Young Adult Biography

Half a Century Ago offers a vivid recollection of memories about coming of age in the Bronx, New York, in the 1970s. This engaging story is an empowering listen about how family love provided the foundation to overcome the challenges faced by language and cultural barriers, poverty and social inequities while remaining steadfast focused on positive outcomes. Dr. Arias told these stories to her students over the years in the classroom. She now wishes to share those tales to a larger audience of young immigrants who struggle to overcome adversity and hope for a brighter future.

This audio study guide for Refugee by Alan Gratz includes detailed summary and analysis of each chapter and an in-depth exploration of the novel’s multiple symbols, motifs, and themes, such as the journey to a better life, growing up, and music as an expression of identity. Featured content also includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay questions, and discussion topics.

In 1876, Lakota Chief Crazy Horse helped lead his people’s resistance against the White man’s invasion of the Northern Great Plains. One of the leaders of the US military forces was Army Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. The men had long been enemies. At the height of the war, when tribalism had reached its peak, they crossed paths for the last time. In this action-packed double biography, S. D. Nelson draws fascinating parallels between Crazy Horse and Custer, two men whose lives were intertwined.

Moody and restless, teenage Louisa longed for freedom. Faced with the expectations of her loving but hapless family, the Alcotts, and of 19th-century New England society, she struggled to find her place. On long meandering runs through the woods behind Orchard House, she thought about a future where she could write and think and dream. Undaunted by periods of abject poverty and enriched by friendships with some of the greatest minds of her time and place, she was determined to have this future, no matter the cost.

In the second book of the Queer History Project, The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie: Infinite Identities around the World, author Lee Wind uses historical evidence and primary sources—poetry, ancient burial sites, firsthand accounts, and news stories—to explore gender roles and identities.

"History" sounds really official. Like it's all fact. Like it's definitely what happened. But that's not necessarily true. History was crafted by the people who recorded it. And sometimes, those historians were biased against, didn't see, or couldn't even imagine anyone different from themselves. That means that history has often left out the stories of LGBTQIA+ people: men who loved men, women who loved women, people who loved without regard to gender, and people who lived outside gender boundaries.

In 1930, the Indian people, long ruled by their British occupiers, were at a breaking point. No more could many stand the terrible demands of colonial rule. At this pivotal moment, Mohandas Gandhi, who had suffered firsthand for decades the cruelty of his oppressors, saw an opportunity to win his people's freedom. And so, Gandhi led a small band of his followers on a grueling march from his ashram in western India to the Arabian Sea. After 24 days and 241 miles under a withering sun, the marchers arrived on the Dandi seashore.

John Greystone is a twenty year old who lands a summer job as a wildfire spotter in Sequoia National Park. A helicopter pilot drops him off on a remote mountain top with a promise to return an hour later with supplies. The next day the pilot has not returned and John is out of water.

Il romanzo è tratto da un diario autentico, scritto da un adolescente di cui si sono perse le tracce anni fa, che chiameremo per convenzione Emmanuel; la sua scomparsa risale al 1997, quindi il libro è ambientato nei primi anni '90. Emmanuel è un adolescente irrequieto, figlio di una famiglia di piccoli industriali torinesi, incapace di accontentarsi del molto che possiede e con una personalità borderline che lo porterà a fare esperienze intense e disordinate, alla ricerca di un "senso".

In 1960s Alabama, a family secret shatters Mark Lawson's world. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed, 14-year-old Mark discovers he is black, a revelation that changes everything. Kicked out of his segregated school and threatened on his baseball team, Mark must navigate a society where prejudice and race define your fate. This revelation also adversely affects his recent friendship with Eddie, the new black pitcher, who he now sees as a threat to his future.

Donner Lake is famous for its dazzling waters, dramatic mountains, and the travelers trapped there long ago who did unspeakable things to survive. But for lonely Nora Sharpe, Donner was where a girl named Grace glided into her life one night and exploded her world.

He was born out of wedlock on a small island in the West Indies and orphaned as a teenager. From those inauspicious circumstances, he rose to a position of power and influence in colonial America. Discover this founding father's incredible true story: his brilliant scholarship and military career; his groundbreaking and enduring policy, which shapes American government today; his salacious and scandalous personal life; his heartrending end. Richly informed by Hamilton's own writing, Alexander Hamilton, Revolutionary is an in-depth biography of an extraordinary man.

Inspired is an autobiography by a 19-year-old British Zambian student. It delivers a series of profound and reflective life experiences. Neo manages to turn them into teachable lessons, that a wide range of young people and adults will relate with. In-particular, Inspired also offers insights for young athletes about the obstacles they may face during their individual journeys as sports people and how to overcome them.

Three college, star football players and friends. One dream. Upon graduating from the University of Alabama, they vow that whoever gets the first head coach job will bring the other two along with them. Thus began their quest to be the winningest partnership of coaches the sport had ever seen. Only one lived to see their dream realized. Their story remained untold. Until now.

Jonell Joshua spent her childhood shuttling back and forth between Savannah and New Jersey—living in grandparents’ homes during the times her mother, struggling with mental illness, needed support to raise her and her brothers. Together the family found a way to keep going even in the darkest of times. How Do I Draw These Memories? is a memoir about nostalgia, faith, the preciousness of life, and unconditional love.

Sixteen-year-old Jeremiah Thomas, all-star football player and MVP, had helped lead the Parkview Pacers to their first state title in twenty-one years. Now a new season of football is about to start, and his training has made him the strongest guy at Parkview. Jeremiah's life revolves around faith, family, and football. He's handsome, strong, witty, a captain of the football team, and owner of a state championship ring.

Twenty-four hours: that's how long fourteen-year-old Elvira Gonzalez is given to come up with the $40,000 she needs to save her kidnapped mother from a drug cartel. It's 2006 and Elvira's hometown of Laredo, Texas, has become engulfed by the Mexican Drug War. Elvira's life is unraveling around her—setting her on a harrowing path that leads her to being locked up in one of South Texas's worst juvenile detention centers. After Elvira's released from juvie, she's resolved to never go back. That's when her unexpected salvation arrives in the form of 33-inch-high plastic hurdles.

A raw and bold memoir about abuse and addiction, and the power of expression and community that helped Stephanie Kuehnert, the author of Ballads of Suburbia and regular Rookie contributor, survive and thrive. Told in varied narrative styles, including journal entries and pages torn from her actual diaries and zines, this is the memoir of Stephanie's life as a struggling outsider who survived substance and relationship abuse to become a strong young woman after years and years trapped in a cycle that sometimes seemed to have no escape.

Julie knows it’s unusual that a professional wrestler runs a constant commentary on her life that only she can hear. But grief can be awfully funny sometimes. National Book Award nominee Bryan Bliss delivers a thought-provoking, one-of-a-kind novel about how to tread the line between moving on and holding on. Dispatches from Parts Unknown is for fans of David Arnold, Nina LaCour, and You’ve Reached Sam.

Born in poverty-stricken Albania, twin sisters Argita and Detina Zalli always dreamed of becoming doctors. Their parents scrimped and sacrificed, committed to giving them a better life. But then the unthinkable happened. In 1997, the government collapsed, plunging the country into anarchy and civil war. The twins' dream unraveled along with their homeland. Their parents had to find a way to leave and save their daughters' futures—not to mention their very lives.