She then set her sights on becoming a pop music artist and used her powerful voice and impressive skills on the piano to get a record deal. Aretha released her first of many celebrated albums at the age of 18. In 1987, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making her the first female artist to grace the prestigious list. With iconic hits such as "Respect" and "Think," and countless awards to her name including eighteen Grammys, Aretha Franklin was one of the bestselling artists of all time.

    Signing his first record deal when he was only eleven, he had his first No.1 hit when he was thirteen. Since then he has had thirty US top ten hits, won a range of awards for his music and his civil rights work, and created such iconic songs as "Isn't She Lovely" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You." Stevie Wonder is a beloved entertainer who continues to tour and perform around the world.

    Although he was trained to play classical music, Elton's real love was rock and roll.  He cut his first album in 1969 and has dominated the airwaves ever since with songs like "Your Song," "Crocodile Rock" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." Known for his outlandish stage costumes and giant glasses, Elton John continues to write songs for Broadway musicals, Hollywood soundtracks, and Top-40 hits.

    President. Born on December 28, 1856, in Staunton, Virginia, Thomas Woodrow Wilson was a born leader. He was the president of Princeton University, served as governor of New Jersey after that, and was then elected president of the United States. But not everything was so easy for Wilson. He was ahead of his time in wanting a League of Nations after World War I to help prevent another war like it, but his hopes were dashed when the United States refused to join. Margaret Frith offers a fascinating look at how this magnificent and tragic figure handled debilitating illness, heartbreak, and "the war to end all wars."

    He has directed four of the most successful films of all time and has won two Academy Awards for Best Director.  From Jaws to Lincoln, young readers and aspiring filmmakers will be fascinated by the life of this famous director.

    Still, his knack for business started early with a successful parakeet-breeding enterprise at age 11.The charismatic entrepreneur launched his first major business, Virgin Records, at age 22 and spent the next few decades building the Virgin group that now includes more than 400 companies. Known for his eccentric lifestyle and trillion-watt smile, Branson’s hot air balloon flights, innovative leadership, and world record attempts have made him an instantly-recognizable global icon.

    Bruce didn't fit in at school but found solace in rock and roll and playing guitar. After the breakup of a local band he'd joined, Springsteen went out on his own and people began to take notice. He signed with Columbia Records and under pressure to come up with a hit, wrote Born in the USA, which tells the story of America during the years of the Vietnam War. A multi-millionaire and twenty-time Grammy winner, the Boss has remained a working class hero whose music deals with the political and social changes in our country.

    won the world heavyweight championship at the age of 22, the same year he joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He would go on to become the first--and only--three-time (in succession) World Heavyweight Champion. Nicknamed “The Greatest,” Ali was as well known for his unique boxing style, consisting of the Ali Shuffle and the rope-a-dope, as he was for the catchphrase “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” He was an uncompromising athlete who brought beauty and grace to a very rough sport and became one of the world’s most famous cultural icons. Read Who Is Muhammad Ali? and discover “The Greatest.”

    Of course, her success didn't stop there. Dolly Parton is also an actress, author, businesswoman, and philanthropist whose "Imagination Library" reading initiative reaches children throughout the US, Canada, and the UK. There is simply no one like Dolly Parton!

    The family performed at fairs, weddings, quinceañeras, and on street corners in their native Texas. Selena learned how to sing in Spanish and soon became hugely popular within the Latino community--so much so that she became the best-selling Latin artist of the 1990s. Selena was poised to be a great success, but her life was cut short after being fatally wounded by the president of her fan club. Selena's contributions to music and fashion during her life made her one of the top Latin musicians in the 1990s, and readers will want to know more about the woman who introduced the world to Tejano music.

    He grew up to become the father of organic architecture and the greatest American architect of all time, having designed more than 1,100 buildings during his lifetime. These included  private homes – such as the stunning Fallingwater, churches, temples, a hotel, and the world-famous Guggenheim Museum in New York City.  When asked how he could create so many designs, he answered, “I can’t get them out fast enough.” Frank Lloyd Wright was a man ahead of his time who could barely keep up with his own ideas!

    Kennedy.  As First Lady she restored the once neglected rooms of the White House to their former glory, and through her charm and elegance became a style icon whose influence is still felt even today. Kids will be fascinated to read about a First Family whose youth, intelligence, and good looks captivated America in the early 1960s.

    Starting out over fifty years ago, the Rolling Stones took the music of the blues and blended it into rock and roll to create their own unique sound. Decades later, they are still hard at work, recording and playing live to massive crowds of adoring fans. Who Are the Rolling Stones? captures the excitement of the Stones on their journey to become the greatest rock-and-roll band in the world.

    Seventh President Andrew Jackson was a man of contradictions: quick tempered and brash, he often seemed to look for fights, but he was so devoted to his wife, he quit Congress twice to be by her side. He was a celebrated war hero who nevertheless most enjoyed his serene life in Tennessee. Although he saw himself as a champion of the poor, he grew to be a rich plantation owner owning many slaves. He adopted a young Native American as his son despite ordering the expulsion of tribes --hundreds of thousands of people--from their homeland in the Southeast. Douglas Yacka captures the many sides of Andrew Jackson, whose life began just before the Revolution and ended not long before the Civil War.This book in the New York Times best-selling series contains eighty illustrations that help bring the story to life.

    Her early interests included natural history and archaeology, and Potter delighted in sketching fossils and fungi. After briefly illustrating Christmas cards with her brother, Bertram, Potter wrote and illustrated her well-known book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The book was rejected by several publishes until Frederick Warne eventually took a risk and published the story in 1902 - a risk that paid off. Peter Rabbit was a huge success and readers loved hearing about Peter's mischevious adventures in the lush English countryside. As she got older, Beatrix Potter became a proud conservationist, working hard to defend the landscape she loved so well against industrialization and logging. Now over one hundred years old, Peter Rabbit and his animal friends have become cultural touchstones and continue to delight readers of all ages.