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The Outsiders S. E. Hinton Ponyboy is 14 years old, tough and confused, yet sensitive beneath his bold front. Since his parents' deaths, his loyalties have been to his brothers and his gang, the rough boys from the wrong side of the tracks. When his best friend kills a member of a rival gang, a nightmare of violence begins and quickly envelops Ponyboy in a turbulent chain of events. |
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Go Ask Alice James Jennings The strong, painfully honest, nakedly candid and true story of a 15-year-old girl's experiences with drugs. Winner of the Christopher Award. "An extraordinary work . . . a document of horrifying reality."--The New York Times. |
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I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust Livia Bitton-Jackson The author, who was imprisoned in Auschwitz as a teenager, describes her terrible experiences as one of the camp's few adolescent inmates and the miraculous twists of fates that enabled her to survive. |
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Chinese Cinderella: The true story of an unwanted daughter Adeline Yen Mah A riveting memoir of a girl's painful coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the 1940s.
A Chinese proverb says, "Falling leaves return to their roots." In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair. Adeline's affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her. Life does not get any easier when her father remarries. She and her siblings are subjected to the disdain of her stepmother, while her stepbrother and stepsister are spoiled. Although Adeline wins prizes at school, they are not enough to compensate for what she really yearns for -- the love and understanding of her family.
Following the success of the critically acclaimed adult bestseller Falling Leaves, this memoir is a moving telling of the classic Cinderella story, with Adeline Yen Mah providing her own courageous voice. |
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Bad Boy: A Memoir Walter Dean Myers Into a memoir that is gripping, funny, heartbreaking, and unforgettable, Walter Dean Myers richly weaves the details of his Harlem childhood in the 1940s and 1950s: a loving home life with his adopted parents, Bible school, street games, and the vitality of his neighborhood. Although Walter spent much of his time either getting into trouble or on the basketball court, secretly he was a voracious reader and an aspiring writer. But as his prospects for a successful future diminished, the values he had been taught at home, in school, and in his community seemed worthless, and he turned to the streets and his books for comfort. Here in his own words is the story of one of the strongest voices in children's and young adult literature today. |
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Mao's Last Dancer Li Cunxin At the age of eleven, Li Cunxin was one of the privileged few selected to serve in Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution by studying at the Beijing Dance Academy. Having known bitter poverty in his rural China home, ballet would be his family’s best chance for a better future. From one hardship to another, Cunxin demonstrated perseverance and an appetite for success that led him to be chosen as one of the first two people to leave Mao’s China and go to American to dance on a special cultural exchange. But life in the U.S. was nothing like his communist indoctrination had led him to believe. Ultimately, he defected to the west in a dramatic media storm, and went on to dance with the Houston Ballet for sixteen years. This inspiring story of passion, resilience, and a family’s love captures the harsh reality of life in Mao’s communist China and the exciting world of professional dance. This compelling memoir includes photos documenting Li’s extraordinary life. |
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Boy: Tales of Childhood Roald Dahl In Boy, Roald Dahl recounts his days as a child growing up in England. From his years as a prankster at boarding school to his envious position as a chocolate tester for Cadbury's, Roald Dahl's boyhood was as full of excitement and the unexpected as are his world-famous, best-selling books. Packed with anecdotes -- some funny, some painful, all interesting -- this is a book that's sure to please. |
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Teen Angst? Naaah... A Quasi-Autobiography (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) Ned Vizzini FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. A collection of 30 essays written by the author from age 15 to 17 shares his impressions of school, sports, cool people, boring people, friends, family, money, music, and obsessions. |
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Jay's Journal Beatrice Sparks Jay was a sweet, bright high school student who cared about his grades and his friends. He had ambitions. He was happy. And he thought he could handle anything. He was wrong. When Jay falls in with a crowd that's dabbling in drugs and the occult, he finds himself in over his head and doing things he never thought possible. Fascinated by the dark arts and in love with a dangerous girl, Jay falls deeper and deeper into a life he no longer recognizes...and sees no way out. |
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Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI Ryan Smithson Ryan Smithson joined the Army Reserve when he was seventeen. Two years later, he was deployed to Iraq as an Army engineer. In this extraordinary and harrowing memoir, readers march along one GI's tour of duty. It will change the way you feel about what it means to be an American. |