Who Was Steve Jobs? by Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso

 Who Was ...? biography series for middle grade brings the intriguing figure of Steve Jobs who who changed the way the world communicates.

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955. From childhood he liked putting things together. His curiosity led him to Hewlett-Packard’s Explorer Club where he took lectures in electronics; where he also met Steve Wozniak.

After High School, he convinced the dean of Reed College to attend the classes for free since he didn’t have money for tuition, but at the end he wouldn’t receive the degree. He stayed there for eighteen months.

In Steve’s parent’s garage, he worked with Wozniak on the Apple computer. They didn’t have the money for the parts to build the ordered computers. Steve was so good at persuading people that he got a credit for the parts.

Steve’s new company grew quickly, but he was a perfectionist, and a little thing off would send him into rage. He became known as difficult to work with. As he worked on Macintosh, it turned out people weren’t as interested in personal computers as Steve hoped. With some arguments with the board members his position declined and later he left the company.

He started a new company NeXT. Steve admired anyone who did something new and different. He became a huge fan of George Lucas, director of Star Wars. Steve invested in Pixar, but the games were too expensive. With his power of convincing, he did it again and convinced Walt Disney to invest in Steve’s next three movies.

In 1995, Toy Story became the most popular movie of the year.

At the same time, Apple was struggling. Their computers weren’t up to speed with new applications. He agreed to return temporarily, but stayed permanently.

His next product was iMac which became the bestselling computer in the world. Then, came iPod. His last product was iPad.

After having cancer, in his speech to the graduating class at Stanford University, he said that “time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life… have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

He left us with very powerful words. He was a man who didn’t care much about money. With his billions he lived in a modest house. What he truly cared about was to be useful, to continually reinvent himself. He used his power of convincing to create something he had a strong vision for and something he strongly believed in.

This story enforces the dimensions of a man who pursed something he strongly believed in, and used his skill of convincing to help him get closer to his goal.

This illustrated biography series for young readers, ages 8-11, is presented in a relatable way, with simple sentences and enriched with insightful inserts.

Published in 2012 by Penguin Workshop

TRENDING INSPIRATION: “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

Traits:

·         Be curious

·         Question things if something is not right

·         Use the power of honest convincing to help you in achieving a meaningful goal

·         Get knowledge, not necessarily a degree, to bring you closer to your goal

·         Do something new and different

·         Study the traits of a person who inspires you

·         “Time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life…”

·         “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

·         Money is important, but you don’t need millions or billions to be happy

·         Continually reinvent yourself

·         Have a strong vision of your goal

·         Be useful

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." - Steve Jobs