Living on the Edge
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
This memoir of a renowned poet’s childhood in Alabama includes racism, sexism, and sexual abuse without being preachy, graphic, or crude, and with rich memories of family and friends.
Barakat, Ibtisam. Tasting the Sky : A Palestinian Childhood
Imagine having to leave your home to travel to a refugee camp at the age of 3. This is the story of a child growing up in a war torn Palestine, who finds comfort and hope in writing and her international pen pals.
Gantos, Jack. Hole In My Life
After his family decides to move to Puerto Rico, Gantos returns to Florida alone to live in a seedy motel while he finishes his senior year in high school. He decides to take up an offer of $10,000 to help sail a boat of drugs to New York. Unfortunately for Gantos, he is caught and faces up to 6 years in prison.
Grealy, Lucy. Autobiography of a Face
She recovered from cancer, but half her jaw had been removed and she spent her teenage years feeling the anguish of never being looked at for who she was rather than what she looked like. Undergoing more than 30 operations to reconstruct her jaw, Grealy’s agony was not what the cancer did to her jaw, but the pain of feeling ugly.
Kaysen, Susanna. Girl, Interrupted
Diagnosed with a personality disorder, when she was 18, Kaysen voluntarily committed herself to spend two years in a psychiatric ward for teenage girls. Here she finds out that the line between sanity and madness becomes murky. Kaysen pulls the reader into her world, where she travels from madness and back.
McCall, Nathan. Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America
A Black Washington Post reporter who served time shows why prison has become a rite of passage for many young black men. His difficult story is told in an immediate and compelling fashion.
Pelzer, Dave. A Child Called It
This autobiographical tale of a young boy’s life with his abusive and alcoholic mother, gives a heart wrenching account from a victims point of view. The tortures “it”, as Pelzer is called by his mother, endures are shocking and gruesome, leaving you to wonder how a mother could really do this to her child. This autobiography is graphic and disturbing, but a true to life tale of courage and survival.
Rhodes-Courter, Ashley. Three Little Words
Being taken from her mother when she was only 3 years old, Rhodes-Courter’s life in the Florida foster care system consisted of 13 placements in nine years, neglect, abuse, and loneness, until she was finally adopted at the age of 12 by two loving people who helped her to heal.
Runyon, Brent. Burn Journals
Welcome to the world of Brent, an eight-grader whose life is irrevocably changed when he sets himself on fire and narrowly escapes death. Runyon wakes up in the hospital with 85% of his body burned, beginning his slow journey to healing. The book's focus from then on becomes the challenge to survive.
S., Tina. Living at the Edge of the World
Tina’s life was going badly so she left her family in their welfare hotel and ran off to a homeless life at Grand Central Station. She lived in the labyrinth of tunnels beneath Grand Central Station, where she panhandled, robbed and sometimes prostituted hersoelf for mond, food, liquor and drugs.
Salant, James. Leaving Dirty Jersey
Tattooing his nickname, Dirty Jersey, on his forearm, James Salant wanted everyone to know he was a tough guy. At 18, after one too many run-ins with the cops for drug possession, he left his upper-middle-class home in New Jersey for a rehab facility in Riverside, California, where he spent a year shooting crystal meth and living as a petty criminal. He details his life on crystal meth- the paranoia, the cravings, the drive, the slang, and the scams.
Sebold, Alice. Lucky
As a freshman in college, Sebold never expected to be the victim of a violent rape. She talks about her feelings at the time and her reflection now as an adult. Being told by the police that she was "lucky" to have been raped but not murdered, Sebold tells an inspiring story of survival.
Schutz, Samantha. I Don’t Want To Be Crazy
Traveling in time from the summer after high school, through college, and into her first job after graduation, Schutz’s battle with her physically and mentally debilitating panic attacks is interwoven throughout her typical young adult problems such as boyfriends, grades, and drinking.
Sheff, Nic. Tweak (growing up on methamphetamines)
Told in a raw, and honest voice, Sheff spares no detail in his story of drugs, alcohol, and the day he decided to change his life. After starting to drink at age 11, Speff is no stranger to drugs, leading to his addiction to crystal meth, cocaine, and heroin. This true story captures the physical and mental depths of drug addiction, but in the end offers hope.
Vincent, Erin. Grief Girl
Journeying through the stages of grief after both parents are lost in a traffic accident, Vincent uses gritty language and a fast pace to tell her story. Burdened with parenting her younger siblings, Vincent’s 18-year-old sister is faced with a flood of emotions. Vincent herself must cope with feelings of self blame, abandonment, and rejection, while growing up parentless.
compiled by Tiffany Russo, December 2009
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