Böcker i Who Was?-serien

As young boys, Orville and Wilbur Wright loved all things mechanical.  As young men, they gained invaluable skills essential for their success by working with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and any sort of machinery they could get their hands on.  As adults, the brothers worked together to invent, build, and fly the world’s first successful airplane. This is the fascinating story of the two inventors and aviation pioneers who never lost sight of their dream: to fly, and to soar higher!

In this exciting new WHO WAS...? Biography, children will learn of Christopher Columbus' early life at sea, which led him to seek fortune by sailing west in hopes of creating new trade routes with the Indies. Readers will learn why he called himself the "Great Admiral of the Seas" and learn of his struggles to find financial support for his voyage.

How did an Irish schoolboy become the lead singer of a world-famous rock band and the founder of several humanitarian groups? Track Bono's rise to fame in this exciting addition to the Who Was? series.

Claude Monet is considered one of the most influential artists of all time. He is a founder of the French Impressionist art movement, and today his paintings sell for millions of dollars. While Monet was alive, however, his work was often criticized and he struggled financially. With over one hundred black-and-white illustrations, this book unveils a true portrait of the artist!

At age 16,Ernest Shackleton, became an apprentice seaman. Subsequently, Ernest's incredible journeys to the South Pole in the early 1900s made him one of the most famous explorers of modern times. His courage in the face of dangerous conditions and unforeseeable tragedies reveal the great leader that he was.

Galileo is another Renaissance great known just by his first name. A name that is synonymous with scientific achievement. Born in Italy, in the sixteenth century, Galileo contributed to the era's great rebirth of knowledge. He invented a telescope with which he was able to observe the heavens.

Malala Yousafzai was a girl who loved to learn but was told that girls would no longer be allowed to go to school. She wrote a blog that called attention to what was happening in her beautiful corner of Pakistan and realized that words can bring about change. She has continued to speak out for the right of all children to have an education.

Born into wealth in 1860's London, Beatrix Potter always had a vivid imagination. Her early interests included natural history and archaeology, and Potter delighted in sketching fossils and fungi. Potter wrote and illustrated her well-known book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Peter Rabbit and his animal friends have become cultural touchstones.

As a child, Charles Dickens worked in a shoe polish factory where his gritty surroundings inspired some of the most memorable characters and settings in literary history. Known for his masterful storytelling in books like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol, Dickens toured the globe as one of the most famous people of his era.

When the plague broke out in London in 1665 he was forced to return home from college. It was during this period of so much death, that Newton gave life to some of the most important theories in modern science, including gravity and the laws of motion. This book tells his story.

Born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867, Marie Curie was forbidden to attend the male-only University of Warsaw, so she enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris to study physics and mathematics. There she met a professor Pierre Curie, and they got married. Together they discovered two elements and won a Nobel Prize in 1903. This book tells her story.

A series of biographies which introduce readers to key figures in history.