Alexis Gorjanc

Professor Warner

English 112

December 9, 2009

An In-Depth Look at Nineteen Years of Young Adult Biographies

For this final project, I took on the genre of biographies and autobiographies written for young adults (ages twelve to eighteen). I took a survey of young adult biographies and autobiographies published between the years of 1990 and 2009. I researched and surveyed seventy-five books that are the most relevant, best-selling and popular young adult biographies and autobiographies. Once I compiled all the books in to their respective publication date columns, I tried to find similarities and connections in a certain year or between a couple of years. I took these books from bookstores, libraries and my younger sister�s middle school, Sacred Heart of Saratoga. Between the years 2003-2004, I found that there were a lot of �self-help� type books published for young adults, such as Devil in the Details or Diary of an Anorexic Girl. Earlier in the decade, between the years of 2000-2002, I found that sports stars biographies and autobiographies were popular, such as soccer star Mia Hamm�s or boxing�s own Muhammad Ali. In the most recent years, 2007-present, the biographies and autobiographies seem to be more historically focused – The Story of D-Day or Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19 Year Old G.I.. There seems to be an effort to show this generation the mistakes of the past so that they do not happen again. This need for historical biographies and autobiographies interestingly parallels a surge in the previous decade. Between the years 1996-1998, there was a surge in historical biographies on people such as Winston Churchill, Sacagawea, William Shakespeare, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Similarly, in the early years of this decade, 1990-1991, sports biographies were the key, such as Bo Knows Bo: The Autobiographer of a Ballplayer and Total Impact, the story of Ronnie Lott. Lastly, although it was the sparsest area of my chart, between the years of 1994-1995, were books that regarded topics such as cancer, abuse, and other medical issues. Again, it parallels the 2003-2004 time, where the books seem to be geared towards �self-help� for young adults. Overall, the two decades seem to be a parallel of each other, which was very surprising for me. When I first started out doing this, I was afraid of finding no similarities or parallels between the years, let alone decades.

Annotated Bibliography

Jackson, Bo. Bo Knows Bo: The Autobiography of a Ballplayer. New York: Doubleday,

1990.

The autobiography of the former multi-sport professional athlete. He is well known for the popular Nike ad campaign "Bo Knows."

Lott, Ronnie. Total Impact: straight talk from football's hardest hitter. New York:

Doubleday, 1991.

Grealy, Lucy. Autobiography of a Face. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

At age 9, Lucy Grealy is diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer. When she returns to school with a third of her jaw removed, she faces the cruel taunts of classmates who harass and humiliate her. In this breathtaking memoir, Grealy tells her story of great suffering with remarkable strength and considerable wit.

Pelzer, David J. A child called "It" one child's courage to survive. Deerfield Beach, Florida:

Health Communications, 1995.

The author describes one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history.

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Villard Books, 1996.

Krakauer searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propel 24-year-old Chris McCandless to leave civilization behind and head into the remote Alaskan wilderness. Four months later, McCandless's emaciated corpse is found at his campsite by a hunter. Mesmerizing and heartbreaking, Krakauer's powerful and luminous storytelling blaze through every page.

Jackson, Livia Bitton. I Have Lived a Thousand Years. New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster

Books for Young Readers, 1997.

The author describes her experiences during World War II when she and her family were sent to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

Pfetzer, Mark. Within Reach: My Everest Story. New York: Dutton Books, 1998.

The author describes how he spent his teenage years climbing mountains in the United States, South America, Africa, and Asia, with an emphasis on his two expeditions up Mount Everest.

Bernall, Misty. She Said Yes. Farmington, PA: Plough Pub. House, 1999.

Tells the story of Cassie Bernall�s tragic death at Columbine high school.

Gottlieb, Lori. Stick Figure: A Diary of My Former Self. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Precocious Lori learns her lessons well, so when she's told that "real women don't eat dessert" and "no one could ever like a girl who has thunder thighs," she decides to become a paragon of dieting. Soon Lori has become the "stick figure" she's longed to resemble. Stick Figure takes the reader on a gripping journey, as Lori struggles to reclaim both her body and her spirit.

Cox, Clinton. Houdini: Master of Illusion. New York: Scholastic press, 2001.

This biography of famed magician and illusionist Harry Houdini explores how he carried out his amazing feats and exposes the secrets behind many of Houdini's tricks. The author cites Houdini's brilliance, physical dexterity, and wild imagination as factors that made him a true master of illusion.

Nir, Yehuda. Lost Childhood: A WW2 Memoir. New York: Scholastic Press, 2002.

Describes six years in the life of a daring and resourceful Polish Jewish boy and his family, who survived the Holocaust by using false papers and posing as Catholics.

Gregory, Julie. Sickened. New York: Bantam Books, 2003.

Munchausen by proxy (MBP) is the world's most hidden and dangerous form of child abuse, in which the caretaker - almost always the mother - invents or induces symptoms in her child because she craves the attention of medical professionals. Many MBP children die, but Julie Gregory not only survived, she escaped the powerful orbit of her mother's madness and rebuilt her identity as a vibrant, healthy young woman.

Hamilton, Bethany. Soul Surfer. New York: Pocket Books, 2004.

Bethany Hamilton, a teenage surfer lost her arm in a shark attack off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. Not even the loss of her arm keeps her from returning to surfing, the sport she loves.

Kennedy, Michelle. Without a Net. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.