Synopsis: What would you do with a billion dollars? This question gets a definitive answer from billionaire Richard Branson: do everything! Born into a wealthy family in London, Branson suffered from dyslexia and was a poor student. Still, his knack for business started early with a successful parakeet-breeding enterprise at age 11.The charismatic entrepreneur launched his first major business, Virgin Records, at age 22 and spent the next few decades…

Synopsis: A legend in his time! Tiger Woods has been a fixture in the world of golf since playing in his first professional tournament in 1992 at the age of 16. Since then he was won 37 tournaments, including all four majors. On April 8, 2001, at the age of 25, Tiger won the Masters and in doing so became the only golfer in history to hold all four major professional golf championship titles simultaneously.

Synopsis: When Mary McLeod was a girl in rural South Carolina, no school would accept her as a student, because she was black. But one day, a woman from the city came to open a mission school. "It changed my life overnight," Mary later wrote. Her lifelong goal was to improve the quality of life for black Americans. In the face of constant opposition, she showed that change was possible. Book jacket.

Synopsis: Rosa Parks is best known for the day she refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus, sparking the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. Yet there is much more to her story than this one act of defiance. In this straightforward, compelling autobiography, Rosa Parks talks candidly about the civil rights movement and her active role in it. Her dedication is inspiring; her story is unforgettable."The simplicity and candor of this courageous woman's…

Synopsis: Get to know runaway slave and American revolutionary Crispus Attucks in this middle grade nonfiction biography of his early years!Crispus Attucks was born into slavery around 1723, the son of an African American enslaved person and a Natick Indian. After years of forced labor in the Boston area, Crispus escaped and began working on trading ships and whaling vessels until his death in the Boston Massacre. This book is laced with numerous…

Synopsis: Jim Thorpe: Olympic Champion is Guemsey Van Riper Jr.'s biography of a world-class athlete.A biography of the Native American known as one of the best all-round athletes in history, for his accomplishments as an Olympic medal winner as well as an outstanding professional football and basebell player.

Synopsis: Though much of his early life remains a mystery, Blackbeard most likely began his life as Edward Teach in the sailing port of Bristol, England. He began his career as a hired British sailor during Queen Anne’s War. He eventually settled in the Bahamas under Captain Benjamin Hornigold who taught the young sailor to go "a-pirating." Soon enough, Blackbeard was commanding his own fleet and stealing ships around the Caribbean and up and down the…

Synopsis: Jackie Robinson was a great athlete, but his destiny went far beyond the baseball diamond. As the first black man to play in the all-white baseball leagues, he was a symbol of courage, hope, and unity for all black and white Americans, and for people throughout the world. A fresh new biography of an American hero. Illustrated.

Synopsis: Enter a world of shrunken heads, mystic holy men, shriveled aliens, and bizarre relics in the delightfully odd tale of Robert Ripley. Born in California, Ripley began his career as a sports cartoonist. He went on to chronicle global records and oddities in his weekly column, Believe It Or Not! After publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst took an interest in the column, it became a syndicated global success. Ripley spent his life traveling to…

Synopsis: Born in Wisconsin in 1867, Frank Lloyd Wright became obsessed with a set of building blocks his mother had given to him on his ninth birthday. He grew up to become the father of organic architecture and the greatest American architect of all time, having designed more than 1,100 buildings during his lifetime. These included  private homes – such as the stunning Fallingwater, churches, temples, a hotel, and the world-famous Guggenheim Museum in…