Books with author Donna Brown

Award-winning author Don Brown explores computers and technology in book two of the Big Ideas series Machines That Think! explores machines from ancient history to today that perform a multitude of tasks, from making mind-numbing calculations to working on assembly lines. Included are fascinating looks at the world’s earliest calculators, the birth of computer programming, and the arrival of smartphones. Contributors discussed include Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, Ada Lovelace, and Bill Gates. From the abacus to artificial intelligence, machines through the ages have pushed the boundaries of human capability and creativity. Back matter includes a timeline, endnotes, a bibliography, an author’s note, and an index.

When James Marshall found a small, soft shiny stone in a California stream, he knew it could only be one thing: Gold! His cry of discovery would be heard around the world. In the third installment of Don Brown's Actual Times series, Gold! Gold from the American River! is the story of the California gold rush--the uncharted journey across hostile land, the laborious process of panning for gold, the success of savvy entrepreneurs, and the fortunes of the marginalized, from slaves and American Indians to women and foreigners.

By the time Anna Howard Shaw was barely twelve years old, she had crossed the stormy Atlantic (one and a half times), survived a grueling journey from Massachusetts to the unexplored woods of Michigan, and helped create a house and home in the middle of nowhere. By most measures, Anna Howard Shaw’s life was hard and filled with struggle. But a life in the North American wilderness also had many pleasures. Anna was young, happy, and strong. What Anna didn’t have was school. With incredible fortitude and purpose, not only did Anna go on to teach school herself, she also accomplished a great many other things, including helping to win the right to vote for women. With his magical storytelling and radiant artwork, Don Brown welcomes us into the pioneer life of a most extraordinary woman.

From the child raised by her grandmother in a small village in Arkansas to the writer known as National Treasure, Angelou has lived a remarkable life. She rose from pain and poverty to achieve success as a dancer, an actress, a teacher and an award-winning author. Readers of Donna Brown Agins's compelling new profile will understand and appreciate why Angelou is one of the best-loved and most fascinating American writers.

The first book in Don Brown's Actual Times series brings the start of the American Revolution to life.A 26-year-old King George II found himself in financial turmoil after crushing the French, Austrians, and Spanish in battle. Luckily money was no object since he could easily get it back by raising taxes on his American colonies...but what King George didn't realize was the colonies were beginning to have a mind of their own and had started to set their sights on freedom. The cast of characters includes those we know--the famous silversmith, turned messenger, Paul Revere--and many we haven't heard of like "Flinty Whittemore," a 78-year-old who fought off the British with a musket, two pistols, a sword, was bayoneted 14 times and still lived another 18 years to brag about it. Detailed, yet accessible, Don Brown's award-winning nonfiction style brilliantly comes to life in Let It Begin Here, this fascinating account of the start of the Revolutionary War.

Teedie was not exactly the stuff of greatness: he was small for his size. Delicate. Nervous. Timid. By the time he was ten years old, he had a frail body and weak eyes. He was deviled by asthma, tormented by bullies. His favorite place to be was at home. Some might think that because of these things, Teedie was destined for a ho-hum life. But they would be wrong. For teeedie had a strong mind, as well as endless curiosity and determination. Is that all? No. Teedie also had ideas of his own--lots of them. It wasn't long before the world knew him as Theodore Roosevelt, the youngest president of the United States.

My father and I settled in Africa in 1906. . . . And it was there, as a small girl, I was eaten by a lion.So begins a true story from aviatrix Beryl Markham’s autobiography. Here young Beryl and a “tame” lion called Paddy come together in an encounter that challenges our notions of wild and docile, trust and duplicity, punishment and forgiveness. Coupled with Don Brown’s expressive watercolors, The Good Lion is a powerful story that will leave readers wondering about the true natures of man and beast.

ONE DAY THAT CHANGED A NATION A nonfiction master brings the start of the American Revolution to life.A 26-year-old King George II found himself in financial turmoil after crushing the French, Austrians, and Spanish in battle. Luckily money was no object since he could easily get it back by raising taxes on his American colonies...but what King George didn't realize was the colonies were beginning to have a mind of their own and had started to set their sights on freedom. The cast of characters includes those we know--the famous silversmith, turned messenger, Paul Revere--and many we haven't heard of like "Flinty Whittemore," a 78-year-old who fought off the British with a musket, two pistols, a sword, was bayoneted 14 times and still lived another 18 years to brag about it. Detailed, yet accessible, Don Brown's award winning nonfiction style brilliantly comes to life in this fascinating account of the start of the American Revolution.

After the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japan's emperor still refused to surrender, and Captain Jerry Yellin was one of the fighter pilots who continued to fly. From April to August of 1945, Captain Jerry Yellin and a small group of fellow fighter pilots flew dangerous bombing and strafe missions out of Iwo Jima over Japan. Even days after America dropped the atomic bombs -- on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9 -- the pilots continued to fly. Though Japan had suffered unimaginable devastation, the emperor still refused to surrender. Bestselling author Don Brown sits down with the ninety-one year-old Yellin to tell the incredible true story of the final combat mission of World War II. Nine days after Hiroshima, on the morning of August 15, Yellin and his wingman, First Lieutenant Phillip Schlamberg, took off from Iwo Jima to bomb Tokyo. By the time Yellin returned to Iwo Jima, the war was officially over -- but his young friend, Schlamberg, would never get to hear the news. The Last Fighter Pilot is a harrowing first-person account of war from one of America's last living World War II veterans.

The incomparable Don Brown chronicles the ballooning misadventures of John Jeffries, scientist and aviation pioneer.Swept up by the European ballooning craze of the 1780s, Dr. John Jeffries longed to become the first person to fly across the English Channel. But first he had to outwit a rascally copilot, keep the balloon from bursting, and avoid crashing into the sea. The good doctor's quick-thinking solutions will surprise young readers--and keep them giggling. Orbis Pictus and Sibert Honor winner Don Brown tells this quirky true story with his usual accuracy and heart.

Cerebral Palsy, a developmental disease impacting motor coordination, affects 3 out of 1,000 births. While medical intervention such as physical or speech therapy, ambulatory aides like wheelchairs or braces, help a child achieve a productive life, John Brown was determined that he would leave his mark on the world. Born in the early 50's with a type of spastic CP impacting his gait and balance, but leaving his speech intact, John and his strong willed mother fought against the times' conventional wisdom and doctors' predictions that he would never walk. After an early childhood of repeated muscle lengthening surgeries and body braces, he insisted upon leaving a special education school to be mainstreamed in the Philadelphia Catholic, then public, school systems, and went on to play Catholic grade school football and developed a keen interest in high school wrestling and football. After completing a degree in broadcast journalism, he embarked on a 44 year career as an award winning Philadelphia radio disc jockey, traffic reporter and meteorologist, retiring in October 2013. From the childhood specialists who viewed him as just another special needs child, to his first radio program director who called him a diamond in the rough, John was determined to be the best in his field and demonstrate that hard work, perseverance and, some luck, can help one trump the odds no matter the obstacles. John's is a story of the American spirit, how tears, determination and true grit can get you to the top.

Mary Kingsley spent her childhood in a small house on a lonely lane outside London, England. Her mother was bedridden, her father rarely home, and Mary served as housekeeper, handyman, nursemaid, and servant. Not until she was thirty years old did Mary get her chance to explore the world she’d read about in her father’s library. In 1893, she arrived in West Africa, where she encountered giant Xying insects, crocodiles, hippos, and brutal heat. Mary endured the hardships of the equatorial country—and thrived.