Teen Memoirs

Narrow escapes and bold decisions define the life of teenager Morris Schnitzer. Fleeing from Nazi Germany before the onset of World War II, Morris ends up in the Netherlands only to watch the country be invaded by the Nazis. With his father’s warning to never set foot in a concentration camp echoing in his mind, Morris resolves to fight—and survive.

In Akilah Hughes' world, family - and life - are often complicated, but always funny. Through intimate and hilarious essays, Akilah takes listeners along on her journey from the small Kentucky town where she was born - and eventually became a spelling bee champ and 15-year-old high school graduate - to New York City, where she took careful steps to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer and performer.

Joe Owen tells it like it was in this evocative story of a marine rifle company in the uncertain, early days of the Korean War. His powerful description of close combat in the snow-covered mountains of the Chosin Reservoir and of the survival spirit of his Marines provide a gritty real-life view of frontline warfare.As a lieutenant who was with them from first muster in California, Owen was in a unique position to see the hastily assembled mix of some 200 regulars and raw reservists harden into a superb Marine rifle company. The action and narrative move fast as the company learns to fight under enemy fire, eat frozen rations, and keep pushing forward when its wounded and dead go down.

Seventeen-year-old Tyler Hadley posted an invitation on Facebook: party at my crib tonight. But this was no ordinary house party in the Florida suburbs; it was a grisly crime scene. Later that night, Tyler revealed to his best friend, Michael, that he'd bludgeoned his parents to death with a hammer. Michael didn't believe him…until he entered the master bedroom and saw the bodies of Tyler's parents on the floor - murdered, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Mary Jo and Blake Hadley had always known their son had a dark side. He would make disturbing jokes about murder on Facebook.

The candid, poignant, unforgettable writing of the young girl whose own life story has become an everlasting source of courage and inspiration. Hiding from the Nazis in the “Secret Annex” of an old office building in Amsterdam, a 13-year-old girl named Anne Frank became a writer. The now famous diary of her private life and thoughts reveals only part of Anne’s story, however. This audiobook rounds out the portrait of this remarkable and talented young author.

Never Quit is the true story of how Jimmy Settle, an Alaskan shoe store clerk, became a Special Forces Operator and war hero. After being shot in the head during a dangerous high mountain operation in Afghanistan, Jimmy returns to battle with his teammates for a heroic rescue, the bullet fragments stitched over and still in his skull. In a cross between a suicide rescue mission and an against-all-odds mountain battle, his team of PJs risk their lives again in an epic firefight.

Best friends since childhood, Luke and Toby have dreamed of one thing: getting out of their dead-end town. Soon they finally will, riding the tails of Luke's wrestling scholarship, never looking back. If they don't drift apart first. If Toby's abusive dad, or Luke's unreliable mom, or anything else their complicated lives throw at them doesn't get in the way. In a format that alternates between Luke's letters to Toby from death row and the events of their senior year, Bryan Bliss expertly unfolds the circumstances that led to Luke's incarceration.

Malala's memoir of a remarkable teenage girl who risked her life for the right to go to school is now abridged and adapted for chapter book listeners. Raised in a changing Pakistan by an enlightened father from a poor background and a beautiful, illiterate mother, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. Her story of bravery and determination in the face of extremism is more timely than ever.

Mendel (Manny) Steinberg spent his teens in Nazi extermination camps in Germany and Poland, miraculously surviving while millions perished. This is his story. Born in 1925 in the Jewish ghetto in Radom, Poland, Manny soon realized that people of Jewish faith were increasingly being regarded as outsiders. In September 1939 the Nazis invaded, and the nightmare started. The city's Jewish population had no chance of escaping and was faced with starvation, torture, sexual abuse and ultimately deportation.

In accessible language and with periodic references to Star Trek, motorcycle daredevils, and near-classic movies of the '80s, developmental molecular biologist John Medina explores the neurological and evolutionary factors that drive teenage behavior and can affect both achievement and engagement. Then he proposes a research-supported counterattack: a bold redesign of educational practices and learning environments to deliberately develop teens' cognitive capacity to manage their emotions, plan, prioritize, and focus.

Norma D. Davis has struggled with finally telling the truth about how betrayal almost caused her to give up on sisterhood and brotherhood all together when a female soldier helped a male soldier rape her because her sexual moral compass remained the same despite the pressure. Davis only spoke with mental health officials about the traumatic experience and betrayal in 2008 for the first time. Davis came forward and decided that young adults, veterans, males, and females who are heading out into the world need to always be aware of the evil that lurks around them.

La Provence, c'est pour Daudet une certaine réalité morale, dont il dégage l'originalité. Cette réalité c'est, par-delà la pauvreté et la rudesse de ces existences, un goût méditerranéen de la vie. C'est aussi, par contraste avec la futilité des sentiments parisiens, un relief dû à la puissance des passions qui animent le peuple : passion de Maître Cornille acharné à nier le temps présent et à maintenir malgré tout son moulin en activité ; passion naïve et têtue de Blanquette, la petite chèvre, pour la liberté et le grand mystère de la montagne.

Growing up, Liz Prince wasn't a girly girl, dressing in pink tutus or playing Pretty Pretty Princess like the other girls in her neighborhood. But she wasn't exactly one of the guys either, as she quickly learned when her Little League baseball coach exiled her to the outfield instead of letting her take the pitcher's mound. Liz was somewhere in the middle, and Tomboy is the story of her struggle to find the place where she belonged.

Narrated by the teenage girl who lived it, Closet Full of Coke tells the true story of how a New York suburban fifteen-year-old girl's savvy and wit helps turn the small-time drug business of Armando, a Colombian drug dealer, into a multi-million-dollar cocaine operation that puts them on the DEA's Wanted List. This intimate diary gives readers a fast-paced glimpse of the couple’s speedy rise to riches, and their inevitable descent.

When Walela is diagnosed at twenty-three with advanced stage blood cancer, they're suddenly thrust into the unsympathetic world of tubes and pills, doctors who don’t use their correct pronouns, and hordes of "well-meaning" but patronizing people offering unsolicited advice as they navigate rocky personal relationships and share their story online.

In September of 2019, Luis Alberto Quiñonez—known as Sito— was shot to death as he sat in his car in the Mission District of San Francisco. He was nineteen. His killer, Julius Williams, was seventeen. It was the second time the teens had encountered one another. The first, five years before, also ended in tragedy, when Julius watched as his brother was stabbed to death by an acquaintance of Sito’s. The two murders merited a few local news stories, and then the rest of the world moved on. But for the families of the slain teenagers, it was impossible to move on.

Stacey loves being a Christian. Her best friends are also her church friends. Her favorite place on earth is Bible camp every summer. And she talks to God like they are old friends. But one summer, she meets a girl who turns everything upside down. Is this feeling she has for her more than just friendship? Could it be a crush? Filled with dread, Stacey embarks on a journey to discover what it means to be gay, whether it is possible to change, and how to reconcile her identity with her faith.

It s Belfast, 1977. The King is dead and a 14-year-old boy wearing Denim aftershave has just been appointed breadboy in the last Ormo Mini-Shop in the world, delivering bread to the residents of the Upper Shankill on Saturday mornings. He s all grown up now, so he is, and nearly shaving. The Bee Gees fill the airwaves, everyone is in love with Princess Leia, and Breadboy s love of peace and pets is soon rivalled by his interest in parallel universes and punk...and girls, especially Judy Carlton who sits opposite him in chemistry.

A story from the anthology Masters of True Crime, which spans murder cases from the beginning of the 20th century to today. This is a must-hear for fans of true crime and will also be compelling to mystery and thriller listeners.

Hollywood filmmaker Sam Irvin (director of Elvira's Haunted Hills, executive producer of Gods and Monsters) looks back at his outrageously charmed and hilarious life as a closeted gay monster kid who, as a teenager, created his own fanzine as a conduit to meet his horror film idols. This unabridged audiobook is narrated by author Sam Irvin, with guest star voices of Cassandra Peterson, Jane Seymour, Stephanie Beacham, Olivia d’Abo, Juliet Mills, Maxwell Caulfield, Linda Hayden, Madeline Smith, Chloe Franks, Alex Hyde-White and Julie Brown!