and then as a senator and governor of the state of Texas. But that s not all. Before Andrew Jackson sent him to Texas, Houston had already been successful as a congressman and governor of Tennessee, and as a self-appointed advocate for the Cherokee Indians. He had fought bravely in the War of 1812 at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Read all about this amazingly practical man who, above all else, heeded his mother s advice to live a life of honor.
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King Tut
by Susan Sales Harkins
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
At age nine, Tutankhamen became pharaoh, ruler of Egypt. His most important act was to reestablish his people's religion of multiple gods. Before age twenty, he was dead. For over three thousand years, Egypt's desert sand hid the tomb of Tutankhamen, and Egyptians forgot about the ancient king. Then, in 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter found a door buried in the sand. It led to the greatest ancient Egyptian treasure ever found. Tutankhamen didn't have time to become a great pharaoh, but his tomb is a modern treasure-but not just for its gold and jewels, but for the stories it holds about ancient Egypt.
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Helen Keller
by Amie Jane Leavitt
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
At a young age, Helen Keller lost her ability to see and hear. With the help of Anne Sullivan, she met those challenges and became one of the most well-known people of her time. She continues to be an example of strength and determination.
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Davy Crockett
by Russell Roberts
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
According to legend, frontiersman Davy Crockett could lick his weight in wildcats and died at the Alamo only after killing hundreds of enemy soldiers. Did he always wear a coonskin cap and buckskins? Or was he just an ordinary man, a hunter and politician who usually dressed in everyday clothes and died like any other ordinary man at the Alamo? Find out in this book, which seeks to separate fact from fiction while exploring the life and death of one of the most colorful characters in American history.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
by Kaavonia Hinton
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
At an early age, Martin Luther King Jr. was unhappy about the unfair laws and customs that made it difficult for African Americans to live freely. Before he reached his teen years, he vowed to do something about them. As an adult, he became a preacher and civil rights leader. He told the world about his dream for racial harmony and peace in the United States. He marched, led boycotts and sit-ins, and made speeches to try to obtain civil rights for everyone, no matter what their skin color. He was arrested, assaulted, and ultimately shot for his beliefs, but he showed the world that nonviolence could be used to bring about great changes in society. Read about the life of this brave leader, and discover What’s So Great About Martin Luther King Jr.
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Henry Hudson
by Carol Parenzan Smalley
Part of the What's So Great About...? series
Explorer Henry Hudson was famous in life and death. Between 1607 and 1611, he led four voyages to find a passage from Europe to the Orient. Although he failed to reach Asia by water, he did discover the Hudson River, Hudson Bay, and Hudson Strait. He traveled in dangerous seas. Ice struck his sailing vessels, and his crew suffered from freezing conditions. On his final voyage, his men rebelled. They forced Hudson, his son John, and seven other crew members aboard a small boat and set them adrift to die. The rest of the crew returned to its home port without its captain. They were found not guilty of mutiny-but Hudson and the other maroons were never heard from again.
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