Tracing Millay's life from her youth in Maine to the bohemian fervor of her early adulthood in Greenwich Village and Paris to the demanding existence of a public personality, this fascinating biography will captivate middle grade readers. Including photos, full-length poems, plentiful letter and diary excerpts, a time line, source notes, and bibliography, this is an indispensable resource for any young person interested in poetry, literature, or biographies...

Sherman Alexie won the 2007 National Book Award for young people's literature with his acclaimed novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The novel was inspired by the problems, struggles, and occasional triumphs he experienced as a teenager. Alexie had a long career before writing a YA novel. He has been a poet, a short story writer, a novelist, a screenwriter, a comedian, and a musician. No matter what medium he works in, Alexie attracts...

The Brontë sisters are among the most beloved writers of all time, best known for their classic nineteenth-century novels Jane Eyre (Charlotte), Wuthering Heights (Emily), and Agnes Grey (Anne). In this sometimes heartbreaking young adult biography, Catherine Reef explores the turbulent lives of these literary siblings and the oppressive times in which they lived. Brontë fans will also revel in the insights into their favorite novels, the plethora...

As USA TODAY, The Nation's No. 1 Newspaper, puts it, Stephenie Meyer is "one of those rare success stories that inspire unpublished writers." In 2003, Meyer was a 29-year-old mother of three in suburban Phoenix, Arizona. She had no thought of writing a book. Then one night she had a vivid dream of a teenage couple with one unusual problem―the young man was a vampire. Meyer decided to write down her dream. Within six months, she had turned her notes...

The Belles of Baseball discusses how in the 1940s and 1950s, women broke traditional gender barriers by playing professional baseball, boosting morale during World War II and paving the way for future generations of female athletes. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

From the legendary civil rights activist and author of the million-copy selling Warriors Don't Cry comes an ardent and profound childhood memoir of growing up while facing adversity in the Jim Crow South. Long before she was one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals was a warrior. Frustrated by the laws that kept African-Americans separate but very much unequal to whites, she had questions. Why couldn't she drink from a "whites only" fountain?...