Books in Biography Series series

I think there is real hope to be found, in the middle of our deepest traumas, in the good news about Jesus Christ. I also think that there is a place for us to find hope and community within the church. Because of these two beliefs, I truly think, distant though it may be, that we may even get to a place of peace within our souls and a place of forgiveness for those who hurt us so much. This is a book that has no easy answers and will offer none. This is a book that tries to get behind the tough questions of why God permits such abuses to occur in this world. Using his own story of childhood abuse, Mez McConnell tells us about a God who is just, sovereign and loving. A good father who knows the pain of rejection and abuse, who hates evil, who can bring hope even in the darkest place. ‘It’s not a pagan rags to Christian riches story. It’s real, raw and radical. I suspect that there will be as many people shocked by the Bible teaching that Mez wrestles with, as there will be those shocked by the abuse he suffered. With chapters like ‘The glorious, wonderful reality of Hell’ and ‘The terrible reality of Heaven’, there is no chance of this book being perceived as comfortable.’ – David Robertson, Christian Today https://christiantoday.com/article/my-favourite-christian-book-of-2019/133774.htm

One of thousands of children who fled strife in southern Sudan, John Bul Dau survived hunger, exhaustion, and violence. His wife, Martha, endured similar hardships. In this memorable book, the two convey the best of African values while relating searing accounts of famine and war. There’s warmth as well, in their humorous tales of adapting to American life. For its importance as a primary source, for its inclusion of the rarely told female perspective of Sudan’s lost children, for its celebration of human resilience, this is the perfect story to inform and inspire young readers.

Jane Goodall, one of the most recognized scientists in the Western world, became internationally famous because of her ability to observe and connect with another species. A girl of humble beginnings and training, she made scientific breakthroughs thought impossible by more experienced field observers when she was only in her twenties. Then these animals shaped Jane's life. She began tirelessly fighting to protect the environment so that chimpanzees and other animals will continue have a place and a future on our planet. Jane Goodall continues to leave the modern world with an extraordinary legacy and has changed the scientific community forever.

Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton gives American kids a firsthand look at growing up in Kenya as a member of a tribe of nomads whose livelihood centers on the raising and grazing of cattle. Readers share Lekuton's first encounter with a lion, the epitome of bravery in the warrior tradition. They follow his mischievous antics as a young Maasai cattle herder, coming-of-age initiation, boarding school escapades, soccer success, and journey to America for college. Lekuton's riveting text combines exotic details of nomadic life with the universal experience and emotions of a growing boy.

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.

Have you ever wanted to travel the world? Perhaps you'd like to visit far away countries and discover all about the people who live there? What if instead, you'd like to have adventures closer to home? Well this book is for you!Meet some very adventurous missionaries and learn about the countries they worked in. Find out what it's like to be in the middle of the Mau Mau rebellion in Africa or how orphanages in India present difficulties you would never imagine. Find out how difficult it can be talking to people about Jesus in London or how looking after children in China is completely different, and exhausting!Gladys Aylward, Jim Elliot, Amy Carmichael, William Carey, Lottie Moon, and others all knew what it was like to work in a foreign country. Charles Spurgeon and Chief White Feather were missionaries in their native lands - but they had troubles too.Here is danger, adventure and excitement - all through working for God. Here are stories about people from the beginning of modern-day missions up to the present day. It's all part of being in the Christian family - a family that is spreading round the whole world at an amazing rate.At the end of the book are some check-up questions to help you remember the stories.

Maria Montessori (1870–1952) brought about a revolution in the classroom. She developed a method of teaching small children and inspired a movement that carried that method into every corner of the world. In her rich and forthright biography, Rita Kramer brings this powerful woman to life, illuminating not only her lasting contributions to child development and social reform, but also the controversies surrounding her training methods and private life.

Victorian Society recoiled at the thought of a woman learning about the human body. Yet in 1847, Elizabeth Blackwell was determined to become a physician--one who would not just improve the practice of medicine, but would also provide desperately needed medical care for the women of her time. Author Nancy Kline vividly recreates Blackwell's world and her struggle to gain knowledge and acceptance in the closed, males only world of medicine.

"A touching three-dimensional portrait of the Polish-born scientist and two-time Nobel Prize winner" (Kirkus) Madame Curie, the discoverer of radium and radioactivityOne hundred years ago, Marie Curie discovered radioactivity, for which she won the Nobel Prize in physics. In 1911 she won an unprecedented second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry, for isolating new radioactive elements. Despite these achievements, or perhaps because of her fame, she has remained a saintly, unapproachable genius. From family documents and a private journal only recently made available, Susan Quinn at last tells the full human story. From the stubborn sixteen-year-old studying science at night while working as a governess, to her romance and scientific partnership with Pierre Curie-an extraordinary marriage of equals-we feel her defeats as well as her successes: her rejection by the French Academy, her unbearable grief at Pierre's untimely and gruesome death, and her retreat into a love affair with a married fellow scientist, causing a scandal which almost cost her the second Nobel Prize. In Susan Quinn's fully dimensional portrait, we come at last to know this complicated, passionate, brilliant woman.

From the experiences of Bible characters can be learned many helpful lessons in matters of faith, godly conduct, and Christian service. God could have given the Scriptures to us only in the form of a rule book. But instead He wisely included in the Scriptures instructive and exciting biographies of flesh and blood people to whom we can easily relate. The Bible Biography Series is a study of prominent Bible characters whose lives provide us with much important truth for every person, age, and culture. These books are expository studies of the Scripture which allow the Scripture to determine the subject matter and lessons. They are also extensively outlined to organize and clarify the study. While the books, because they are biographical, emphasize the practical truths of the text, they also teach much doctrine where that is part of the text of study.

A true account from the dying days of the Soviet Union that puts life’s choices in perspective. When he was sixteen Dumitru decided he didn’t want his parents’ way of life. He wanted to be free to live like his friends. But when he found himself in trouble with the police, he realised that his parents had been his true friends all along. And he remembered a story they had told him as a child, the story of The Lost Son. As he replayed it from memory, alone in his prison cell, something happened. The story changed Dumitru for good. It’s a story that will change you, too!