Who Was...?

Who Was? or Who HQ is a series of children's non-fiction books published by Penguin Books. The "Who Was...?", "What Was?...", "Where Is?...", "What Is the Story Of?...", "What Do We Know About?..." and "Who HQ Now" series tell the stories of trailblazers, legends, innovators, significant landmarks, and historical events. Covering everything from sports to politics, the "Who HQ Now" series focuses on trending topics and prominent subjects discussed in the news. , the series had over 250 entries, sold over 20 million copies, and has been on the New York Times Best Seller list.

The first four Who Was? books — Who Was Sacagawea?, Who Was Ben Franklin?, Who Was Albert Einstein?, and Who Was Annie Oakley?—were published on February 18, 2002. Penguin Books publishes about 24 new books each year. Example entrants in the series due for publication in 2024 include Taylor Swift, Michael Phelps, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Billie Jean King, Langston Hughes, Aaron Judge, the story of Godzilla, the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 and more.

Book format
Every book begins with a prologue of sorts. The books generally consist of 10 chapters, but some have up to 13, or even more. After the last chapter, there's a timeline of the book's events, and then the world timeline. At the back of the book, there's a bibliography, which shows the cited sources.

There are about 80 illustrations in each book — one on almost every page, and always one for each sidebar. The large heads were inspired by the caricatures that used to be drawn for the weekly cover of the New York Times Book Review. Some books include those for famous people like Stevie Wonder, Ronald Reagan and Jeff Kinney.

TV adaptation
In 2017, Netflix ordered a 13-episode variety show based on the books, The Who Was? Show. The series was developed by Penguin Workshop and FremantleMedia, produced by Rich Korson, and written by Brian McCann, Elliott Kalan, Eric Gilliland, Delaney Yeager, and Tami Sagher. Each half-hour episode was slated to feature "live-action, animated shorts, improvisations, sketches, musical performances and guest appearances."