Juvenile Nonfiction : Biography & Autobiography

Poor Pio. Sometimes his parents didn't have enough money to buy him shoes. But, that didn't bother Pio. He liked to wear his older brother's hand-me-downs with their scars. Pio did wish he could grow big and strong like others his age. His frail health made him wonder if he would live to see his next birthday. But he did live--for eighty-one years. And for the last fifty of them he bore Christ's five wounds called the Stigmata. In 1999, Pope John Paul 11 beatified Padre [Father] Pio. Beatification is the last step before canonization in which the Pope will declare Pio to be a Saint in Heaven. more...

Price: $2.75

"Sunshine, you're my baby and I'm your only mother. You must mind the one taking care of you, but she's not your mama." Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes, living by those words. As her mother spirals out of control, Ashley is left clinging to an unpredictable, dissolving relationship, all the while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the foster care system. Painful memories of being taken away from her home quickly become consumed by real-life horrors, where Ashley is juggled between caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, and forced to endure manipulative,humiliating treatment from a very abusive foster family. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed - and in doing so, discovers the power of her own voice. more...

Price: $12.99

John Steinbeck consistently appears on class reading lists across the U.S., and his work has influenced generations. Steinbeck lived and wrote during some of the most eventful and controversial eras of twentieth-century America, including the struggles of California’s migrant workers during the 1930s, which led to his masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath. A complicated man whose personal life often took a backseat to his writing—he fought his way through three marriages, was a distant father, and battled with alcoholism—Steinbeck wrote because he was compelled to. Yet he always doubted his abilities, and lived in fear of never writing a decent book. Milton Meltzer’s biography includes numerous excerpts of this iconic author’s writing, and is the latest addition to the Up Close series. more...

Price: $16.99

For fans of the king, the newest installment to the Up Close biography series!. Elvis Presley made a sound so different it ushered in a new kind of music: rock and roll. He was able to combine gospel, honky-tonk, country and rhythm and blues to create a unique sound that crossed racial and cultural divides. Though he was incredibly popular, at heart, Elvis was a shy and polite man, and the demands of fame began to take a toll. While his dependence on prescription drugs cut short his life, Elvis’s influence on music and popular culture endures to this day. more...

Price: $6.99

Originally published in 1951, this biography of the childhood years of America’s ninth president, William Henry Harrison, details the boyhood adventures and character of young Tippecanoe prior to his assumption of the highest office. more...

Price: $7.95