The Publishing Dynamics of Grant Biographies for Children and Young Adults:

 A Conversation with Dr. Marie Kelsey

 

Grant enthusiast and bibliographer Marie Kelsey says that the most reputable children’s biographies and histories today start with primary sources (letters, notebooks, diaries, interviews, newspaper articles, or other original documents that contain first-hand information that has not been sifted, filtered, and edited by another writer). These sources are blended with narrative to elucidate a person’s life or a period of history. Such works should be authentic, accurate, factual, documented fully, and contain an index. In that sense, such works for kids and young adults should be similar to those for adults.
Biographers should let young readers make their own judgments about what a subject says and does. That subject should not be glorified, but presented as a real person with inevitable strengths and weaknesses. Exploring this reality thoroughly takes good writing. Kids, like all general readers, are looking for vivid writing that makes the person they are reading about come to life.

Graphic elements are vitally important. Vivid, clear, and crisp illustrations, like good writing itself, bring characters and topics to life. Kelsey also notes that timelines are used often to explain and show things.

Series and Stand-Alones

Publishers roll out Grant publications for kids at a relatively high rate. They market their wares to school libraries largely in thematic sets (much like toy marketers). Sets on presidents, military leaders, or other historic achievers are offered up in numerous volumes. A figure like Grant fits into a number of possible sets, so publishers like Lerner, for example, offered Kate Havelin’s Ulysses S. Grant in its Presidential Leaders series in 2004, and came back in 2005 with Susan Bivin Aller’s Ulysses S. Grant in its History Maker Bios series.

Such formulaic series tend to be panned by reviewers who see more of value in singularly inspired books. Two of the best stand-alone books, according to Kelsey, are Howard N. Meyer’s Let Us Have Peace: the Story of Ulysses S. Grant, Collier (1966); and Albert Marrin’s Unconditional Surrender: U. S. Grant and the Civil War, Atheneum (1994).

Kelsey believes it would be valuable to survey recent biographies and compare how they treat topics such as Grant’s mother, his wife Julia, drinking, Shiloh, the presidency, and scandals. Her general impression is that most of the recent books, unlike older ones, address the drinking issue.

Some Recommended Books

Kelsey cites some notable serial and stand-alone Grant books for young readers that she sees as well documented and presented. She says this is not a definitive listing, and that some of these have their weaker points as well. Her (alphabetical, not in order of preference) list:

Ashby, Ruth. Lee vs. Grant: Great Battles of the Civil War, Smart Apple Media (2002). Grades 3-5.

Gregson, Susan R. Ulysses S. Grant (Let Freedom Ring: Civil War Biographies) Bridgestone Books (2002). Grades 2-3.

Marrin, Albert. Unconditional Surrender : U. S. Grant and the Civil War, Atheneum (1994) Grades 7-12.

Meyer, Howard N. Let Us Have Peace: the Story of Ulysses S. Grant, Collier Books (1966) Grades 7-12.

Schuman, Michael A. Ulysses S. Grant (United States Presidents) Enslow Publishers (2004) Grades 5-8.

Williams, Jean Kinney. Ulysses S. Grant, Compass Point Books (2002). Grades 4-6.

For a fuller, selected bibliography by Donna Neralich and Dr. Kelsey, see
http://www.css.edu/usgrant/bibl.html

Dr. Marie Kelsey is Assistant Professor in the Education Department and Educational Media & Technology Program Director at The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota. She has been studying the life of Ulysses S. Grant since 1994.

Dr. Kelsey, who is the author of a forthcoming comprehensive bibliography on U.S. Grant through Greenwood Press, is also the author of the U.S. Grant network website (http://www.css.edu/usgrant). The site is known throughout the community of Grant scholars as an accessible, interesting, and generous resource for people of all ages.

Dr. Kelsey received her Ph.D. and Master's in library science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was the catalog librarian at St. Scholastica for 20 years. She also worked in the Madison, Wisconsin public schools as a school library media generalist while pursuing her doctorate at UW-Madison.