Angelou's memoir focuses on segregated life in the South, social injustice, economic hardship, and racism. It ultimately chronicles the triumph of a young girl over all of these.
The personal story of Lance Armstrong's life so far, from childhood
through early success, nearly fatal cancer, recovery, survivorship, more
triumph (victory in the 1999 Tour de France), marriage, and first-time
fatherhood.
The popular children’s author tells about her childhood years in
Oregon through high school and into adulthood, highlighting her family
life and her growing interest in writing.
The author relates how, as a young adult, he became a drug user and
smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and
went to college, all the while hoping to become a writer.
"Earnest and funny, hopeful and tragic" autobiography of of an
11-year-old anorexic girl trying to reconcile the conflicting messages
society sends women.
Best-selling memoir by a woman who, as a child, recovered from a
potentially terminal illness during which one third of her jaw was
surgically removed. She then had to confront the tragedy of being deemed
unacceptable in a world that worships physical beauty.
In 1957, Homer H. "Sonny" Hickman, Jr., and a handful of his friends
were inspired to start designing and launching home-made rockets that
would change their lives and their town forever.
Realizing the impact the camp had on her life, the author wrote this story of Japanese American experience during and after the World War II internment.
Jiang tells about her life growing up under Chairman Mao’s regime.
While she embraces the Communist Party's philosophy and dutifully
follows the rules of how she should live and behave, Jiang begins to
have her doubts, particularly when party-imposed punishments begin to
affect her family and close friends.
The author describes his spring 1996 trek to Mt. Everest, an
expedition that ended in disaster, claiming the lives of eight climbers,
and explains why he survived, in a definitive, firsthand account of the
tragedy.
Frank McCourt, who was born in Brooklyn but grew up in the slums of
Limerick, Ireland, conveys the constant pains and occasional joys of an
impoverished childhood.
The very popular young adult author tells of growing up in Harlem in
the 1940s, facing gang warfare, racism, and the dark secret his father
kept for years.
The author describes how he spent his teenage years climbing
mountains in the United States, South America, Africa, and Asia with an
emphasis on his two expeditions up Mount Everest.
Written as fiction, The Bell Jar presents only a lightly disguised acount of the poet's descent into depression and mental illness, and her first suicide attempt at the age of twenty.
Frank recollections about Rodriguez’s time with a barrio gang in the
1960s and early 70s and now his anguish at watching his teenage son run
with a Latino gang in Chicago.
Brent Runyon was fourteen years old when he set himself on fire. In
this book he describes that suicide attempt and his recovery over the
following year.
Salzman's memoir follows him through a number of unusual adolescent
experiences as he tries kung-fu, Chinese art and language, Zen writing,
playing classical and jazz cello, Indian music, and marijuana as he
searches for the answers to the ultimate questions of life.
An acclaimed journalist shares the gripping story of her rape when
she was a college freshman, achieving justice in the courtroom, and
triumphing in the face of violence.
Katherine Tarbox was thirteen when she met twenty-three-year-old
"Mark" in an online chat room. This is her frightening story of a
chat-room romance gone very wrong.
