Books in A Robbie Reader: What's So Great About...? series

Michelle Obama s family always encouraged her to reach for the stars. From her early days as a schoolgirl in Chicago to her time as a student in Chicago and later at Princeton University, Michelle was always determined to do her best. However, even she could not have imagined how high she could reach. After meeting and marrying Barack Obama, Michelle became part of a powerful team that changed history when Barack was elected the nation s first African-American president. Despite her fame, Michelle has always placed her family first. She has also become a role model for helping others and building a strong community. Read this exciting biography to find out what s so great about Michelle Obama.

Imagine defending your country with your life and then being treated unfairly when the battle is over and you go back home to rest and recover. That is what it was like for many of the African American soldiers who fought on the frontier in the mid-1800s. As peacekeepers on American soil and as soldiers fighting the Spanish-American War, the Buffalo Soldiers saved lives and gave their own to help the United States grow. Find out what roles they played, and how, as soldiers, they took a major step toward desegregating the military and in gaining civil rights for future generations.

In the 1940s, when the world was at war, finding enough pilots for the military was a national challenge. The solution came from a small university tucked in the middle of Alabama. Tuskegee University was teaching African Americans how to fly but was the rest of the world ready to accept black pilots? In the beginning, the answer was a clear no. However, hundreds of missions and amazing aerial acrobatics turned that opinion around. Today, the Tuskegee Airmen are considered key role models in the country s fight for civil rights and equality for everyone.

Barack Obama likes to say: In no other country on earth is my story possible. Born to a white mother and an African father, Obama struggled to understand his place in the world. He found it in the gritty streets of South Side Chicago. There, his talent as a community organizer made him a voice for the voiceless. As his voice grew stronger, he rose from the Illinois State Senate to the U.S. Senate. In 2009, he became the first African American President of the United States. In the first year of his presidency, he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring people together. Obama s story is that of the American Dream, where hard work and big dreams find one answer: Yes We Can.

The year 1849 was an important one for Elizabeth Blackwell. After two years of intense studying, she finally received her diploma from Geneva Medical College. This was a milestone not only in her life, but in the field of medicine as a whole. After all, Elizabeth was the first woman in the world ever to attend and graduate from medical school. She was the world s first woman doctor. Elizabeth didn t always dream of becoming a doctor. It was only after a close friend died of a painful illness that she realized the need for women to become part of this very important field of study. Because of her pioneering efforts, women everywhere have more career opportunities today.

According to legend, frontiersman Davy Crockett could "lick his weight in wildcats" and died at the Alamo only after killing hundreds of enemy soldiers. Did he always wear a coonskin cap and buckskins? Or was he just an ordinary man, a hunter and politician who usually dressed in everyday clothes and died like any other ordinary man at the Alamo? Find out in this book, which seeks to separate fact from fiction while exploring the life and death of one of the most colorful characters in American history.

On a September morning in 1812, an eyewitness to the British bombing of Ft. McHenry scribbled a poem about the American flag on the back of an envelop. The eyewitness was Francis Scott Key, a well-known Washington D.C. poet and lawyer. The sight of the American Flag waving through the battle told Key that the Americans were holding strong, and stirred Key to put the pride he felt into the words of a poem. These words became “The Star-Spangled Banner,” our national anthem. Today every American knows Key’s words and sings them proudly at official proceedings and before sports events. Key went on to create an African republic where former slaves could live in freedom. He helped President Andrew Jackson settle differences between Native Americans and settlers in Alabama, and he was made District Attorney for Washington D.C. But it is for “The Star-Spangled Banner” that he is most remembered. Here is the story of the man who was the first to call the fledging United ! States of America the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

At age nine, Tutankhamen became pharaoh, ruler of Egypt. His most important act was to reestablish his people s religion of multiple gods. Before age twenty, he was dead. For over three thousand years, Egypt s desert sand hid the tomb of Tutankhamen, and Egyptians forgot about the ancient king. Then, in 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter found a door buried in the sand. It led to the greatest ancient Egyptian treasure ever found. Tutankhamen didn t have time to become a great pharaoh, but his tomb is a modern treasure, but not just for its gold and jewels, but for the stories it holds about ancient Egypt.

Annie Oakley had a difficult childhood. Her father died when she was six. She had to live with other people. One family mistreated her. They even threw her out of the house in the middle of a snowstorm. But Annie had a natural gift for shooting. She used this gift to defeat a traveling marksman named Frank Butler. Soon she married him. She also became his partner in shooting exhibitions. Then she joined Buffalo Bill s Wild West Show. This was a traveling show featuring acts that showcased the Western frontier. Annie soon became one of the most famous acts. People were amazed that a woman was such a good shot. Annie was proud of her accomplishments. She knew that many women looked up to her. She always set a good example for them.

Sam Houston did it all! He lived with the Cherokee Indians as a teenager. Then, he joined the Army and helped defeat the British in the War of 1812. Later, he served the Republic of Texas as its first President. Through it all, Houston was a man of honor. When the United States government failed to keep their treaty with the Cherokee Indians, it was Sam Houston who marched into Washington D.C., dressed in his Indian headdress. Sam Houston took the problem all the way to the President of the United States Andrew Jackson. As a man of honor, Sam Houston demanded the United States honor their promises. The only thing that rivaled his sense of honor was his love of Texas. Even his dying words were of Texas... Texas. Texas... he mumbled just before he died. An honorable man, an honorable life, and Texas is his legacy.

While the name, Daniel Boone, is familiar to many people, his many deeds and exploits are not. Boone’s life was one adventure after another, from exploring new places despite the presence of danger and death to going on long wilderness hunting trips that were daily battles of survival to being held prisoner in situations in which each day could be his last. Throughout it all Boone moved steadily onward, consumed with a burning desire to see what was over the next ridge, or where the next trail led. His courage and determination were extraordinary. His life was legendary.