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    50 Impressive Kids and Their Amazing (and True!) Stories

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    by Saundra Mitchell

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    Paperback

    (Reprint)

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    • ISBN-13: 9780147518132
    • Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
    • Publication date: 03/29/2016
    • Series: They Did What? Series
    • Edition description: Reprint
    • Pages: 320
    • Sales rank: 60,822
    • Product dimensions: 5.06(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.78(d)
    • Age Range: 10Years

    Saundra Mitchell is absolutely, completely, totally crazy about history. If you come to her hometown of Indianapolis, she'll show you the streets named after 19th century trolley stops, where Civil War prisoners were kept, and where the first European cemetery in town used to be. (That's right, they moved it! How creepy is that?) When she's not geeking out about history, she's writing novels for young adults, flipping out about pop culture with her best friend, and seriously embarrassing her kids. Find out more about her at www.saundramitchell.com and follow her on Twitter @SaundraMitchell.

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    From Stevie Wonder to Emma Watson, and Pocahontas to Pablo Picasso , 50 amazing kids who shaped history!

    A collection of biographies profiling some of the most influential kids in history and today. Prodigies, proteges, and kids with huge ambition, these youngsters prove that fulfilling your dreams and making a difference in the world isn't just for grown-ups. Some of the most phenomenal musicians, inventors, athletes, authors, actors, and even world leaders achieved greatness during their childhood years, beating the odds and making their mark on history. With loads of facts and trivia, activities, jokes, and a complete glossary, discover fifty of the most inspiring, impressive, incredible kids!

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    From the Publisher
    Praise for They Did What? 50 Impressive Kids and Their Amazing (and True!) Stories

    "Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory? Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries . . . for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page. A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats."—Kirkus Reviews

    "This impressively broad and engaging collection of brief biographies ranges thousands of years of human history, around the world, and across a variety of disciplines that include intellectual and athletic achievements . . . Accompanied by Petrus’ appealing sketched portraits, the profiles of the individuals featured contain enough background information—family, social class, disability, or extraordinary talent, for instance—to make the achievements sensible as well as relevant to contemporary readers."—Booklist  

    School Library Journal
    02/01/2016
    Gr 4–7—Mitchell introduces a group of amazing children and women from many fields. In Kids, she provides very brief chapters on impressive kids who represent many cultures and time periods; included are the famous, such as Stevie Wonder, Emma Watson, Joan of Arc, Louis Braille, and Anne Frank, and the little known (Marc Márquez, Q'orianka Kilcher, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, and Elagabalus). Likewise, 50 Unbelievable Women highlights both iconic (Catherine the Great, Marie Curie, Julia Child, and Harriet Tubman) and more obscure (Tegla Loroupe, Murasaki Shikibu, and Diane Humetewa) women. Most of the stories positively reflect the subjects' lives. However, the writing is dry and the information is scant, especially in Women. Though the figures are culturally diverse, political diversity is lacking, as all of the modern American women affiliated with politics espouse liberal views. Mitchell includes Ruth Bader Ginsburg (whom she erroneously refers to as "the first Jewish person to serve on the Supreme Court") but excludes Sandra Day O'Connor. Mitchell's desire to showcase the positive aspects of the people she depicts may lead to some misconceptions (readers could be forgiven for thinking that Catherine the Great was a nice ruler who truly cared about her subjects). Additionally, some of the subjects of Kids were already adults before they achieved anything of note (Mary Shelley was 19 when she wrote Frankenstein). VERDICT Despite the laudable topic, the sparse content and lack of balance make these volumes of little value. Children will be better served by Kathleen Krull's Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought) (HMH, 2000) and Grosset & Dunlap's "Who Was" and "Who Is" series for more thorough explorations of notable individuals.—Margaret Nunes, Gwinnett County Public Library, GA
    Kirkus Reviews
    2015-11-11
    Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory? Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting "Swingkinder," the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children's Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, "boy emperor of Rome," though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: "Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity." The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there's motivational kindling on nearly every page. A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)

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