Barbara Moon, youth services consultant at Suffolk
Cooperative Library System and contributor to School Library Journal said it
best: “Memoirs tell a story from a
life rather than a story of a life.”
With the push for students to read more non-fiction or informational texts,
classroom and library teachers are challenged to find readings that will engage
students and give the opportunities to integrate knowledge and ideas. Memoirs
have the potential to stimulate readers, broaden their horizons and allow a
glimpse into various life styles and choices ordinary and extraordinary people
have made. The focus is more on a time in a person’s life, the way an incident,
decision or environment has shaped their life. Memoirs have become a very
popular reading choice for both students and staff. Classes such as senior
English and child growth have projects where memoirs are a focal point. They
are also very popular for outside pleasure reading. Often time memoirs are
gritty, intense and deal with serious matters. However the authors often find
ways to weave humor, compassion, and hope into the story. Some of the popular
memoirs many of our students and staff have read include the following:
The Glass Castle / Jeanette Walls
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Breaking Night: a
memoir of forgiveness, survival, and my journey from homeless to Harvard
/ Liz Murray
Liz Murray, who was
homeless at the age of fifteen and had drug-addicted parents, reflects on how
she overcame obstacles and eventually attended Harvard University.
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A Stolen Life: a memoir / Jaycee Lee
Dugard
Jaycee Dugard
chronicles the eighteen years she spent in captivity, describing what happened
after she was kidnapped at age eleven in 1991, the abuse she endured, the birth
of her two daughters, the events leading up to her release, and her struggle to
adjust to life once she was reunited with her
family.
