This study describes and analyzes, in a critical literary manner, selected biographies for children eight to twelve years of age. Biographies of Jane Addams, Cesar Chavez, Mohandas Gandhi, Toyohiko Kagawa, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Albert Schweitzer are viewed from the perspective of a literary criterion based on the principles of design to discern the manner in which the author portrayed the person's fulfillment of a religious commitment to foster the well-being of his fellow men. The results indicated that the manner in which an author assesses his subject's life work, utilizes symbols in the portrayal, and relates the subject to a model of human expectations within the biography contributes to the realistic facets of the author's presentation of another person's form of life. In addition, the manner in which the individual is related to the social problem he helped alleviate is of major significance in the portrayal of his religious commitment. (Author/WR)