Book cover for The amazing book is not on fire : the world of Dan and Phil

The amazing book is not on fire : the world of Dan and Phil

Howell, Dan, 1991-
Call Number: 809.2953092 H859

YouTube stars Dan Howell and Phil Lester tell the humorous story of growing up, becoming YouTube stars, and give advice to their teen followers. 

Book cover for Bad boy : a memoir

Bad boy : a memoir

Myers, Walter Dean, 1937-2014.
Call Number: 813 M996M

Myers paints a picture of his childhood growing up in Harlem in the 1940s, with an adult's benefit of hindsight.

Book cover for The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir

The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir

Bui, Thi
Call Number: 740.9999 B932
Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family's daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves. She also writes about the impact that colonialism and war in Vietnam had on one family, her own.
Book cover for The boy who harnessed the wind

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Kamkwamba, William
Call Number: 621.45 K156-1

In this memoir adapted for young readers, William Kamkwamba describes the drought that struck his tiny village in Malawi, his subsequent interest in science, and his idea to build a windmill. Made out of scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William's windmill brought electricity to his home and helped his family pump the water they needed to farm the land.

Book cover for Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming

Woodson, Jacqueline
Call Number: x 92 W8985
Grades 5 - 8. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world.
 
 
Book cover for The dark days of Hamburger Halpin

The dark days of Hamburger Halpin

Berk, Josh.
Call Number: YA

When Will Halpin transfers from his all-deaf school into a mainstream Pennsylvania high school, he faces discrimination and bullying, but still manages to solve a mystery surrounding the death of a popular football player in his class.

Book cover for Elena vanishing : a memoir

Elena vanishing : a memoir

Dunkle, Elena,
Call Number: 616.85 D919

Documents the author's teenage struggles with anorexia, sharing her and her mother's perspectives regarding a five-year period marked by anxiety and self-destructive efforts to manage the disorder, offering an intimate look at a deadly disease.

Book cover for Every falling star : how I survived and escaped North Korea

Every falling star : how I survived and escaped North Korea

Lee, Sungju.
Call Number: 951.93 L481

Every Falling Star, the first book to portray contemporary North Korea to a young audience, is the intense memoir of a North Korean boy named Sungju who is forced at age twelve to live on the streets and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains.

Book cover for Hole in my life

Hole in my life

Gantos, Jack.
Call Number: 813 G211G

In 1971 Jack Gantos was caught in New York harbor on a boat filled with 2,000 pounds of hashish. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. This is the story of how he "escaped" from prison by becoming a writer. Heartbreaking, challenging but ultimately triumphant. Told with a combination of acerbic wit and deadpan humor, he provides an attention to detail that elevate his experiences to engrossing entertainment, even (and especially) when he's poking fun at himself.

 

Book cover for Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir

Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir

Thrash, Maggie
Call Number: 740.9999 T529

Maggie Thrash has spent basically every summer of her fifteen-year-old life at the one-hundred-year-old Camp Bellflower for Girls, set deep in the heart of Appalachia. She's from Atlanta, she's never kissed a guy, she's into Backstreet Boys in a really deep way, and her long summer days are full of a pleasant, peaceful nothing until one confounding moment. A split-second of innocent physical contact pulls Maggie into a gut-twisting love for an older, wiser, and most surprising of all (at least to Maggie), female counselor named Erin.

Book cover for I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood up for Education and Changed the World

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood up for Education and Changed the World

Yousafzai, Malala
Call Number: 370.95491 Y82-1

Learn the story of the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner ever, who risked her life to fight for the rights of girls in Pakistan to attend school. Malala was a young girl who would not be denied an education, despite being threatened by the Taliban, who shot her in the head. She lives in exile and continues to speak out for justice and human rights. In 2014, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Book cover for I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir

I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir

Gharib, Malaka
Call Number: 740.9999 G411
Book cover for A list of things that didn't kill me : a memoir

A list of things that didn't kill me : a memoir

Schmidt, Jason, 1972-
Call Number: 361.973 S352

Jason Schmidt wasn't surprised when he came home one day during his junior year of high school and found his father, Mark, crawling around in a giant pool of blood. Things like that had been happening a lot since Mark had been diagnosed with HIV, three years earlier. Jason's life with Mark was full of secrets--about drugs, crime, and sex. If the straights--people with normal lives--ever found out any of those secrets, the police would come. Jason's home would be torn apart. So the rule, since Jason had been in preschool, was never to tell the straights anything. A List of Things That Didn't Kill Me is a funny, disturbing memoir full of brutal insights and unexpected wit that explores the question: How do you find your moral center in a world that doesn't seem to have one?

Book cover for Make it messy : my perfectly imperfect life

Make it messy : my perfectly imperfect life

Samuelsson, Marcus,
Call Number: 641.092 S193-1

A memoir from the world-famous chef describes his life as an orphan in Ethiopia, upbringing by his adoptive family in Sweden, and the cooking lessons from his adoptive grandmother that lead him to train in some of Europe's most demanding kitchens.

Book cover for My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir

My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir

Abeel, Samantha
Call Number: 371.9 A138

In seventh grade, the author suffered anxiety attacks as she struggled to keep up in her classes, to remember two locker combinations, and to deal with new teachers, both before and after she was diagnosed with dyscalculia, a math-related learning disability.

Book cover for Persepolis

Persepolis

Satrapi, Marjane
Call Number: 740.9954 S253

Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's wise, funny, and heartbreaking memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq.

Book cover for Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek

Van Wagenen, Maya
Call Number: 150.131 W131

A touchingly honest, candidly hysterical memoir from breakout teen author Maya Van Wagenen Stuck at the bottom of the social ladder at "pretty much the lowest level of people at school who aren't paid to be here," Maya Van Wagenen decided to begin a unique social experiment: spend the school year following a 1950s popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell. Can curlers, girdles, Vaseline, and a strand of pearls help Maya on her quest to be popular? The real-life results are painful, funny, and include a wonderful and unexpected surprise-meeting and befriending Betty Cornell herself. Told with humor and grace, Maya's journey offers readers of all ages a thoroughly contemporary example of kindness and self-confidence.

Book cover for Rapture practice : a true story about growing up gay in an evangelical family : a memoir

Rapture practice : a true story about growing up gay in an evangelical family : a memoir

Hartzler, Aaron,
Call Number: 248 H338 2014

Aaron Hartzler grew up in a home where he was taught that at any moment the Rapture could happen -- that Jesus might come down in the twinkling of an eye and scoop Aaron and his whole family up to Heaven. As a kid, he was thrilled by the idea that every moment of every day might be his last one on Earth. But as Aaron turns sixteen, he finds himself more attached to his earthly life and curious about all the things his family forsakes for the Lord. He begins to realize he doesn't want the Rapture to happen just yet -- not before he sees his first movie, stars in the school play, or has his first kiss. Eventually Aaron makes the plunge from conflicted do-gooder to full-fledged teen rebel. Whether he's sneaking out, making out, or playing hymns with a hangover, Aaron learns a few lessons that can't be found in the Bible. He discovers that the best friends aren't always the ones your mom and dad approve of, the girl of your dreams can just as easily be the boy of your dreams, and the tricky part about believing is that no one can do it for you. In this coming-of-age memoir, Hartzler recalls his teenage journey to become the person he wanted to be, without hurting the family that loved him. 

Book cover for UnSlut : a diary and a memoir

UnSlut : a diary and a memoir

Lindin, Emily,
Call Number: 370.16 L745

The author revisits her middle school diary, commenting on her experiences with bullying, crushes, popular culture, and what it means to be labeled a "slut."