With the combination of storytelling and illustrations, picture books go beyond a factual recitation of facts to introduce children to important historical people.
Here are three good examples of picture books about people who used words to help others.
So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk Toward Freedom by Gary D. Schmidt, illustrated by Daniel Minter (2018)
This picture book focuses on Sojourner Truth’s tallness of spirit that helped her walk away from slavery, appeal to the law for the return of her son, and walk for years and years (her sojourn) to speak the truth about slavery.
Tallness is featured in the title, the text, and the illustrations. Schmidt used repeating, parallel sentences showing various stages and aspects of slavery time and freedom time. To go with this text, Minter used vertical, symbolic illustrations. In addition, in his illustrations of Sojourner, she is extra tall compared to other people.
This book would probably be better for older elementary kids. I knew very little about Sojourner, so I appreciated the author and illustrator notes.
Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books by Kay Winters, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (2003)
This book spends a lot of time on Abe’s early life in the wilderness. It showed how much and what kinds of work Abe and his family had to do to survive, his hunger for learning and words, and what he’d do to satisfy that hunger and then use those words to help others.
Both the text and illustrations show what life was like for young Abe without getting bogged down in too much detail. I’d recommend this second or third grade and up.
John Ronald’s Dragons: The Story of J.R.R. Tolkien by Caroline McAlister, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler (2017)
This book covers Tolkien’s life up to the point of the dragon Smaug entering John Ronald’s life in his book, The Hobbit.
The text is spare and focuses on John Ronald’s use of his imagination for pleasure and as a way to cope with hard things in his life.
The author provides a more thorough biography in the back matter, as well as information about dragons that influenced John Ronald and dragons that he created.
The illustrator also left extensive notes to explain the historical clues she put into her illustrations. Make sure you check out the endpapers in both the front and back of the book!
Sojourner told the truth about slavery, Abe spoke and argued for a strong nation united in freedom from slavery, and John Ronald delighted and encouraged readers through the use of his imagination and words.
What picture books about other wordsmiths do you enjoy?
Love these choices! Another sweet book about a writer is Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen by Deborah Hopkinson. 🙂 I enjoyed your last post, about your school visit and pilgrims, too, but I can’t find it now. My email leads to an error?!
Hi, Marcia, Sorry to respond so late! The Jane Austen book looks wonderful! She is an inspiration to me, so I’ve got to read this book! The school visit/Pilgrims post was actually my newsletter. Would you like me to resend it to you?