**American Farm Bureau Foundation for Education Recommended BookThomas Jefferson was more than a president and patriot. He was also a planter and gardener who loved to watch things grow—everything from plants and crops to even his brand-new nation.**As minister to France, Jefferson promoted all things American, sharing corn and pecans with his Parisian neighbors. As secretary of state, he encouraged his fellow farmers to grow olives, rice and maple trees. As president, he d...

Meet Alice Dunnigan, a pioneering Black journalist, who spoke truth to power—and earned the respect of President Harry S. Truman. This inspiring nonfiction book for kids ages 7–10 is from award-winning author Peggy Thomas.Alice Dunnigan knew all about injustice—she was the daughter of poor Black sharecroppers in Kentucky. But Alice also knew the key to fighting injustice was to speak out.At 13 years old, she wrote to a Black newspaper asking for a job—and g...

Meet Alice Dunnigan, a pioneering Black journalist, who spoke truth to power—and earned the respect of President Harry S. Truman. This inspiring nonfiction picture book for kids ages 7–10 is from award-winning author and illustrator Peggy Thomas and Tonya Engel.Alice Dunnigan knew all about injustice—she was the daughter of poor Black sharecroppers in Kentucky. But Alice also knew the key to fighting injustice was to speak out.At 13 years old, she wrote to ...

George Washington as he's rarely seen. Besides being a general and the first president of the United States, George Washington was also a farmer. His efforts to create a self-sufficient farm at Mount Vernon, Virginia, mirrored his struggle to form a new nation. Excerpts from Washington's writings are featured throughout the book, which also includes a timeline, resource section, as well as essays on Washington at Mount Vernon and his thoughts on slavery. Both illustrator and author worked ...

Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame also wrote non-musical plays without Sullivan as a partner. Here is a dramatic play far afield from the comedy musicals we often think of when we hear Gilbert's name: Prince Florian of Spain arrives on The Island of Broken Hearts, peopled by "we maidens all (save one [their dwarf protector]) [who] have dearly loved, and those we loved have died. We, broken hearts, knit by the sympathy of kindred woe, have sought this isle far from the ken of man; and ha...

School Library Journal Best Book of the YearNSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade BookAmerican Farm Bureau Foundation for Education Recommended BookBesides being a general and the first president of the United States, did you know that George Washington was also a farmer? Here's a look at America's first President as he's rarely seen.George Washington was the first leader of our country—but he was also an inventor, scientist, and...

George Washington Carver was born into the violent era of slavery, yet he had big ideas. The first was to get an education. That meant leaving his Missouri home at a young age, washing people's clothes to pay for school, moving from town to town, and fleeing a lynch mob. Carver's second big idea was to serve others. After becoming the first black graduate from Iowa Agricultural College, Carver took a teaching position at the Tuskegee Institute founded by Booker T. Washington. Carver taught...

Throughout his life, Abraham Lincoln tried to make life easier for others. Then during the darkest days of the Civil War, when everyone needed hope, President Lincoln cleared a path for all Americans to a better future.As a boy, Abraham Lincoln helped his family break through the wilderness and struggle on a frontier farm. When Lincoln was a young man, friends made it easier for him to get a better education and become a lawyer, so as a politician he paved the way ...

"From the moment the first boat floated down the Erie Canal, people living along its banks have told strange stories. It was as if mixing the waters of the Hudson and the Erie made mysterious things happen."—Joshua the Giant FrogAn astonishing feat of engineering and human labor, the Erie Canal had enormous impact on New York and the rest of America after it opened to great fanfare in 1825. In Joshua the Giant Frog, the to...

The chronicle of Tennessee Williams and James Laughlin’s unlikely yet enduring literary and personal relationship.In December 1942, two guests at a Lincoln Kirstein mixer bonded over their shared love of Hart Crane’s poetry. One of them was James Laughlin, the founder of a small publishing company called New Directions, which he had begun only seven years earlier as a sophomore at Harvard. The other was a young playwright named Thomas Lanier Williams, or "Tennessee...

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 in British-occupied India. Though he studied law in London and spent his early adulthood in South Africa, he remained devoted to his homeland and spent the later part of his life working to make India an independent nation. Calling for non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights around the world. Gandhi is recognized internationally as a symbol of hope, peace, and freedom.

Called the "Great Pathfinder", Daniel Boone is most famous for opening up the West to settlers through Kentucky. A symbol of America's pioneering spirit Boone was a skilled outdoorsman and an avid reader although he never attended school. Sydelle Kramer skillfully recounts Boone's many adventures such as the day he rescued his own daughter from kidnappers.