Trailblazers

Books for Teens

To order any of these titles, contact the library by email, mail or phone. You may also request these titles online through our OPAC. Happy Reading!

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Against All Opposition: Black Explorers in America by James Haskins.
BR 10070.
Collective biography of black men who have "left their footprints in the soil of the Americas." Through the lives of such men as Matthew Henson, co-discoverer of the North Pole; Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, founder of Chicago; and Guion Stewart (Guy) Bluford Jr., the first black American to travel in space, Haskins demonstrates how goals, ideals, and hard work can lead to discovery. For junior and senior high readers.

American Music Makers: An Introduction to American Composers by Janet Nichols.
BR 9980.
Biographical sketches of 10 composers born in the United States. Nichols describes their most important works, suggests recordings worth listening to, and explores what made their music important. One composer added Creole touches, one drew on the sounds of Tin Pan Alley. and one was first to use the synthesizer, but all produced distinctly American music. For junior and senior high and older readers.

Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis by Dominick A. Pisano.
BR 14296.
Celebrates the 25-year-old American pilot who made the first solo nonstop flight from New York to Paris across the Atlantic in 1927. Discusses his aviation career, his flying skills, his political ineptitude, and his environmental concerns. For senior high and older readers.

Exploring the West by Herman J. Viola.
RC 28241.
The story of nineteenth-century pioneers who blazed trails across the West: surveyors, scientists, mountain men, fur trappers, engineers, artists, settlers, and many more. Tells the stories of men such as Kit Carson, Zebulon Pike, and John C. Fremont, and about the expeditions, railroads, gold rush, and Indians that were all part of the exploration of the West.

Extraordinary Explorers and Adventurers by Judy Alter.
BR 14647.
Brief biographies of 73 men and women, from the Greek hero Hercules to Mae Jemison, who traveled to new lands or conquered space. Includes major explorers of North America and the North Pole, as well as more recent astronauts. For grades 5-8 and older readers.

Grace Hopper: Navy Admiral and Computer Pioneer by Charlene W. Billings.
RC 33808.
Grace Hopper, born Grace Murray in New York City in 1906, has had three distinguished careers: mathematics professor, navy officer, and computer scientist. As the latter she helped to develop COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language), a popular computer-programming language, and earned the moniker "grandmother of the computer age." For junior and senior high and older readers.

Hawk: Occupation, Skateboarder by Tony Hawk.
RC 55551.
Autobiography of a skateboarding champion who retired and later became an announcer for ESPN. Hawk, born in 1968, recalls his youth spent perfecting his skills as his dad started the National Skateboard Association. Reminisces about his feats and particular events. Some strong language. For senior high and older readers.

Helen Keller: Humanitarian by Lois P. Nicholson.
BR 11732.
Biography of Helen Keller, who became blind and deaf at nineteen months as a result of illness. Covers her birth in 1880 through her death in 1968. Describes her education under her private teacher Anne Sullivan, her formal schooling, and her career. Includes an introduction by Jerry Lewis. For junior and senior high readers.

The Hero’s Trail: A Guide for a Heroic Life by T.A. Barron.
BR 14518 or RC 55497.
Explores the elements of heroism, including facing challenges with courage, strength of character, and wisdom. Mixes brief sketches of historic examples such as Anne Frank, Wilma Rudolph, and Helen Keller with those of ordinary kids who prevailed in emergencies. For grades 6-9 and older readers.

Jackie’s Nine: Jackie Robinson’s Values to Live By: Courage, Determination, Teamwork, Persistence, Integrity, Persistence, Commitment, Excellence by Sharon Robinson.
RC 54787.
Baseball Hall of Famer's daughter illustrates nine values—including courage, determination, teamwork, integrity, citizenship, and justice—her father exemplified, using events from his own and others' lives. Includes commentary by and about Christopher Reeve, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jordan. For junior and senior high readers.

A Kind of Grace: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Female Athlete by Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
RC 48895.
Heptathlon champion recalls her poor childhood with a loving family in Illinois, her years playing basketball at UCLA, and her career in track and field that led to an Olympic medal in 1996. She describes overcoming numerous injuries and health problems. For senior high and older readers.

Leaning into the Wind: Women Write from the Heart of the West.
RC 45965.
An anthology of memories, reflections, and poems about the hardships and the joys of living on the Great Plains as experienced by 125 women from six Western states. All are true accounts from the lives of ranchers, teachers, journalists, truck drivers, veterinarians, and females in other occupations. For senior high and older readers.

Letter to the World: Seven Women Who Shaped the American Century by Susan Ware.
BR 12491.
Profiles of Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Thompson, Margaret Mead, Katherine Hepburn, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Martha Graham, and Marian Anderson. Selected because of their stature as popular icons and their contributions to different aspects of American culture in the twentieth century. For senior high and older readers.

The Life and Death of Martin Luther King, Jr. by James Haskins.
RC 12189.
Biography of a man who dedicated his life to the cause of civil rights. Also examines the role of James Earl Ray as his murderer and enumerates unanswered questions concerning the assassination. For junior and senior high and adult readers.

The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams by Derek Jeter.
RC 54209.
New York Yankees shortstop outlines the ten steps that helped him achieve a successful career in major league baseball and offers advice on how to reach one's goals and dreams. Describes growing up in a supportive multiracial family. For senior high and older readers.

A Minority of Members: Women in the U.S. Congress by Hope Chamberlin.
BR 2658.
The lives and careers of the 85 women who have served in the House or Senate, from trailblazer Jeanette Rankin elected in 1917 to the women elected in 1972. For high school and adult readers.

My Forbidden Face: Growing Up under the Taliban: A Young Woman’s Story by Latifa.
RC 53984.
Latifa (a pseudonym) records her and her family's experiences when the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan, in September 1996. She explains that at sixteen she was planning to study journalism at the university but was forbidden to leave home by Taliban decrees. Some violence. For senior high and older readers.

Our Country’s Founders: A Book of Advice for Young People edited with commentary by William Bennett.
RC 47574.
Adapted for young adults, excerpts from Our Sacred Honor (RC 46472) illustrate the timeless principles and virtues espoused by the founding fathers of the United States. Included are the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, a time line of the American Revolution, and brief biographies. For senior high and older readers.

The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream by Sampson Davis and others.
RC 54458.
Three twenty-nine-year-old African American doctors, two physicians and a dentist, describe how their friendship helped them to overcome obstacles and to pursue their career goals. They share how they motivated each other to leave problem neighborhoods of Newark, enroll in college, and enter professions. For senior high and older readers.

Paintbox on the Frontier: The Life and Times of George Caleb Bingham by Alberta Wilson Constant.
RC 12769.
Picture of a bygone era and a portrait of the self-taught nineteenth-century American painter who depicted river men, trappers, traders, Indians, and pioneers exactly as he saw them. For junior and senior high readers.

Pioneers of Baseball by Robert Smith.
RC 16680.
Biographical sketches of sixteen of the men who helped make baseball into a national pastime. Includes such colorful figures as Michael J. Kelly, A.G. Spalding, Connie Mack, Charles Comisky, and Pete Brown, the original Louisville Slugger. For grades 6-9 and older readers.

Race across Alaska: First Woman to Win the Iditarod Tells Her Story by Libby Riddles.
RC 31221.
Libby Riddles loves adventure. At sixteen she left home for the wilderness of Alaska, where she was drawn to the sport of sled dog racing. Here she recounts the riveting tale of how she overcame all odds to become the first woman winner of the Iditarod, the 1200-mile marathon from Anchorage to Nome. For junior and senior high and older readers.

Reading between the Bones: The Pioneers of Dinosaur Paleontology by Susan Clinton.
BR 11477 or RC 45783.
Profiles eight pioneers in the study of dinosaurs and explains how scientific knowledge is cumulative. Clinton notes that dinosaurs were unknown until 1824 when Georges Cuvier identified the first dinosaur bone, describing it as belonging to a whale-sized lizard. Now three hundred kinds of dinosaurs are known to vertebrate paleontologists. For junior and senior high readers.

The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies: Their Lives, Times, and Issues by Edith P. Mayo.
RC 45486.
Brief biographies of forty-three American first ladies, describing their accomplishments as well as problems they encountered. Includes historical information and social issues that influenced women in each era, such as temperance, suffrage, and education. For junior and senior high and older readers.

This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer by Kay Mills.
RC 36316.
Born the twentieth child of poor southern sharecroppers, Fannie Lou Hamer entered a world of poverty, hard labor, repression, beatings, and racism. Her courageous work with the Mississippi voter registration campaign, that began in 1962, made her an enduring symbol of the civil rights movement. And for the next 15 years her fiery songs and stories inspired audiences to action. For senior high and older readers.

Tisha by Anne Purdy.
BR 10448 or RC 41798.
Autobiography of Ann Hobbs, as told by the author. In 1927, the nineteen-year-old woman went to teach in a one-room schoolhouse in the former gold-rush settlement of Chicken, Alaska. "Tisha" is the Indian children's pronunciation of "teacher." For junior and senior high and older readers.

Woman against Slavery: The Story of Harriet Beecher Stowe by John Anthony Scott.
RC 12790.
A revealing look at a leading antislavery figure. Recounts how a brilliant nineteenth-century woman discovered herself through her work. For high school and adult readers.

You Don’t Have to Be Blind to See by Jim Stovall.
BR 11699 or RC 46869.
The author, blind before the age of 30 as a result of juvenile macular degeneration, encourages others to achieve through their dreams. Using examples from his own life, Stovall suggests that people can succeed by changing the way they think. He recommends that once a path is decided, people should find mentors to help them along the way. For senior high and older readers.