Part one: It's not easy being a kid. J.R.R. Tolkien meets a baboon tarantula

J.K. Rowling, a storybook life

Edgar Allan Poe, little orphan Edgar

Sherman Alexie, off the reservation

Lewis Carroll, one tough nerd

Laura Ingalls Wilder, heart of a pioneer

Part two: All in the family. Zora Neale Hurston, jumping at the sun

Mark Twain, bad boy makes good

Langston Hughes, history lessons

Jules Verne, castaway for a day

Part three: The write stuff. Roald Dahl, the boy who loved candy

Stan Lee, the incredible reader

Beverly Cleary, flight of the blackbird

Lucy Maud Montgomery, the adventures of story girl

Jeff Kinney, stuck in the middle

Fun facts about famous authors.