Biography

Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder, Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma.

Informed by her own experiences and those of her ancestors, Harjo offers inspiration and insight for navigating the many challenges of maturation. She grapples with parents, friendships, love, and loss. She guides young readers toward painting, poetry, and music as powerful tools for developing their own ethical sensibility. As Harjo demonstrates, the act of making is an essential part of who we are, a means of inviting the past into the present and a critical tool young women can use to shape a more just future.

In a photographic essay format, showcases Zion Clark, an elite wrestler and wheelchair racer born with no legs, exploring his journey from a childhood in the foster care system to his rising as an Olympic-level athlete.

Helen Keller was an activist, rebel, performer, romantic and so much more! Most stories about Helen Keller focus on the story of her deaf-blindness and scholarship, but there is more to Helen than her disability. This story teaches children to look beyond the surface with everyone they encounter.

Presents the early life of the nineteenth-century Frenchman who developed the system of raised dots by which blind people read and write.

"We can all be heroes." That's the inspiring message of this New York Times Bestselling picture book biography series from historian and author Brad Meltzer. When Helen Keller was very young, she got a rare disease that made her deaf and blind. Suddenly, she couldn't see or hear at all, and it was hard for her to communicate with anyone. But when she was six years old, she met someone who would change her life forever: her teacher, Annie Sullivan. With Miss Sullivan's help, Helen learned how to speaksign language and read Braille.

Describes the artist's early sketching hobby, famous paintings, and the illness that confined him to a wheelchair and inspired his sophisticated paper-cutout masterworks.

This is the story of 17-time Paralympic medalist Tatyana McFadden. Born with spina bifida in Russia, Tatyana was raised in an orphanage where she walked on her hands for the first six years of her life. In 1994, she was adopted and moved to the United States, where she started racing and breaking records; and is now considered the best female wheelchair racer of all time, and the fastest woman on Earth.

What dreams do you carry? Myra Viola Wilds dreamed of opportunity. She left her home in rural Kentucky for the city, learned to read and to write, and became a dressmaker. She hand-stitched gorgeous gowns. She worked so hard she lost her eyesight, and her world went dark. But those well-loved stitches turned into words, and one night Myra woke in the middle of the night and wrote a poem she called “Sunshine.” She kept writing.

A vibrant and joyful picture book that celebrates the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman and activist who played an instrumental role during the Stonewall Riots that lead to PRIDE month, written by award-winning filmmaker and artist Tourmaline.