Best Selling Books by James Lincoln Collier

Newbery-finalist James Lincoln Collier creates insightful character studies of our most well-known American figures. By blasting through the myths surrounding our heroes, we see them as they really were, with their conflicts, their fears, their shortcomings, and their ambitions. We come to know them and so to admire their achievements all the more.

Describes string and wind instruments easily assembled from household items which are not only fun to play but also demonstrate basic music theory.

Newbery-finalist James Lincoln Collier creates insightful character studies of our most well-known American figures. By blasting through the myths surrounding our heroes, we see them as they really were, with their conflicts, their fears, their shortcomings, and their ambitions. We come to know them and so to admire their achievements all the more.

Explores the childhood, character, and influential events that shaped the life of this former slave who went on to become an abolitionist and advisor to Abraham Lincoln.

Describes with historic pictures, the life and times of a feminist and freedom-loving woman, Susan B. Anthony.

In this book the author debunks two myths which he believes have distorted both the nature of American culture and the process by which jazz evolved from a local New Orleans music into a national and international phenomenon. The first myth is that jazz, a music of the black ghetto, was either ignored or deprecated by the American people, with the exception of a handful of enlightened white critics and musicians. The second myth is that it was first taken seriously by Europeans. The chief topics addressed in the six essays are the favorable reception of jazz, both live and recorded, by some segments of the American listening and dancing public, even from the very beginning; jazz journalism between 1925 and 1940 in both Europe and the United States; the contributions of some early and unjustly forgotten American writers (Abbe Niles, Carl Van Vechten, R. D. Darrell); the works of Robert Goffin and Hugues Panassié; and the actual conditions of the reception of American jazz performers in Europe. The author concludes that there were a great many Americans who liked jazz from the beginning, that the European critics do not deserve their reputation, that the idea that American performers were appreciated more in Europe than in their own country is a case of mass deception, and that the primary responsibility for creating the myth of European priority in the appreciation of jazz was the American political left.

Explores the childhood, character, and influential events that helped shape the life of the first president.

Explores the childhood, character, and influential events that shaped the life of the Civil War nurse who went on to found the American Red Cross.

Christopher Quincy was an American boy whose father admired everything British. As a result of this trait, Chris found himself trapped at St. Basket's, an ancient London school founded—and built—in the time of Henry VIII and, Chris thought, it looked it. The corridors were dim and drafty, and the rooms of the boarding pupils, of whom Chris was one of four, were gloomy and unpretentious. Still, Chris had good company in his two roommates, Leslie Plainfield, who was English, and David Choudhry, a Pakistani. The three were close friends, which made it all the more horrifying when Chris and Leslie saw Mr. Jaggers, the games master, deliberately, so it seemed, break David's leg with a hockey stick. Unaccountably, Mr. and Miss Grime, the school heads, refused to have a doctor for David. In the midst of apparent security and traditional British calm, a truly macabre and dangerous situation was building up. How Chris schemed desperately to get help from outside is told in the exciting and often hilarious story of a modern American boy's courage and ingenuity.

Discusses attitudes and events that led up to the Civil War, particularly the institution of slavery.

A twelve-year-old boy, whose problems include having to take "Square" music lessons, an attachment to a childhood teddy bear, and a father who earns a living creating comic strips, gets involved with jewel thieves in an attempt to break the dull routine.

This series, designed for children who are just learning to read, provides a winning approach that supports the efforts of early literacy.