Yona Zeldis McDonough

If not for a stint in reform school, young Louis Armstrong might never have become a musician. It was a teacher at the Colored Waifs Home who gave him a cornet, promoted him to band leader, and saw talent in the tough kid from the even tougher New Orleans neighborhood called Storyville. But it was Louis Armstrong's own passion and genius that pushed jazz into new and exciting realms with his amazing, improvisational trumpet playing. His seventy-year...

No one knows where the term Underground Railroad came from—there were no trains or tracks, only "conductors" who helped escaping slaves to freedom. Including real stories about "passengers" on the "Railroad," this book chronicles slaves' close calls with bounty hunters, exhausting struggles on the road, and what they sacrificed for freedom. With 80 black-and-white illustrations throughout and a sixteen-page black-and-white photo insert, the...

The man who saved the lives of his PT-109 crewmen during WWII and became the 35th president fought-and won-his first battle at the age of two-and-a-half, when he was stricken with scarlet fever. Although his presidency was cut short, our nation's youngest elected leader left an indelible mark on the American consciousness and now is profiled in our Who Was...? series. Included are 100 black-and-white illustrations as well as a timeline that...

Profiles ten women from different times and fields of endeavor whose lives are meant to serve as role models, including Pocahontas, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Emily Dickinson, Mary Cassatt, Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, and Margaret Mead.

Looks at each individual commandment means and how together they form the basis of leading a moral life as well as forming a just government.

The Great Pyramid at Giza -- The hanging gardens of Babylon -- The temple of Artemis at Ephesus -- The statue of Zeus at Olympia -- The mausoleum at Halicarnassus -- The colossus of Rhodes -- The lighthouse of Alexandria -- The wonders through the ages.