Autobiographies

 

Autobiographies…I wrote the story of my life.

 

My Thirteenth Winter by Samantha Abeel (YA BIO ABEELl autobio)
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.

 

Thura’s Diary: My Life in Wartime Iraq by Thura Al-Windawi  (YA BIO ALWINAWI autobio)
Nineteen-year-old Thura al-Windawi traces the days leading up to the bombings in Iraq, the war, and the chaos that followed, describing her life and the reality of war for Iraqi families.

 

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah (YA BIO BEAH autobio)
A human rights activist offers a firsthand account of war from the perspective of a former child soldier, detailing the violent civil war that wracked his native Sierra Leone and the government forces that transformed a gentle young boy into a killer as a member of the army.

 

The Year We Disappeared: A Father-Daughter Memoir by Cylin Busby & John Busby (YA BIO BUSBY autobio)
The Busbys share the challenges they faced after their family was forced into hiding to protect themselves from a killer who had already shot John, a police officer.

 

Leaving Glorytown: One boy's struggle under Castro by Eduardo F. Calcines (YA BIO CALCINES autobio)
Calcines recounts his boyhood in Communist Cuba and chronicles the conditions that led him to wish above all else to leave behind his beloved extended family and his home for a chance at a better future.

 

Disguised : a wartime memoir
by Rita la Fontaine de Clercq Zubli (YA BIO Clercq Zubli autobio)
Details the author's experiences in a Japanese POW camp where she, disguised as a boy and outraged at the conditions, injustice, and torture, dared to speak up for her fellow prisoners of war.

 

King of the Wild Frontier: an ill-advised autobiography by Chris Crutcher 
(YA BIO CRUTCHER autobio)
Chris Crutcher, author of young adult novels such as "Ironman" and "Whale Talk," as well as short stories, tells of growing up in Cascade, Idaho, and becoming a writer.

 

Going Solo by Roald Dahl (YA BIO DAHL autobio)
As a young man working in East Africa for the Shell Company, Roald Dahl recounts his adventures living in the jungle and later flying a fighter plane in World War II.

 

Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas (YA BIO DUMAS autobio)
An autobiography of growing up as an Iranian-American describes the author's family's 1971 move from Iran to Southern California, the members of her diverse family, and their struggle with culture shock.

 

Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipovic (YA BIO FILIPOVIC autobio)
Zlata began her diary just months before her eleventh birthday in 1991 when peace still reigned in her hometown of Sarajevo. Her life was suddenly shattered in 1992 when gunfire shook through the hills, and the streets of Sarajevo became the barbaric battlegrounds of the Bosnian war.

The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer’s Life by Sid Fleischman (J BIO FLEISCHMAN)
The autobiography of the Newbery award-winning children's author who set out from childhood to be a magician.

 

Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos (J BIO GANTOS autobio)
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.

 

Episodes: My Life as I See It by Blaze Ginsberg (YA BIO GINSBERG autobio)
Blaze Ginsberg, offers a unique perspective on his life as a highly-functioning autistic 21 year old. Inspired by the format of the Internet Movie Database, Blaze organizes his life events as a collection of episodes.

 

Stick Figure: A Story of My Former Self by Lori Gottlieb (YA BIO GOTTLIEB autobio)
A diary-style biography of a woman's coming-of-age in 1970s Beverly Hills describes a world in which she learned that "no one could ever like a girl with thunder thighs," and watched her life crumble as she developed a fierce reluctance to eat--winding up in the hospital when her "diet" took over her life.

 

Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton (YA BIO HAMILTON autobio)
Bethany Hamilton, a teenage surfer lost her arm in a shark attack off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. Not even the loss of her arm keeps her from returning to surfing, the sport she loves.

 

Tony Hawk: Professional Skateboarder by Tony Hawk (YA BIO HAWK autobio)
An autobiography in which professional skateboarder Tony Hawk discusses his early interest in boarding and the years he spent pursing the sport until it once again became popular, and shares stories about his personal life.

 

The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams by Derek Jeter
(YA BIO JETER autobio)
The shortstop for the New York Yankees charts his personal road to success in a sports memoir that emphasizes the key roles of a strong work ethic, teamwork, enthusiasm, perseverance, and respect for authority in achieving one's dreams.

 

Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang (YA BIO JIANG autobio)
A true-story of Ji-li Jiang, twelve year-old girl, whose family is accused of capitalist crimes during China's Cultural Revolution.

 

The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara (YA BIO Kamara autobio)
The author, who lived in a small rural village in Sierra Leone, recounts how tasting the nectar of a mango gave her the will to live after surviving a brutal attack by heavily armed rebel soldiers and living in a refugee camp.

 

Alive in the Killing Fields: Surviving the Khmer Rouge Genocide
by Nawuth Keat (YA BIO KEAT autobio)
A survivor of the horrors of war-torn Cambodia breaks his longtime silence to share his family's story of death, enslavement, and torture at the hands of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge fighters, providing an inspirational story of hope to children whose worlds have been devastated by catastrophe.

 

Rock 'n' Roll Soldier: A Memoir by Dean Ellis Kohler (YA BIO Kohler)
Dean is about to make it big-he's finally scored a national record deal! But his dreams are abruptly put on hold by the arrival of his draft notice. Now he's in Vietnam. He tells himself he's a musician, not a killer. When Captain orders him to form a rock band, it's up to Dean to find instruments and players.

 

Michele Kwan: Heart of a Champion by Michele Kwan (YA BIO KWAN autobio)
The 1996 World Figure Skating Champion discusses the rigors of competition, the importance of a strong support group, her love of ice skating, and her Olympic dream.

 

Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton
(J BIO LEKUTON)
A member of the Masai people describes his life as he grew up in a northern Kenya village, travelled to America to attend college, and became an elementary school teacher in Virginia.

 

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah (YA BIO MAH autobio)
When her mother dies giving birth to her, Adeline is considered bad luck by her family, thus when her father's new wife begins to treat her poorly while spoiling the others, Adeline can turn to no one for comfort and must endure the difficult times on her own.

 

Bad Boy: A Memoir by Walter Dean Myers (YA BIO MYERS autobio)
The author relates his experiences growing up in Harlem, the home of Sugar Ray Robinson and Langston Hughes, in the 1940s and 1950s.

 

Basher Five-Two: The True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O’Grady by Scott O’Grady (YA BIO O’GRADY autobio)
A U.S. Air Force pilot who was shot down over Bosnia describes the true story of how he evaded capture and survived-- with little water and no food--in enemy territory.

 

I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to the Blind Side and Beyond by Michael Oher (YA BIO Oher)
The football star made famous in the hit film "The Blind Side" reflects on how far he has come from the circumstances of his youth.

 

Big Papi: My Story of Big Dreams and Big Hits by David Ortiz (YA BIO Ortiz)
Boston Red Sox and All-Star David Ortiz, a.k.a. Big Papi, opens up on life and the Big Leagues in this dramatic and compelling rags-to-riches story of a baseball dream coming true.

 

Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks (YA BIO PARKS autobio)
The woman whose name is synonymous with the civil rights movement discusses her role in the Montgomery NAACP, her now famous refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man, the Montgomery bus boycott, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more.

 

Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books by Gary Paulsen
(YA BIO PAULSEN autobio)
The author relates incidents in his life and how they inspired parts of his books about the character, Brian Robeson.

 

Within Reach: My Everest Story by Mark Pfetzer (YA BIO PFETZER autobio)
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.

 

No Limits: The Will to Succeed by Michael Phelps (YA BIO PHELPS autobio)
Michael Phelps reveals the secrets to his remarkable success, from his training regimen to his mental preparation and, finally, to his performance in the pool.

 

Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter (YA BIO Rhodes-Courter)
Ashley spent nine years in foster care after being taken away from her mother. She endured many caseworkers, moving from school to school and manipulative, humiliating and abusive treatment from one foster family. See how she survives and eventually thrives against the odds.

 

Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me by Condoleezza Rice (YA BIO Rice)
A look at one of America's most outstanding women, from her remarkable childhood in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1950s through her rise to the highest echelons of power in the U.S. government.

 

Ghosts of War: The true story of a 19-year-old GI by Ryan Smithson (YA BIO SMITHSON autobio)
In a harrowing memoir about combat, friendship, fear, and a soldier's commitment to his country, Smithson brings teen readers inside a world that few understand, as he describes his experience as a 19-year-old Army engineer in Iraq.

 

Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid by Jerry Spinelli (YA BIO SPINELLI autobio)
This Italian-American Newbery Medalist presents a humorous account of his childhood and youth in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

 

It Came From Ohio: My Life as a Writer by R.L. Stine (J BIO STINE)
A portrait of the author of the Goosebumps series, telling readers what R.L. Stine was like as a kid, how he became a writer, and where he gets his ideas.

 

Teen Angst? Naaah…a quasi-autobiography by Ned Vizzini (YA BIO VIZZINI autobio)
A collection of essays written by the author from age fifteen to seventeen in which he shares impressions of school, sports, cool people, boring people, friends, family, money, music, and obsessions.

 

When I Was a Soldier: A Memoir by Valérie Zenatti (YA BIO ZENATTI autobio)
Like all young Israelis, Valérie Zenatti enlisted in the national defense service on her 18th birthday, where for the next two years she endured rigorous training and harsh living conditions, ultimately participating in top-secret missions with the secret service.

 

The Pigman and Me by Paul Zindel (YA BIO ZINDEL autobio)
An account of Paul Zindel's teenage years on Staten Island, when his life was enriched by finding his own personal pigman, or mentor.

 

To check the status of a book or to place your name on the waiting list, please use the Library Catalog at www.skpl.org, call the library at 789-1555 or ask at the Reference Desk.

 

List created by for the South Kingstown Public Library by Brandi Kenyon. Last updated 05/11.