Nellie Bly

History Maker Bios

by Shannon Knudsen

When her father died, Elizabeth Cochran and her family were left to support themselves. To help pay rent, Elizabeth held many jobs, but her angry letter to a newspaper landed her in a writing career. The newspaper offered her a job writing articles, and she found her passion. Using the pen name Nellie Bly, she became famous for her honest, funny, and sometimes serious stories. One of her most famous articles chronicled her 72-day trip around the world.

Genres: Biography, Childrens, Nonfiction, History

48 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

This author also writes as Shannon Zemlicka.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally, I dislike journalists. However, I love Nellie Bly. My good opinion comes from this biography of her I read as a kid, which is about her achievements. Nellie Bly was a trailblazer, a female journalist when that was so rare.

My favorite Nellie Bly moment was when she went undercover to expose an insane asylum. That was very brave, because she showed the true horror of nineteenth century insane asylums. Even when reading a biography for kids, I was disturbed by what she found and how she was treated.

However, the most impressive Nellie Bly moment was when she went around the world in less than eighty days. She wasn’t the first woman to complete the “Phileas Fogg” challenge, but the first person. This biography made that part of her life sound so thrilling. Same for Nellie Bly as a person in general.