Books in Badger Biographies Series series

This Badger Bio shares the story of author Sterling North – his adventures and misadventures as a young boy growing up in Edgerton, Wisconsin. Young readers will learn how North’s early experience in Wisconsin influenced him in writing some of his best loved children’s books – such as Rascal and So Dear To My Heart.The story gives readers a glimpse of early 20th century customs and lifestyles in the rural Midwest. It also includes global issues of the time, including World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic, which greatly affected Sterling’s boyhood. As examples, his admired older brother Hershel served overseas in WWI as Sterling was growing up, bringing world events to the North family’s doorstep. His mother Gladys died when Sterling was only 7 years old because of the lack of medical advances in the early 1900s. And, as a young man, Sterling was hit by polio, a common epidemic scourge that left many children with paralysis.Readers will learn of Sterling North’s successes, not only as a beloved author of children’s books, but as a columnist for the Chicago Daily News, an editor of North Star children’s history books, and a well-respected critic of other children’s literature.

Pioneering North Woods doctor Kate Pelham Newcomb comes to life in this addition to the Badger Biographies series for young readers. Born in 1885, Kate Pelham was suppose to grow up to be a proper young lady in Boston, but despite her father's wishes she was determined to be a doctor. After medical school, her husband's health brought them to the clean air of northern Wisconsin and before long Kate knew every back road and cabin in the North Woods. She visited patients by snowmobile, by canoe, and by snowshoe and never sent a bill. Instead she was paid in firewood and vegtables.But what Kate dreamed of more than anything for her patients was a hospital. And that's when the kids of the community got involved. They set out to collect a million pennies - $10,000 - to help Dr. Kate build a hospital. As the news spread, coins poured in from countries across the globe. Students carted bushels of pennies, and Dr. Kate read thousands of letters cheering on her effort. Her dream came true in 1954 when the Lakeland Memorial Hospital opened its doors. Young readers will warm to Kate's spirit of compassion and never-say-never attitude.

In 1830, a young woman named Juliette Magill Kinzie moved from her fancy home in Connecticut to a rustic log cabin in what would later be called Wisconsin. Juliette lived there with her husband, John, who worked as an Indian agent at Fort Winnebago, one of Wisconsin’s earliest settlements. While living at the fort, Juliette came to know the Indian communities that called the land home, as well as the non-Indian settlers who were moving in. She later wrote a best-selling book about her experiences, Wau-Bun: The ‘Early Day’ in the Northwest, an important first-person account of life on the frontier. This new biography in the Badger Biographies Series turns the lens on the writer herself, detailing her life as she detailed the lives of those she encountered in the 1830s and 1840s. Juliette Kinzie: Frontier Storyteller details war, hunger, and the rapidly changing times Juliette witnessed on the Midwestern frontier, following the pioneering woman through her own changes from socialite to pioneer to famous writer and even to the work of her granddaughter, Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912.

Wisconsin entrepreneur Ole Evinrude will inspire children in this addition to the Badger Biographies series for young readers, where the story of Ole's invention, from drawing board to factory floor, is told in a reader-friendly format that includes historic images, a glossary of terms, and sidebars explaining how an outboard motor works.Ole Evinrude was born in Norway in 1877 and immigrated to the United States when he was five years old. The Evinrude family settled in Wisconsin and began farming, but it was clear from a very young age that Ole would not follow the family tradition. Ole Evinrude was meant to work with boats.Building an outboard motor was not easy, though - Ole suffered numerous mechanical and financial setbacks along the way. After years of hard work and persistence, the Evinrude motor company was founded and Ole's outboard motors were an instant hit around the world. Ole continued to improve the design of his motor and attracted other entrepreneurs to the area, making Wisconsin the center of the outboard motor industry for decades.

Who would have imagined a farm boy from Wisconsin would be the greatest air hero of World War II? Richard Bong was an athletic and hard-working boy from northern Wisconsin who dreamed of flying from the first time a plane buzzed low over his family farm. When war broke out, he left behind a life of sports, deer hunting, and farm chores to fly the new P-38 Lightning for the Army Air Force. Stationed in New Guinea, Bong shot down a total of 40 Japanese flyers in under three years - beating the record of 26 set by Eddie Rickenbacker in World War I. His accomplishments won this modest pilot the title "Ace of Aces" and a Congressional Medal of Honor awarded by General MacArthur himself. Follow Bong as he navigates his way through basic training, flight school, and life on an overseas army base. Watch as he takes to the skies in his P-38 fighter jet, outflying Japanese aircraft with barrel rolls, dives, and turns. Celebrate as he meets and marries the love of his life back home in Wisconsin, and mourn as his life comes to a swift and unexpected end during an ill-fated training flight in California. Richard Bong: World War II Flying Ace is part of the Badger Biographies series for young readers. The engaging narrative is complemented by an accessible format that includes historic photographs, a glossary of terms, sidebars on life in the military, and suggestions for activities and discussion.

This addition to the Badger Biographies series for young readers features the story of the young Ringling brothers of circus fame. The book tells the inspiring story of the seven sons of German and French immigrants who were guided by their dreams to escape poverty through hard work and ambition. These entrepreneurial brothers moved with their parents to Baraboo, Wisconsin where their fantastic circus adventure began. With no prior circus experience, the brothers tackled one of the riskiest businesses of the time. Each brother contributed his unique talents to make their enterprise successful. The Ringling brothers were admired for their technological innovations, strategy, and devotion to education. They were also esteemed for their genuine appreciation of their audience.

This addition to the Badger Biographies series tells the story of four young inventors who shared a dream: to create the best motorized bicycle in America. Their turn of the century aspirations took them from a backyard machine shop to a highly successful business empire - and all in the span of just a few years. With grit, determination, and not a little elbow grease, Bill Harley and the Davidson brothers - Arthur, William, and Walter - used their engineering and machine-shop expertise to continually perfect their designs and present the best possible products to the American public. Along the way they made their mark on the racing circuit and introduced safety measures that continue to this day. After their deaths, their sons and daughters continued this legacy, buying back the company after it changed hands and re-establishing Harley-Davidson as the king of the motorcycle world. From the old Knucklehead, Panhead and Shovelhead motors to the Evolution, Revolution and Twin Cam engines that followed, the story of Harley and the Davidsons remains one of the great success stories of the 20th century.

Cindy Bentley: Spirit of a Champion celebrates the life of one of Wisconsin's most inspirational leaders and activists. Born with an intellectual disability, Cindy Bentley spent much of her childhood at the Southern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled. When she began participating in Special Olympics, she gained confidence as she worked with teammates to earn medals in tennis, track and field, and even snowshoeing. Chosen as a Global Messenger for the Special Olympics International in 2000, Cindy has had dinner at the White House with two different American presidents, traveled around the world, and given speeches in front of thousands of people.

The story of Mai Ya Xiong and her family and their journey from the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand to a new life in Madison, Wisconsin, is extraordinary. Yet it is typical of the stories of the 200,000 Hmong people who now live in the United States and who struggle to adjust to American society while maintaining their own culture as a free people.Mai Ya's Long Journey follows Mai Ya Xiong, a young Hmong woman, from her childhood in Thailand's Ban Vinai Refugee Camp to her current home in Wisconsin. Mai Ya's parents fled Laos during the Vietnam War and were refugees in Thailand for several years before reaching the United States. But the story does not end there. Students will read the challenges Mai Ya faces in balancing her Hmong heritage and her adopted American culture as she grows into adulthood.

With the seasons of the year as a backdrop, author Diane Holliday describes what life was like for a Ho-Chunk girl who lived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Central to the story is the movement of Mountain Wolf Woman and her family in and around Wisconsin. Like many Ho-Chunk people in the mid-1800s, Mountain Wolf Woman's family was displaced to Nebraska by the U.S. government. They later returned to Wisconsin but continued to relocate throughout the state as the seasons changed to gather and hunt food.Based on her own autobiography as told to anthropologist Nancy Lurie, Mountain Wolf Woman's words are used throughout the book to capture her feelings and memories during childhood. Author Holliday draws young readers into this Badger Biographies series book by asking them to think about how the lives of their ancestors and how their lives today compare to the way Mountain Wolf Woman lived over a hundred years ago.

When William "Blue" Jenkins was only six months old, he moved with his parents from a Mississippi sharecropper’s farm to the industrial city of Racine, Wisconsin with dreams of a new life. As an African-American in the pre–civil rights era, Blue came face to face with racism: the Ku Klux Klan hung a black figure in effigy from a tree in the Jenkins family’s yard. Growing up, Blue knew where blacks could shop, eat, and get a job in Racine—and where they couldn’t. The injustices that confronted Blue in his young life would drive his desire to make positive changes to his community and workplace in adulthood. This addition to the Badger Biographies series shares Blue Jenkins’s story as it acquaints young readers with African-American and labor history. Following an all-star career as a high school football player, Blue became involved in unions through his work at Belle City Malleable. As World War II raged on, he participated in the home-front battle against discrimination in work, housing, and economic opportunity. When Blue became president of the union at Belle City, he organized blood drives and fought for safety regulations. He also helped to integrate labor union offices. In 1962, he became president of the U.A.W. National Foundry in the Midwest, and found himself in charge of 50,000 foundry union members.

LOOK INSIDE THE LIFE — AND HOME — OF LEGENDARY 'OUTSIDER' ARTIST MARY NOHL"Mary Nohl: A Lifetime in Art" by Barbara Manger and Janine Smith, tells the story of Milwaukee-born artist, Mary Nohl. A prolific and fanciful maker who worked in a variety of media, Nohl was both a mysterious figure and an iconic "outsider" artist. This new addition to the Badger Biographies series captures her life and will capture the imagination of readers, and artists, of all ages.Nohl didn't just make art — she lived it. From the time she was young, Mary enjoyed making things, from the model airplane that won her a citywide prize to assignments in shop class, where she learned to work with tools.Her interests in art blossomed during the years she spent training at the Art Institute of Chicago, leading to a lifetime of curiosity and ventures into new artistic media. From pottery to silver jewelry and oil painting to concrete sculpture, Mary explored new ways of making art. Many of her pieces were made from found objects that other people might think of as junk — like chicken bones, bedsprings and sand that she made into concrete.Nohl, who made her home on the shores of Lake Michigan, decorated the interior of her cottage with bright colors and eye-catching figures in driftwood and glass. During her later years, her home became known as the "Witch's House" — a place of local legend known far beyond Fox Point. Though she died in 2001, Mary's legacy continues. Her art is held at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, and her home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.The popular Badger Biographies series for young readers explores the lives of famous and not-so-famous figures in Wisconsin history. The Wisconsin Historical Society Press is proud to celebrate the release of this, the 21st book in the series.