Literary

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s....

Where did Roald Dahl get all of his wonderful ideas for stories? From his own life, of course! As full of excitement and the unexpected as his world-famous, best-selling books, Roald Dahl's tales of his own childhood are completely fascinating and fiendishly funny....

A middle grade memoir from a living literary legend, giving listeners a new perspective on the origins of Gary Paulsen's famed survival stories....

Superb stories, daring deeds, fantastic adventures! Going Solo is the action-packed tale of Roald Dahl's exploits as a World War II pilot. Learn all about his encounters with the enemy, his worldwide travels, the life-threatening injuries he sustained in a plane accident....

Newbery medalist Jerry Spinelli has penned his early autobiography with all the warmth, humor, and drama of his bestselling fiction....

Discover the origins of one of literature's most famous couples, Romeo and Juliet, and their creator, William Shakespeare, in this fun and informative addition to the What Is the Story Of? series....

In 1995, on a four-hour-delayed train from Manchester to London, J. K. Rowling conceived of the idea of a boy wizard named Harry Potter....

The beloved plays of Shakespeare are still produced everywhere, yet the life of the world's most famous playwright remains largely a mystery. Young Will left the town of Stratford to pursue theater in London, where his work eventually thrived and made him a famous and wealthy man....

Well-loved author Tomie dePaola brings his childhood memories to audio in this collection of the first four books from his 26 FAIRMOUNT AVENUE series.

Dramatic, lyrical, and beautiful, O Captain, My Captain tells the story of one of America’s greatest poets and how he was inspired by one of America’s greatest presidents....

Wacky, daring, just plain nuts - extreme sports lead to extreme fun in new stories from Gary’s boyhood....

Look for heroes, far and near. Give your gifts to the world. Have compassion for all creatures. These are just a few of the lessons that Magic Tree House fans will learn on their magical journey through this book....

From the big woods of Wisconsin to the Indian country of the Great Plains, new adventures and landscapes filled the rich childhood of Laura Ingalls Wilder. On a frontier steeped in both danger and great possibility, Laura would grow up to witness firsthand the rapid transformation of the West....

Ted Geisel loved to doodle from the time he was a kid. He had an offbeat, fun-loving personality. He often threw dinner parties where guests wore outrageous hats! And he donned quirky hats when thinking up ideas for books-like his classic The Cat in the Hat....

Walt Whitman was a printer, journalist, editor, and schoolteacher. But today, he's recognized as one of America's founding poets, a man who changed American literature forever....

New York Times best-selling author-illustrator Vashti Harrison shines a bold, joyous light on black men through history....

An experienced Iditarod racer, Gary Paulsen brings his love of the sport to readers on a personal level in this intimate essay about the life of a litter of pups born to pull sleds....

Tea with a hedgehog and supper with a rabbit? Beatrix Potter entertained guests that most people—certainly Beatrix Potter's proper Victorian parents—would have thought belonged in a meadow, not in a London nursery.

Newbery Award-winning author Jack Gantos shares advice for how to be the best brilliant writer in this funny and practical writing guide....

In a heartwarming first-person account, dePaola retells his experiences at home and in school when he was a boy....

Find out how a journalist and sportsman became one of the most famous American novelists of the 20th century....

Acclaimed novelist Ibi Zoboi illuminates the young life of the visionary storyteller Octavia E. Butler in poems and prose. Born into the Space Race, the Red Scare, and the dawning Civil Rights Movement, Butler experienced an American childhood....

A humorist, narrator, and social observer, Mark Twain is unsurpassed in American literature. Best known as the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, not unlike his protagonist, Huck, has a restless spirit....

In this book from the number one New York Times best-selling series, learn how this vibrant Black neighborhood in upper Manhattan became home to the leading Black writers, artists, and musicians of the 1920s and 1930s....

In a heartwarming first-person account, dePaola retells his experiences at home and in school when he was a boy....