Autobiographies


Non-Fiction
Title: A Journey: The Autobiography of Apolo Anton Ohno
Author: Apolo Anton Ohno
Summary: One of the stars of the 2002 Winter Olympics in speed skating, Ohno writes in an informal, casual style about how he became a champion.


Title: Abracadabra Kid
Author: Sid Fleischman
Summary: Fleischman writes about how he began his career as a magician, became a Hollywood scriptwriter, and finally emerged as the award-winning writer for youth that he is today.


Title: Autobiography of Malcolm X
Author: Malcolm X
Summary: The outspoken and controversial black civil rights activist tells the story of his life from his humble roots, to his militant attitudes about racism, to his association with the Nation of Islam.


Title: Bad Boy: A Memoir
Author: Walter Dean Myers
Summary: The popular young adult author paints a fascinating picture of his childhood growing up in Harlem in the 1940s.


Title: Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter
Author: Adeline Yen Mah
Summary: Considered "bad luck" after her mother dies in childbirth, Adeline is treated cruelly by her family, but through intelligence and perseverance she rises above her unjust circumstances.


Title: Fire on Ice: Autobiography of a Champion Figure Skater
Author: Sasha Cohen
Summary: The young skater, who gained international attention with her short but spectacular program in the 2002 Olympics, writes about her career in figure skating and her hopes for the future.


Title: Foley is Good: And the Real World is Faker than Wrestling
Author: Mick Foley
Summary: An intimate look at the World Wrestling Foundation, told by one of its stars- including the inside scoop on the infamous "I-Quit" match against "The Rock".


Title: Going Solo
Author: Roald Dahl
Summary: The author of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory recounts his adventures in Africa as a young man, and his later service as a British Royal Air Force pilot in World War II.


Title: Hawk: Occupation, Skateboarder
Author: Tony Hawk
Summary: The Grand Master of extreme skateboarding shares his story of struggle to reach the top of his craft.


Title: How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales of Extreme Sports
Author: Gary Paulsen
Summary: The prolific writer for teens tells all about his 13th year when he and his friends tried to shoot a waterfall in a barrel, break the world record for speed skiing, hang glide using an Army surplus parachute and perform other dare-devilish stunts!


Title: I am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action
Author: Jackie Chan
Summary: Sent away to a Hong Kong drama school, Chan endures extraordinary hardships, including regular beatings and near starvation, while learning how to become the super stunt actor we all now know. He even includes a list of his many injuries throughout his career!


Title: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Author: Maya Angelou
Summary: Despite a traumatic childhood of abandonment, prejudice and rape, Maya emerges triumphant, to become poet laureate of the United States.


Title: In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer
Author: Irene Gut Opdyke
Summary: During World War II, a young Polish nurse rescues Jews from the Nazis, even at great personal cost.


Title: King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography
Author: Chris Crutcher
Summary: This popular author for teens seems to have no qualms about embarrassing himself by relating many hilarious and poignant incidents from his childhood as a misfit crybaby without much athletic ability!


Title: Knots in my Yo-yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Summary: The popular author for young people writes about his childhood in rural Pennsylvania, and his route to becoming a great writer.


Title: Looking Back: A Book of Memories
Author: Lois Lowry
Summary: Using family snapshots, author Lois Lowry recounts moments from her own life and connects them to her novels for young people.


Title: Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography
Author: Nelson Mandela
Summary: A handsome oversized book with nearly 200 photographs abridges Mandelas 1994 story when he struggled against apartheid in South Africa.


Title: My Own Two Feet: A Memoir
Author: Beverly Cleary
Summary: The popular children's author of the "Ramona" books writes about her newfound independence as a young adult attending school during the Depression, becoming a children's librarian, and getting married.


Title: Pigman and Me
Author: Paul Zindel
Summary: The author of the teen classic, The Pigman, relates the happenings of a single year in his early adolescence on Staten Island when he met the mentor who would forever change his life.


Title: Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution
Author: Ji-li Jiang
Summary: In 1966, Ji-li was devoted to the Communist Party in China, but with the advent of the Cultural Revolution, her life became endangered and she was faced with difficult decisions about her future.


Title: Rocket Boys: A Memoir
Author: Homer H. Hickam, Jr.
Summary: Inspired by the "race to space" in the late 1950s, 14-year-old Homer Hickam of rural West Virginia decides to build his own rockets. Later turned into the popular movie, October Sky.


Title: Rosa Parks: My Story
Author: Rosa Parks
Summary: The famous civil rights activist tells her life story, including the day in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus, leading to the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.


Title: Royal Road to Romance
Author: Robert Halliburton
Summary: The 1920s American adventurer traveled the world with almost no money, getting in and out of numerous hijinks, from swimming in the forbidden pools of the Taj Mahal to climbing the Matterhorn despite no hiking experience, and rediscovering the forgotten palaces of Cambodia's fabled Angkor Wat.


Title: Tarantula in My Purse and 172 Other Wild Pets
Author: Jean Craighead George
Summary: The craziness never ends in a naturalist's house filled with kids, raccoons, skunks, wolverines, bats, and (of course) tarantulas.


Title: Within Reach: My Everest Story
Author: Mark Pfetzer
Summary: Eighteen-year-old Pfetzer relates his climbing exploits on some of the world's highest mountains- including his version of the fatality-filled 1996 expedition up Everest told by Krakauer in his book, Into Thin Air.


Title: Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo
Author: Zlata Filipovic
Summary: Called by some a "modern-day Anne Frank," Zlata records how her life drastically changes when war breaks out in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in 1992.


Title: Zoya's Story: An Afghan Woman's Struggle for Freedom
Author: Zoya
Summary: As a young girl, Zoya watched the atrocities the Taliban committed when they took over her country, and later joined RAWA, "The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan," to fight for wome's rights.