Here are 100 books that Making Their Voices Heard fans have personally recommended if you like
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My name is David Seow, I’ve been a huge entertainment fan since I was a child and met Jack Lord when he came to Singapore. I’ve been fascinated by celebrities and what drove them to succeed. Since then, I’ve amassed a collection of over 400 celebrity autographs. My passion for the entertainment scene and celebrities led me to work as a freelance entertainment journalist and a sitcom scriptwriter. For the past 26 years, I have followed my other passion of writing children’s picture books, and I have published 48 books to date, some of which I’ve gifted to some of my favourite celebrities.
Audrey Hepburn was a little lady with the biggest heart.
I loved this book so much that I’ve reread it several times. I was hooked from the start to the finish, from her childhood in war-torn Europe to her work as a goodwill ambassador with UNICEF. The author perfectly describes Audrey’s grace, style, and compassion.
This is one of the best picture book biographies I’ve read. I wish I had met her. I love this book.
From Roman Holiday to Breakfast at Tiffany's, when Audrey Hepburn starred in a movie, she lit up the screen. Her unique sense of fashion, her grace, and, most important, her spirit made her beloved by generations. But her life offscreen was even more luminous. As a little girl growing up in Nazi-occupied Europe, she learned early on that true kindness is the greatest measure of a person-and it was a lesson she embodied as she became one of the first actresses to use her celebrity to shine a light on the impoverished children of the world through her work with…
An engaging picture book for children that celebrates what it means to be American!
What does it mean to be American? Does it mean you like apple pie or fireworks? Not exactly. This patriotic picture book is perfect for Memorial Day, Independence Day, Election Day, or any day you want…
My name is David Seow, I’ve been a huge entertainment fan since I was a child and met Jack Lord when he came to Singapore. I’ve been fascinated by celebrities and what drove them to succeed. Since then, I’ve amassed a collection of over 400 celebrity autographs. My passion for the entertainment scene and celebrities led me to work as a freelance entertainment journalist and a sitcom scriptwriter. For the past 26 years, I have followed my other passion of writing children’s picture books, and I have published 48 books to date, some of which I’ve gifted to some of my favourite celebrities.
I was drawn to this highly entertaining and informative picture book about his early years and his strict training at the China Drama Academy. He was there for ten years, and survived the tougher than tough18 hour days! I laughed at his very first real-life stunt, which must have inspired his movie stunts, youthful hijinks, and fearlessness when it came to taking risks.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet Jackie several times so this was a must-read for me.
An action-packed picture book biography about Hollywood actor, stuntman, and beloved superstar Jackie Chan! A great read for Chan fans hoping to share their love of Rush Hour, Supercop, and Jackie's original brand of martial arts with their ready-to-tumble tyke.
Pow! Bam! Wow!
Jackie Chan has been making movies and amazing audiences with his original and comedic stunts for decades.
Pow! Bam! Ow!
But before he was an international star, Jackie grew up in relative poverty in China, studied martial arts at the grueling China Drama Academy, and worked for years trying to find his way in film.
My name is David Seow, I’ve been a huge entertainment fan since I was a child and met Jack Lord when he came to Singapore. I’ve been fascinated by celebrities and what drove them to succeed. Since then, I’ve amassed a collection of over 400 celebrity autographs. My passion for the entertainment scene and celebrities led me to work as a freelance entertainment journalist and a sitcom scriptwriter. For the past 26 years, I have followed my other passion of writing children’s picture books, and I have published 48 books to date, some of which I’ve gifted to some of my favourite celebrities.
I was lucky enough to meet Taylor, so I dove into this book with gusto. It’s an easy and highly engaging read. I love how the author emphasizes the importance of Taylor’s values: hard work, perseverance, and love of a supportive family. What I found particularly appealing was the adorable description of how an 11-year-old Taylor had the gumption to hand out CDS of her music to record execs in Nashville! Five years later, she released her first album and it was a hit!
I love how this talented young lady has used her life experiences—both good and bad—to build a bridge to success. This is a well-researched, inspirational, and enjoyable read.
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Celebrate global superstar Taylor Swift with this collectible Little Golden Book, which tells her inspiring life story alongside gorgeous original illustrations!
“A must-have for any Taylor Swift collection.”—Rolling Stone
Taylor never lets anything hold her back from creating music she loves.
With full-color illustrations on every page, Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography brings her story to life—from her childhood living on a Christmas tree farm, where she discovered her passion for songwriting, to her early days on Nashville’s Music Row and her rise as one of the biggest stars in pop music. When you’re…
Mamiachi & Me is a lyrical and empowering picture book about what it means to be a mariachi in an all‑female band.
Today, Rosa will take the stage next to her mami and play along with her popular mariachi band. But Rosa begins to worry. What if the audience doesn’t…
My name is David Seow, I’ve been a huge entertainment fan since I was a child and met Jack Lord when he came to Singapore. I’ve been fascinated by celebrities and what drove them to succeed. Since then, I’ve amassed a collection of over 400 celebrity autographs. My passion for the entertainment scene and celebrities led me to work as a freelance entertainment journalist and a sitcom scriptwriter. For the past 26 years, I have followed my other passion of writing children’s picture books, and I have published 48 books to date, some of which I’ve gifted to some of my favourite celebrities.
This is one grand slam of a picture book biography, in my opinion.
The author’s use of the first-person narrative made me feel like I was part of Serena’s journey to success. I learned so much about her that I did not know, like how she started playing with tennis racquets for grown-ups. I love how much emphasis is placed on the importance her family played in her success on the courts.
Serena is truly an inspiration both on and off the tennis courts.
Follow Serena William's life as she shows us how mental strength is cultivated and what it takes to become a champion.
In the new Mini Movers and Shakers children’s book series comes a cast of characters who have failed, yet succeeded despite overwhelming obstacles. Find out what happens in this kid’s book about keeping your hope.
Sometimes, we are faced with challenges that seem insurmountable. But with grit and hard work, one can achieve great things!
Mini Movers and Shakers was developed to inspire children to dream big and work hard. Fun, relatable characters in graphic style books easy…
Looking at this list, I think it reveals that I am fundamentally a nosy person. I love reading other people’s diaries and letters and getting the inside story of a person’s life. And I’m also fascinated by how people present themselves to the world. Giving presentations is one way to show ‘who you are,’ so perhaps it's not surprising that I now work with people to help them tell their stories, share their ideas, and be the best they can be in front of an audience. Many people say they ‘hate’ presenting, and my mission is to help them overcome that.
Barbra Streisand reads her autobiography out loud for the audiobook. It takes 48 hours and covers her early years, her films, her albums, her politics, and her love life, and when it finished, I was bereft. What a woman! She was prolific and clever and often underestimated or put down, particularly in her early years, because she was a woman.
I said aloud, “Yes, Barbra!” when she triumphed over adversity (or sexism). She’s a phenomenal woman. However, she hates giving presentations and speeches and ties herself in knots at the thought. It’s reassuring that even a global superstar like Barbra has the same fear of presenting as so many of us. But she did something about it–she practiced and got better. And so can we.
The long-awaited memoir by the superstar of stage, screen, recordings, and television
Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she…
As an editor, I worked with many authors before deciding to become one myself. Most of my twenty-five published books cover theatre and film, but I was especially excited to work on biographies of actors and try to get to the truth behind the public figures.
I wrote three books about my father, who became a star of the silent films during the 1920s and eventually appeared in 172 films over nearly six decades. In researching his life and work, I was astonished to find a very different man from the one I had lived with and known during my childhood and youth.
Michael Redgrave was a great actor who succeeded both in the classical theatre and as a popular film star. His son Corin, himself an actor, has written a deeply felt, tender, and sympathetic book about his father.
He is perceptive about his father's subtle skill as an actor and the basis of his lifelong socialism. But he struggled to understand his personal life, which was complicated by his bisexuality: although married for fifty years to the actress Rachel Kempson, he indulged in a series of affairs with men.
In later years, his acting career was cruelly cut short when he was struck by Parkinson’s disease. The illness brought the two of them closer, with Corin conveying movingly his love, respect, and admiration for his father.
Michael Redgrave was a great actor in an age of great acting. His contemporaries were Edith Evans and Laurence Olivier, Peggy Ashcroft and John Gielgud, Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson. He shared seasons with them at the Old Vic, Stratford and the National Theatre. More than all his contemporaries except Olivier and Guinness he succeeded both in the classical theatre and as a popular leading actor, starring in such films as "The Lady Vanishes", "The Way To The Stars" and "The Browning Version". Corin Redgrave has written about a complicated life, using his actor's knowledge of his father's work and…
Serendipity is a magical story told by a grandmother to a granddaughter, introducing us to the traditional way of living of the Scottish Travellers and their Cant language.
A fantasy tale for children of 8 years old and older inspired by three real places in Scotland. Serendipity takes us to…
I grew up fascinated by and terrified of Hollywood in equal measure, fascinated because my mother was once married to a movie star and terrified because she refused to talk about that time in her life, saying she preferred to “pretend it never happened.” Accordingly, I’ve always been drawn to stories that involve characters who live in the orbit of stage and screen stars, people whose lives are touched, and in many cases forever changed by fame even if their face is not the one people recognize. These novels all offer glimpses into the heady rush of fame and its many foibles.
This book is a tour-de-force—a beautifully written story about Marian Graves, an Amelia Earhart-type adventurer during the prohibition era, and Hadley Baxter, the actress set to play her in a movie more than half a century later.
I really enjoyed how the two stories are in conversation with each other; both women determined to chart their own courses in very different eras and what they learn about themselves in the process. I was also struck by the intense obligation the actress feels to get this character right and the personal toll it takes as she discovers how similar their emotional lives may have been.
This book provided a true escape just when I needed it most, and I could have kept reading long after I turned the final page.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK • The unforgettable story of a daredevil female aviator determined to chart her own course in life, at any cost: an “epic trip—through Prohibition and World War II, from Montana to London to present-day Hollywood—and you’ll relish every minute” (People).
After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There--after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes--Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she…
I love being by the water. Most of my vacations are spent at tropical destinations. There’s something pretty amazing about reading a book at the water’s edge, near a palm tree, with the breeze and the salty smell of the wonderful warm air as pelicans swoop across the surface.
I’ve added this book to this list because I love Joan Crawford. I love Hollywood and all the gossip, glitz, and glamor that goes along with it.
This particular story is told by her daughter Christina about how a photograph is perceived to be happy, but what really happened, as told by the author, is two different stories.
A true vaudeville legend personality exposed, which makes it a great beach read.
The 40th anniversary edition of the "shocking" #1 New York Times bestseller with an exclusive new introduction by the author (Los Angeles Times).
When Christina Crawford's harrowing chronicle of child abuse was first published in 1978, it brought global attention to the previously closeted subject. It also shed light on the guarded world of Hollywood and stripped away the facade of Christina's relentless, alcoholic abuser: her adoptive mother, movie star Joan Crawford.
Christina was a young girl shown off to the world as a fortunate little princess. But at home, her lonely, controlling, even ruthless mother made her…
I had a difficult past; from living in war, poverty, and doing various jobs to help with the family economy, to losing my life, imprisonment, and exile. I was one of millions of Iranians who were trapped in a prison called “oppression” by a dictatorial and totalitarian regime. They called us “the burnt generation.” Despite all the hardships, I immigrated to America, became a successful scientist, and achieved all my goals. Then I told myself to write my biography to inspire and motivate people all around the world and convey this universal message to them: protect your freedom, cherish your democracy, and never forget the ones left behind.
I read this book many years ago, and it was inspiring for me.
This book is reminiscent of my life adventures; from the experience of living in poverty and doing various jobs to help with the family economy, to my first romantic experiences and losing my life, and finally immigrating to America as a health science scholar.
This book is a touching and fascinating biography that helped me to recognize my ability from childhood and the blossoming of my talent in adolescence, my professional career at the prestigious University of Tehran, and finally discovering myself as a successful scientist in America.
A silent comedy star whose legendary slapstick routines are recognisable to this day, Charles 'Charlie' Chaplin's My Autobiography is an incomparably vivid account of the life of one of the greatest filmmakers and comedians, with an introduction by David Robinson
As a child, Charlie Chaplin was awed and inspired by the sight of glamorous vaudeville stars passing his home, and from then on he never lost his ambition to become an actor. Chaplin's film career as the Little Tramp adored by the whole world is the stuff of legend, but this frank autobiography shows another side. Born into a theatrical…
Since losing his mom, thirteen-year-old Jack Wilson has spent most of his time seeing just how much trouble he can get away with so that he feels like a winner at something. But he takes his mischief too far and is faced with the possibility of unbearable consequences. He…
I’ve been fascinated by bio-pics since I was about 10 or 11, when I first saw The Tommy Steele Story, made just a few years after he became a star, with Tommy Steele himself playing the lead (a rare thing). What began as a simple love for watching these films has grown into a deeper interest in how they shape our understanding of real lives. Now, I write, talk about, and reflect on the genre, exploring its impact and storytelling techniques. I hope you enjoy the books on this list as much as I have, and fingers crossed they’ll become films in the future!
1950s MGM swimming star Esther Williams dazzled on-screen but faced challenges off it. Her autobiography recounts her rise from poverty, four turbulent marriages, and dangerous stunts that left her injured. A bio-pic of Williams would shine a spotlight on this resilient, forthright woman, blending the opulence of MGM’s golden age with the grit of her off-screen struggles.
From her innovative contributions (thank you for waterproof mascara and lycra swimwear!) to the harrowing realities of her stunts, her story is ripe for the big screen. Plus, imagine the sheer visual delight of recreating her most famous routines on the big screen.
In her autobiography, legendary swimming and MGM star Esther Williams reveals what it was like to work at one of the premier studio's during Hollywood's "Golden Era". She was one of the studio's most bankable leading ladies. An American beauty and swimming champ, she was hired at MGM in 1941 at age 18, and from then on starred in two or three thinly plotted "swimming musicals" a year, such as "Neptune's Daughter", "Million Dollar Mermaid", "Easy to Love", and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".
