The Reason I Jump, by Naoki Higashida, is a short collection of questions, answers, and a couple short stories that all are written in hopes of showing what life’s like for somebody who is autistic. This collection was written when Higashida was 12 years old and is mainly compiled of the questions that people ask him about certain behaviors based in autism that they consider odd or confusing.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself by Frederick Douglass is a book about personal experience based on being enslaved. He writes this book on how he and other slaves were traded, and how he overcomes his situations. He then works to help other slaves and speak out to abolish slavery.
Trevor Noah recounts his childhood in South Africa after and during apartheid. It focuses on his relationship with his mother and some of his most interesting life stories, which make us feel sad, happy, angry and more.
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is a diary about a girl, and is also a journal. She is a Jewish teenager who she and her family hid during the German occupation of the Netherland in WWII. She wrote her experiences for the world to see how her and those around her lives were impacted.
Heartland; a book about a life of poverty in a country of opportunity. Heartland is a nonfiction memoir written by the author Sarah Smarsh. This book resonates with many, as it is set in western Kansas and is told from the perspective of a girl named Sarah Smarsh who is raised by generations of teen mothers. All Sarah wants is to escape the cycle of poverty and teen pregnancy through her education and determination.
I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing, a novel written by Maya Angelou, accounts her life from age 3 through age 16, narrating an unsettled and traumatic childhood that included rape and racism. Maya Angelou describes her coming of age as an intelligent but insecure Black girl in the American South during the 1930s, and subsequently in California during the 1940s.
This was such a fun book! Although, not in a very fun situation. Trevor Noah grows up as a mixed child during the apartheid laws in South Africa, so he was quite literally born a crime. This book describes Noah’s childhood, lifestyle, iconic stories, and the challenges he faced with his background. Here’s the most important aspect of the book: it’s funny. It seems contradictory, but Trevor Noah, as an adult comedian today, used humor as a coping mechanism in his life.
One of the most groundbreaking discoveries in the past century was a most peculiar phenomenon known as HeLa cells. While other cultured cells shortly died in a traditional lab setting, HeLa cells continued to multiply continuously, earning them the title of the first immortal cells. This gave scientists around the world the ability to conduct a variety of experiments that would lead to life-changing discoveries such as the polio vaccine and the study of HPV/HIV. However, few are aware of the woman behind the cells: a black tobacco farmer from Virginia named Henrietta Lacks.
Night is such an amazingly vivid, compelling, and tragic story about the Holocaust. It’s a memoir (of a sort) about the author’s experience during the Holocaust. The author Elie Wiesel is the narrator throughout the book and explains his journey with his father as they go through the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust.
Born a Crime is a comedic memoir written by Trevor Noah. Trevor Noah is a famous comedian and host of “The Daily Show”, and this collection of stories highlights his experience as a mixed child growing up in apartheid South Africa, a place where it was illegal for races to mix. As a result, Trevor shares the story of a man who lived in a world where he was unwanted, and it results in some amazing life lessons.
