5 Reason Why You Should Read Bios to Your Young Dreamer

Are you interested in inspiring your young dreamer this summer? Would you like him or her to create and pursue his or her dream? If you said yes to both these questions, then this article will provide you insight on the power of reading biographies to your child.

First, biographies teach children that they can achieve their dreams through hard work. The book titled Sundiata: The Lion King of Mali is great exemplar of a boy who suffered from a condition which prevented him from maximizing his full human potential. He did not allow that to determine who he would become. He struggled, worked, and studied and eventually became a great king. Without the element of hard work, Sundiata would have never developed the capacity to become great.

Second, biographies show the importance of familial love in the development and advancement of dreams. Mae Among the Stars is an excellent example of the aforementioned. As a child, Mae was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she replied, “an astronaut.” Instead, her teacher encouraged her to be a nurse. When Mae’s mother heard the story, she said, “If you can dream it, if you believe it and work hard for it, anything is possible.” Without parental love, we may have never spoken the name Mae Jamison in the same sentence as astronaut or STEM hero.

Third, biographies show children their need for positive self-efficacy to overcome internal and external barriers that prevent them from accomplishing their dreams. In the book titled The Book Itch, the main character goes to a bank for a loan to open up a bookstore, but he is denied the loan because the banker believed that Black people didn’t read. Instead of giving up his dream, he decided to find other ways to open the store, and eventually, he was successful. His bookstore would become an intellectual haven to other Africana heroes like Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Kwame Nkrumah and community members who needed to quench their thirst for knowledge with a good book. Without positive self-efficacy, this haven would have never been developed.

Fourth, biographies teach children that life is an unfinished process. In many of the biographies reviewed, the main character endures an event or events that could prevent them from pursuing their dream, but he or she decided not to let failure define their life. The biography about Lonnie Johnson titled Whoosh details how he failed many times and learned from each failure. With the knowledge he gained from his experiences, he was able to create an invention that made him millions of dollars. Without viewing life as an unfinished process, we would never known about and be inspired by this Africana STEM hero.

Fifth, biographies teach children that education is a tool to build a better society and world. The book titled Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees displays a woman who used her education to transform the country of Kenya and the world. The book details how she was physically and emotionally brutalized by her own government for her stances against environmental injustice. Without her using her education as a tool to transform society, the world would have fewer examples of people who were willing to sacrifice all for the common good.

In conclusion, reading biographies serves as important developmental tools for parents. Click the link below to read book reviews on Africana heroes:

Originally published at medium.com on March 6, 2018.