Ms. Bedrossian’s Suggested List of Memoirs, Biographies and Autobiographies…
1. Aaron, Hank - I Had a Hammer: Hank grew up poor, black, and crazy about baseball. He started in the Negro American League, switched to Major League Baseball, and ended up upsetting many people when he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record.
2. Akers, Michell - Game and the Glory: A star of the winning US Women’s World Cup Soccer team, she persisted in a professional career in soccer despite multiple injuries and Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
3. Altea, Rosemary - Eagle and the Rose: A Remarkable True Story: This is a convincingly sincere account of her dreary childhood in northern England. She eventually realized that her psychic powers were not a symptom of insanity. She is now a successful medium who chats with the dead.
4. Angelou, Maya - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: This memoir of a renowned poet’s childhood in Alabama includes racism, sexism, and sexual abuse without being preachy, graphic, or crude, and with rich memories of family and friends.
5. Arana, Marie - American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood: Maria grew up American and Peruvian. She learned to navigate between a culture that encouraged family loyalty and another that fostered independence.
6. Armstrong, Lance - It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life: Lance describes his life from early childhood, through early success, nearly fatal cancer, recovery, a victory in the 99 Tour de France, marriage and first time fatherhood.
7. Barra, Allen - Inventing Wyatt Earp, His Life and Many Legends: Barra traces the life of this legend of Western history who survived the gunfight at the OK Corral and who later become an advisor to films.
8. Barrymore, Drew - Little Girl Lost: A movie star at six, an alcoholic at 12, and in rehab at 14, this book tells the story of her recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.
9. Beah, Ishmael - A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier: Ishmael, now twenty-five years old, tells a story of how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land destroyed by violence during Sierra Leone’s civil war. By thirteen, he was picked up by the army, and Ishmael who was at heart a gentle boy found that he was capable of truly terrible acts as he becomes a boy soldier. In this memoir, Beah gives a first-person account of someone who came through this hell and survived.
10. Beals, Melba Pattillo - Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High: One of the nine black teenagers chosen to integrate a school in 1957, Melba tells her story of mob violence and of order restored by Federal troops; a story of hatred met with courage.
11. Bernall, Misty – She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom Cassie Bernall: A gripping story that came out of the shooting at Columbine High School, which illuminates 17-year-old Cassie’s tragic death. It is the memoir of an ordinary teenager growing up in suburban Colorado and faced, as all teenagers are, with difficult choices and pressures.
12. Bird, Larry - Drive: The Story of My Life: This is the story of Larry Bird’s career, starting with the summer afternoon he discovered basketball at age 13, with many entertaining anecdotes.
13. Bitton-Jackson, Livia - I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust: She and her family were sent to Auschwitz when the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944. At 13, she was one of the few teenagers in the camp.
14. Blumenthal, Karen – Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different: From the start, his path was never predictable. Steve Jobs was given up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college after one semester, and at the age of twenty, created Apple in his parents' garage with his friend Steve Wozniack. A devoted husband, father, and Buddhist, he battled cancer for over a decade, became the ultimate CEO, and made the world want every product he touched.
15. Bolnick, Tina S. Jamie Pastor - Living at the Edge of the World: A Teenager's Survival in the Tunnels of Grand Central Station: Tina’s life was going badly, so she left her family in their welfare hotel and ran off to homeless life at Grand Central Station. Finally she fought her way back from jail, drugs and homelessness.
16. Bragg, Rick - All Over But the Shoutin’: This Pulitzer Prize winning journalist grew up in Alabama, the son of a violent veteran and a mother who tried to insulate him from poverty and ignorance.
17. Bragg, Rick - I Am a Soldier Too: In March 23, 2003, Private First Class Jessica Lynch was crossing the Iraqi desert with the 507th Maintenance Company when the convoy she was traveling in was ambushed. All four soldiers traveling with her died in the attack. Lynch was taken prisoner and held captive in an Iraqi hospital for nine days. She became a symbol of victory, of innocence and courage, of heroism; then, just as quickly, of deceit and manipulation.
18. Brooks, Polly Schoyer - Cleopatra: Goddess of Egypt, Enemy of Rome: This biography views Cleopatra as an intelligent, loyal woman who tried to protect her country from Rome.
19. Busby, Cylin and John - The Year We Disappeared: A Father-Daughter Memoir: When Cylin was nine, in one night, everything changed. Her police officer father, John, was driving to work when someone leveled a shotgun at his window. Overnight, the Busbys went from being the "family next door" to one under 24-hour armed guard, with police escorts to school, and no contact with friends. Worse, the shooter was still on the loose. With their lives unraveling around them, and few choices remaining, the Busby family left everything and everyone they had ever known…and simply disappeared.
20. Cary, Lorene - Black Ice: An ambitious black high school student becomes a scholarship student at St. Paul’s, a private school that enjoyed a 120-year tradition of educating wealthy white males.
21. Chang, Pang-Mei Natasha - Bound Feet and Western Dress: Born in 1900, she had parents who were Western enough not to bind her feet, but traditional enough to expect a traditional marriage. Instead, she fled to Germany, and eventually became vice president of China’s first women’s bank.
22. Chen, Da - Colors of the Mountain: He began in a poor family in Southern China and seemed destined to a life of poverty, humiliation and hunger. Then he learned English and found a new life.
23. Cleary, Beverly - Girl from Yamhill: A Memoir: A popular children’s author tells about her childhood years in Oregon, highlighting her family life, the day she learned to read, and her growing interest in writing.
24. Conway, Jill Ker - Road from Coorain: Jill survived the brutally harsh 1930’s Australian outback of her youth and grew up to become the first woman president of Smith College.
25. Cunningham Laura - Sleeping Arrangements: Orphaned at eight years old, Lily was rescued by two eccentric bachelor uncles who created a family with the addition of an overweight dog and an aging senile grandmother.
26. Dahl, Roald - Boy: Tales of Childhood: This is a humorous, anecdotal look at his eccentric childhood, including where Roald got some of his plot ideas, in prose that will leave readers laughing out loud.
27. Davis, Katie J. - Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption: This is the story of a courageous eighteen-year-old from Nashville who gave up every comfort and convenience to become the adoptive mother to thirteen girls in Uganda. What would cause an eighteen-year-old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee to give up a seemingly bright future, so she could move to Uganda, where she knew only one person and didn’t even speak the language?
28. Dawidoff, Nicholas - Catcher was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg: A delightful and entertaining biography of Moe’s life as a pro-baseball player and then as a spy for the OSS (the precursor of the CIA).
29. Dawson, George - Life is So Good: George learned to read at age 98 and wrote his life story at the age of 101, giving us eyewitness impressions of segregation, wars, presidents, and inventions.
30. Dyer, Daniel - Jack London: A Biography: This exciting portrait of the writer of The Call of the Wild focuses on his true life adventures riding the rails, dog sledding during the Yukon gold rush, and sailing the South Seas.
31. Emmanuel Jal - War Child: A Child Soldier’s Story: In the mid-1980s, Emmanuel Jal was a seven year old Sudanese boy living in a small village. Hismother waskilled and his father Simon rose to become a powerful commander in the Christian Sudanese Liberation Army, fighting for the freedom of Sudan. Soon, Jal became one of 10,000 child soldiersand fought through two separate civil wars over nearly a decade. Orphaned, Jal lived through horror but survived. His life began to change when he was adopted by a British aid worker. He slowly began the journey that would lead him to music: recording and releasing his own album, which produced the number one hip-hop single in Kenya, and from there went on to perform with Moby, Bono, Peter Gabriel, and other international music stars.
32. Farrell, Suzanne - Holding On to the Air: Despite growing up a tomboy, Suzanne moved to New York City at 15 hoping to be accepted by the School of American Ballet. She ended up as one of her century’s greatest ballerinas.
33. Feynman, Richard - Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character: This Nobel-Prize-winning physicist was also a bongo drummer, a practical joker, and a loving husband. This engagingly eccentric book is eyebrow-raising and hilarious, and follows his traits of fierce independence, intolerance of stupidity, and willingness to offend if necessary.
34. Filipovic, Zlata - Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo: 11 year-old Zlata began keeping a diary about her very typical teen life, and then the war began, bringing a nightmare of bombs and guns. Not uplifting, but real.
35. Freedman, Russell - Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Making of a Champion: Babe's achievements were extraordinary --e.g., her three world records in track and field at the 1932 Olympics; her record-setting golf career in the '40s and '50s. The book also focuses on the energy and vibrancy of Babe herself.
36. Freedman, Russell - Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane: With the help of photographs, this book explains how these famous brothers started out as bicycle mechanics and ended up accomplishing the miracle of flight.
37. Fussell, Samuel - Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder: Sam started as a 6’4” intellectual. He didn’t feel safe living in New York City, so he started bodybuilding, doing anything to bulk up from eating raw eggs to injecting steroids.
38. Gantos, Jack - Hole in My Life: Gantos tells 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.
39. Garner, Eleanor Ramrath - Eleanor’s Story: An American Girl in Hitler’s Germany: In this stunning memoir, Garner tells the survival story of civilians in Hitler's Germany, desperately hoping to avoid the wrath of the Gestapo during the war, then facing the cruelty of the postwar Russian occupation.
40. Giblin, James Cross - Charles A. Lindbergh: A Human Hero: He became an American hero when he made the first transatlantic flight, but he fell into disgrace after being accused of sympathizing with the Nazis.
41. Glenn, John - John Glenn: A Memoir: He was the first American to orbit the Earth, later became a senator, and then returned to NASA to become our oldest active astronaut.
42. Glover, Savion - Savion!: My Life in Tap: This young tap dancer examines his life and career. Savion's life, work and words will be a powerful reminder to youngsters that they are a part of all that preceded them and that they possess all that's necessary to make their own mark.
43. Goodall, Jane - Africa in My Blood: An Autobiography in Letters: The Early Years: These letters tell of the life of this fascinating, friendly, and dedicated woman from age 7 through age 32, covering her early years in Africa and the beginning of her famous, life-long study of chimpanzees.
44. Gottlieb, Lori - Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Life: This is an “earnest and funny, hopeful and tragic” autobiography of an 11-year-old anorexic girl trying to reconcile the conflicting messages society sends women.
45. Grealy, Lucy - Autobiography of a Face: At age nine, Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer. When she returned to school with a third of her jaw removed, she faced the cruel taunts of classmates who harassed and humiliated her. In this memoir, Grealy tells her story of great suffering with remarkable strength and considerable wit).
46. Greenlaw, Linda - Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain’s Journey: Greenlaw describes a month long swordfishing trip proving that every successful voyage is a study in narrowly averted disaster. There is the weather, the constant danger of mechanical failure and the threat of a poor harvest
47. Gunther, John - Death Be Not Proud: A father writes lovingly of his bright and promising 17-year-old son’s long, courageous struggle with a brain tumor in 1947.