[CALIBK12] Biographies for High School

[Hedstrom, Pat]

If you count memoirs, 
Walls, The Glass Castle is circulating well at our library.
Phoolan -- The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian Woman's Journey   is on one teacher's reading list
Runyon -- The Burn Journals
Oppenheimer's biography is too thick for recreational reading --- American Prometheus---but excellent
Zailckas, Koren    Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girhood
 
The above I purchased recently.  Also, older favorites that are circulating well:
Shakur    Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member
Herriot    All Creatures Great and Small
Ji Li Jiang    Red Scarf Girl: a Memoir of the Cultural Revolution
Wong    Fifth Chinese Daugher
Wright    Black Boy
Soto    Livng Up the Street
Him, chanrithy    When Broken Glass Floats
Rodriquez, Art    East Side Dreams
Rodriguez, Luis J.      Always Running:  La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.
Finding Fish
Hurston    Dusts Tracks on a Road
Barris, Chuck    Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: an Unauthorized Autobiography
Falling Leaves Return to their Roots
 
I wish I could get the kids to read the longer biographies, even only the first 200 pages.  I am hoping to work with the teachers on this problem.
 
I am very interested in upgrading our biographies also, for the same reason.

-----Original Message-----
From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu [mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu]On Behalf Of Heather Neidenbach
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 9:53 AM
To: 'CALIBK12'
Subject: [CALIBK12] Biographies for High School


Hello all,
 
I'm looking for suggestions for great biographies for High School students.  Any recommendations?  Any recommendations for biographies on gymnasts would be especially helpful.  What have your students found to be "great reads"?
 
I know that many publishers create series on famous people, but it seems like these can be somewhat superficial.  If you know of a good series, one that has worked in your school, I would love to know what it is. I'm wary of purchasing a series and then having it arrive and turn out more like an ad for the person rather than the story of his or her life.
 
The library does have a number of biographies on historical figures and I would like to expand the collection to include more contemporary figures. (If you know of a great historical biography I'm still interested.)
 
Thank you.
 
Sincerely,
Heather Neidenbach
LMT
La Reina High School



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