
73 95 100+ Biographies for Kids
This post was originally posted in 2014 with 73 biographies and there been TONS more biographies for kids published since then. As I added to our library, I updated this post again in 2018. I gave this post a THIRD revision in 2020 to add in even more amazing biographies for kids! Here’s the updated list, categorized for easy searching and saving.
Biographies for Kids: Scientists + Mathematicians to Admire
- The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbably Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman
2. Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau by Jennifer Berne
3. The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter
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4. Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
5. Who Says Women Can’t be Doctors: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone

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6. Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein by Don Brown
7. Electrical Wizard: How Nikola Tesla Lit up the World by Elizabeth Rusch
8. Timeless Thomas: How Thomas Edison Changed our Lives by Gene Berretta
9. Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
10.On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne
11. Summer birds: the Butterflies of Maria Marion by Margarita Engle
12. Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by Joseph D’Agnese
13. The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of James John Audubon by Jacqueline Davies
14. Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
15. Caroline’s Comets: A True Story by Emily Arnold McCully
16. Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World about Kindness by Donna Janell Bowman
17. Look Up!: Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer by Robert Burleigh

18. The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by
19. Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by
Great list!
Additional picture book biographies that we’ve enjoyed:
Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson
Small Wonders: Jean-Henri Fabre & His World of Insects by Matthew Clark Smith
The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art by Barb Rosenstock
Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating
Pippo the Fool by Tracey Fern
This list is fantastic! I order the biographies for our library and we were missing several of these. You know it’s a good list when the library already has most of the books and they are regularly checked out!
This looks like an awesome list! However please note that Rosie Revere Engineer is NOT a biography. It’s a wonderful book about a little girl who wants to be an engineer, but it is NOT about Rosie the Riveter. There is an implication that the character’s great great aunt is the riveter but this is not a biography.
Thank you very much for this list, it’s super helpful!
Thank you so much! I love getting my kids biographies! Great looking list!
This is a goldmine! Thanks so much for compiling this list Alicia! My little bookworm will thank you for this.
xo emily
This is incredible! I am always on the hunt for book list and adding in some biographies would be such an excellent learning tool. Like you, life fascinates me and I love reading about them!
http://www.hollandsreverie.blogspot.com
My daughter's class does a book report a month. She has done mysteries, but this month she will be reading the story of olympic gymnast Shaun Johnson. Callie is a gymnast as well (a newcomer)and I love that she will be reading about one of her heroes. You have compiled a great list. Makes me truly miss teaching reading.
Love this list! I'm looking for books to steer my kids to. 😉
Oh how I nerdily love this list! My girls have been reading a lot of biographies about people in the Revolutionary War and they have been loving them! Hooray for raising future biography nerds!!
Love love love this post! Thank you!
What a fun list'. We haven't really done much biography reading at all. This list will be a great place to start!