With "Increasing Reading Competence with Short Biographies," you hit two birds with one stone: your students not only learn about the biographies of 20 famous women and men, but they also enhance their reading skills. Each biography consists of short, informative texts about the person's life and work, a profile to fill out, and tasks of varying difficulty related to the texts that allow for independent study. Thanks to the diverse task formats related to the short biographies, ranging from simple questions about text and word comprehension to personal text production and complex inquiries about described facts and issues, critical engagement with the content is also well addressed.