Lives That Made a Difference

James Beckwourth might not be a household name, but that doesn’t mean youngsters won’t find his life story memorable.

One of the first black frontiersmen, Beckwourth traveled the Rockies as a fur trapper, blazed trails in the Sierras and, though he once served in a cavalry that fought Indians, he ended up as a Crow Indian war chief.

His life is recounted in “James Beckwourth” by Sean Dolan, part of the 76-volume series Black Americans of Achievement published by Chelsea House.

The series helps address what some say is the dearth of biographies for children on minorities and women. In recent years, publishers have been producing more multicultural biographies in response to demand for works beyond the standards about Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony.

“Although not as difficult as it used to be, it is still difficult when a young reader comes in and says, ‘I need to read a biography,’ ” said Lynn Eisenhut, children’s librarian for the 27-branch Orange County Public Library.

But with a little digging, treasures by or about women and minorities can be found. A caveat: Not all books indicate what age or reading level they target, so parents should skim the books to decide if their children can tackle them.

Many of the biographies recount struggles with racism, sexism and poverty to achieve greatness.

Another volume in the Black Americans series is about Ronald McNair, one of the first African American astronauts.

McNair could have pursued his other passions--he was a standout musician and football player in high school. But science won him over. He earned a doctorate in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then went on to do pioneering research on high-pressure lasers.

The Hispanic Heritage series by Gallen House Press Inc. includes a book on Antonia Novello, a Puerto Rican who in 1990 became the first woman and first person of Latin American heritage to be U.S. surgeon general. She served in the Bush administration for two years.

Novello, a pediatrician, was born and grew up in Puerto Rico. Even before being named surgeon general, the nation’s chief public health advocate, she was known nationally as an expert on AIDS in children.

Multicultural Junior Biographies, a series by Enslow Publishers of Springfield, N.J., includes “Wah Ming Chang” by Gail Blasser Riley. It is the story of the Chinese-American artist from California whose wildlife sculptures have won a place in the prestigious Lawrence Gallery in Oregon.

But younger readers may identify more with Chang’s pop art, chiefly for the “Star Trek” television series. He designed the phasers, tricorder and many of the show’s creatures, including the “tribbles” and alien head shown in the closing credits of the original series.

The struggle for women’s rights is documented in “Myra Bradwell; First Woman Lawyer” by Elizabeth Wheaton. This 95-page, illustrated volume published by Morgan Reynolds Inc. charts the Chicago woman’s battle to practice law, a fight that took her all the way to the Supreme Court--twice. The high court ruled against her in 1873 but reversed itself in 1892, making its ruling retroactive to 1869 and thus securing Bradwell’s place as the nation’s first woman lawyer.

Overcoming odds also is the theme of “I, Rigoberta Menchu,” the autobiography of the Guatemalan Indian rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. Although not written specifically for young adults, the narrative is in short, simple sentences, making it accessible to and popular among young readers.

Some books look at historical figures whose actions are better known than their names.

When Maria de Sautuola was a little girl in Spain, she was exploring a cave and discovered something that landed in history books: the earliest known prehistoric cave paintings.

The illustrated “Maria de Sautuola” by Dennis Fradin tells how the 8-year-old lifted a candle to the cave’s ceiling in 1879 and was startled to see drawings of what she thought were bulls. (They were actually bison, along with wolves, deer and other wildlife).

But Maria didn’t get credit for discovering the 15,000-year-old paintings until almost a quarter-century later because the leading French archeologist of the time initially doubted the paintings’ authenticity.

The name of Juliette Gordon (Daisy) Low is another that may not be familiar, though her achievement surely is. To introduce young women to nature and camping, Low formed the group that became Girl Scouts of America.

In General Publishers Ltd. of Toronto’s “Daisy and the Girl Scouts; The Story of Juliette Gordon Low” by Fern G. Brown, readers learn that Low was a zany character known for decorating her hair with carrots and parsley.

She founded the Girl Scouts in Savannah, Ga., after returning from a trip to London, where Boy Scouts founder Sir Robert Baden-Powell told her that “proper young ladies should not be in the same movement as boys.”