Game Changers: Lin-Manuel Miranda

by Stephanie Kraus

Don't throw away your shot to read about the fascinating life of Lin-Manuel Miranda! This high-interest biography describes the inspirational life story of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the award-winning playwright, composer, lyricist, singer, and actor who created the musicals In the Heights and Hamilton: An American Musical. Students will be encouraged to follow their dreams as they are engaged in reading about this creative, talented individual. Developed by Timothy Rasinski and featuring TIME content, this full-color nonfiction book includes essential text features like an index, captions, glossary, and table of contents. The intriguing sidebars, detailed images, and in-depth Reader's Guide require students to connect back to the text and promote multiple readings. The Think Link and Dig Deeper! sections develop students' higher-order thinking skills, and the Check It Out! section includes suggested books, videos, and websites for further reading. Aligned with state standards, this text features complex and rigorous content appropriate for students preparing for college and career readiness.

Genres: Biography, Childrens

32 pages, Perfect Paperback

Published December 1, 2016

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This covers Lin-Manuel Miranda's life from childhood, through finding his passion, and writing two hit Broadway shows. This book focuses mainly on his success with Hamilton, including the inspiration and work it took to make the show.

The format of this book is great, the main non-fiction text is like a reader would expect, but there are also boxes of different, more specific information related to the text on the page. There is also several parts in the book that ask the reader to think about something or try something. This would be a great mentor text to use with students writing their own non-fiction books.

[☾Sabrina♡༄ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m the first to tell you I’m obsessed with the original cinnamon roll that is Lin Manuel Miranda.

So I’ll read anything about him and I was psyched to see a book about him in my National Library. The format was interesting, like a colourful magazine that’s read out to you.

I see now that it’s a teaching material.

I can’t say I learned anything from it because hello, number 1 fan here? I’ve already gleaned all the necessary information from my internet stalking. Harmless stalking—just happily bingeing on every interview and read every newspaper article. 😉

But guys, Lin Manuel Miranda is so wholesome and any opportunity to read about him is still nice.

It mostly talks about Hamilton. Even #ham4ham which made me so nostalgic for the times I entered the lottery with everyone’s phones when I was abroad, desperate for a chance to see the show. There were some statistics on diversity and prompts for us to stop and think about some questions. It’s a teaching aid, after all.

I wish LMM would write a memoir. I would devour it.

[Shannon Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

We may be forever indebted to Disney + for allowing Hamilton into our living rooms. I have never been a history buff, despite efforts to engage with it more passionately. What Lin-Manuel was able to create with Hamilton destroyed that conception entirely. I immediately wanted to delve into any resources I could my hands on to learn more.

While brief, it was interesting to read Game Changers and learn more about his inspiration for the show, his utilization of a diverse cast and music genres to reach a greater audience and the ways in which he has given back to the community through Hamilton's success.

[Amanda Walz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biography is more about the musical Hamilton than about the man, Lin-Manuel Miranda. It does share some about his life, but only a little. I think this is a good biography to use as long as it's balanced with another.

[Jonathan Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good simple and easy about the life of Miranda and his show Hamilton

[Suzanne Dix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great color photos! Hamilton kid-fans will love this.