Adventurous Author Biographies: Volume I

Sparing no expense and ignoring dangers and perils Mr. Draeger sets out to meet twelve great authors: five Americans, six British and one Russian.

Using a spaceship (Lem One), a time machine (H.G. Wells), happenstance and raw courage rarely seen in an educator, Mr Draeger, often accompanied by his dog, Fezzik, meets these authors where they live and work—most of the time.

In one instance Mr. Draeger travels into a book (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) to attend the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. In another he travels to the Andromeda Galaxy to talk with the universe’s foremost expert on Herman Melville. He walks with Wordsworth, takes Thoreau to another planet and despite a few mishaps and misunderstandings (kidnapping Jonathan Swift and bringing Mary Shelley back from the dead probably weren’t the best ideas) manages, in these brief encounters, to give students an opportunity to acquaint themselves with some of the greatest authors in the world.

Students will not want to miss meeting:

• Lewis Carroll
• Anton Chekhov
• Stephan Crane
• Charles Dickens
• Emily Dickinson
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Herman Melville
• William Shakespeare
• Mary Shelley
• Jonathan Swift
• Henry David Thoreau
• William Wordsworth

The thirteen stories in this book (two on Thoreau) come from the Literature Disguised as Fun series for grades 7 – 12, but these biographies contain images not found in the original stories: additional author portraits, some documents and a couple of homes where the authors lived.

This is Literature Disguised as Fun!

“Mr. Draeger is not the bravest person I’ve ever met, but his time machine and spaceship are extraordinary. Love his dog.” — Henry David Thoreau