Who are your ten?

This has nothing and everything to do with writing, but I wanted to share because I find this absolutely fascinating and I am obsessed with knowing everyone’s answer. This question came up at work today: If you had to pick just ten figures throughout the history of time to teach to 8 – 12 year olds, who would you pick?

Before you read my answer I will give you a few minutes to think about your list….

Still thinking?

Are you good?

Okay, don’t hesitate to give me your answer because I really want to know. You can answer right down a the bottom in the comments.

For my list, I picked a variety of people. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Marie Curie, Cesar Chavez, Geronimo, Queen Elizabeth, Adolf Hitler, Bill Gates, and Walt Disney. Now this was just off the top of my head and after thinking about it, if I could extend my list, I would have added DaVinci, Nikola Tesla, Ben Franklin, Malala and a few others.

I asked my adult children as well. I will let their lists speak for them.

My daughter said: Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, MLK Jr, Malala Yousafzai, Amelia Earhart, Abraham Lincoln, Edgar Allen Poe, Maya Angelou, Shakespeare, and Anne Frank.

My son picked: Alexander the Great, Queen Victoria, Malcolm X, Malala Yousafzai, Pope Paul III, Emperor Wu, Socrates, Shakespeare, Adolf Hitler (we both included him because he changed the world and because he is a good lesson about what not to be), and Ronald Reagan (note – not because he liked him but because he started trickle down economics, a policy which changed the world but which my son loathes).

So who is on your list? Note that this is different from the list of the ten people that you would have picked for yourself (mine is all creative types).

Tell me, I really do want to know. No judgement.