Types+of+Presentation+and+Coverage

What format might you expect to see when examining biographies (such as Picturebook Biographies, Complete Biographies, Collective Biographies)?
The are six different categories of biographical books. Each presents a unique perspective from which the story of a person's life is told. These differing perspectives appeal to different audiences.

In Picture book biographies the illustrations play an important part in the story. Facts and details about the person's life are often conveyed through the illustrations. The story may contain details of a large part of the persons life or just tell the story of one incident in their life. //Lady Liberty: A Biography// by Doreen Rappaport tells the story of the statue of liberty in which the illustrations add to the story especially the dramatic foldout of the statue at the unveiling.

Simplified biographies are written in a way which makes them easily read by new readers. Due to the limitations in the text these stories present facts in a straightforward manner. These biographies contain illustrations and are often shorter in length. One example is The NBA Reader series are high interest biographies which feature popular professional basket ball players. Y//ao Ming// by John Hareas is one of the titles in the series which describes the players lives and accomplishments using easy to read words and descriptions.

The Fossil Girl: Mary Anning's dinosaur discovery by Catherine Brighton is an example of a partial biography. The book tells of how a little girl discovers the fossil of a dinosaur. This type of biography does not tell the story of the person's whole life but rather concentrates on a particular important event. These books are used to capture a readers attention by focusing on the high interest incidents in the person's life.

Complete biographies cover a person's entire life. They should cover the positives and negatives of their life in an even manner. These biographies often contain primary source material from the person's life including journals and photographs. The Our Presidents series by Child’s World are an example of complete biographies. The books in this series cover the major events in the presidents lives from their birth through the present day.

Collective biographies are stories of a collection of people who have a common trait popular examples are presidents, writers or even explorers.

Autobiography/Memoirs give children the opportunity to experience events first hand. Even though they are told by the person experiencing the event these biographies are open to bias and the influence of the person telling the story. //The Diary of a Young Girl// by Anne Frank is probably the most well known book in this category which tells of a young girls experience being Jewish in Nazi Germany.

Works Cited: Brighton, Catherine. //The Fossil Girl: Mary Anning's dinosaur discovery.// London //://Francis Lincoln Children's Books, 2007. Constantine, Beth and Cheryl Hartman. “Choosing High Quality Children's Literature/Biography.” //Wikibooks.com// wikibooks 28 May 2009. web. 12 October 2009. Frank, Anne. //Diary of a Young Girl//. New York: Bantam, 1993. Print. Hareas, John. NBA Readers:Yao Ming Boston: Scholastic, 2003. Print. Norton, Donna. //Through the Eyes of a Child: A Introduction to Children's Literature, 7th Ed. New// Jersey: Pearson, 2007. Print. Rappaport, Doreen. //Lady Liberty: A Biography.// Cambridge,Ma: Candlewick Books, 2008. Print.

.