There were a lot of great people who helped found the United States of America. There were a lot of people who were instrumental in working to make sure that our country started 250 years ago. There are way too many biographies about these great people to name all of them. But I can give you five picture book biographies that can introduce kids to some of these great heroes. Happy reading!
Written by Selene Castroville
Illustrated by Jenn Harney
New York: Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, 2025. Picture book.
One of the things you never see in portraits is George Washington wearing glasses. Yet he did. And this book goes over how George Washington wearing glasses actually helped save America from some very frustrated continental soldiers. Fascinating, right?
Written by Karen Blumenthal and Jen McCartney
Illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley
New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2025. Picture Book.
I never knew (until reading this book) that there was a woman printer that added her name (in full!) to the printings of the Declaration of Independence as they were published throughout the 13 colonies. Mary Goddard was the woman who worked in her brother’s print shop and helped share the news as to what Britain was doing and how people were standing up to fight for a new country—even if it meant that she could be killed for it. Few people know her name, but what she did helped our whole country.
Written by Beth Anderson
Illustrated by Jeremy Holmes
New York: Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, 2024. Picture Book.
Although this isn’t specifically about the part of Thomas Jefferson’s life where he wrote the Declaration of Independence, this is an interesting part of Jefferson’s life where after the Revolutionary War he was reading “Count Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon’s encyclopedia of the natural world.” In the encyclopedia Buffon described the “new world” and the animals there as inferior to that of Europe and Asia. And that riled up Thomas Jefferson so that he went to prove with facts and measurements that would prove that America wasn’t less-than the “old world,” just different.
Written by Sarah L. Thomson
Illustrated by Nik Henderson
New York: Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, 2026. Picture book.
This book isn’t totally a biography of just Paul Revere; however, it does go over the ride that made Paul Revere famous—just from many different perspectives. So really, this book is a story of many different people who were all part of the American Revolution and how what they did on one chance night helped those who were fighting for freedom.
Written by Camille Andros
Illustrated by Tessa Blackham
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2019. Picture book.
I know this is an older book; however, I thought it important to include one of my favorite books about one of the wives of those who were part of the American Revolution. This book tells about Eliza Hamilton and all the years before and after she was married to Alexander Hamilton. I like how readers can see that being part of a revolution doesn’t just mean going out and fighting, but it could also mean doing the work behind the scenes to be brave, caring, and thoughtful in all your actions. I especially like how this book shows that being a force for good isn’t just something done with one moment, it can be a lifestyle that blesses so many others.
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