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Civil Rights
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Claudette Colvin by Phillip HooseISBN: 0374313229
Publication Date: 2009-01-20
Presents an account of fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin, an African-American girl who refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks, and covers her role in a crucial civil rights case.
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Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom by Lynda Blackmon Lowery; Elspeth Leacock (Retold by); Susan Washburn Buckley (Retold by); P. J. Loughran (Illustrator)ISBN: 0803741235
Publication Date: 2015-01-08
Lynda Blackmon Lowery recounts her experiences as the youngest marcher on the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
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Malcolm X by Walter Dean MyersISBN: 0590464841
Publication Date: 1993-01-01
Chronicles the life of controversial militant leader Malcolm X.
Sports
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Babe Conquers the World by Rich Wallace; Sandra Neil WallaceISBN: 1590789814
Publication Date: 2014-03-01
When Babe Didrikson Zaharias set herself a goal, she was bound to achieve it. From a very young age, she was determined to become the greatest woman athlete of the twentieth century. Through her world-record setting performances at the 1932 Olympic Games and her later dominance of professional golf, her never-take-no-for-an-answer attitude brought her an unprecedented mix of fame and scorn.
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Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince; Elaine DePrinceISBN: 0385755112
Publication Date: 2014-10-14
The autobiography of Michaela DePrince, who lived the first few years of her life in war-torn Sierra Leone until being adopted by an American family. Now seventeen, she is one of the premiere ballerinas in the United States.
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Within Reach by Mark Pfetzer; Jack GalvinISBN: 0141304979
Publication Date: 2000-01-01
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.
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Into Thin Air by Jon KrakauerISBN: 0385494785
Publication Date: 1999-10-19
The author relates his experience of climbing Mount Everest during its deadliest season and examines what it is about the mountain that makes people willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense.
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Believe by Eric LeGrand; Mike YorkeyISBN: 0062225820
Publication Date: 2012-09-25
Eric LeGrand reflects on his life, discussing his childhood, family, success in high school and college sports, football injury which resulted in paralysis, rehabilitation, and more.
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Jim Thorpe, Original All-American by Joseph BruchacISBN: 0142412333
Publication Date: 2008-10-02
A biographical novel in which Native American athlete and Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe discusses his life, focusing on the years he spent at Pennsylvania's Carlisle School where coach Pop Warner first recognized Thorpe's abilities.
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The Greatest by Walter Dean MyersISBN: 0590543423
Publication Date: 2001-01-01
An illustrated biography of boxing great Muhammad Ali that addresses his politics, his fight against Parkinson's disease, and boxing's dangers.
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The Keeper by Tim HowardISBN: 0062387553
Publication Date: 2014-12-09
Soccer player Tim Howard recounts his life and career, discussing his poverty stricken childhood and more.
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Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne CoxISBN: 0375415076
Publication Date: 2004-01-13
Distance swimmer Lynne Cox describes her emotional and spiritual need to swim and about the mythical act of swimming itself, and chronicles some of her more memorable swims.
Around the World
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Mountains Beyond Mountains (Adapted for Young People) by Tracy Kidder; Michael FrenchISBN: 038574319X
Publication Date: 2014-04-08
Chronicles the life of Paul Farmer, focusing on his efforts to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring modern medicine to the countries and people who need them most.
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Enrique's Journey by Sonia NazarioISBN: 0385743289
Publication Date: 2014-08-05
Addresses the issues of family and illegal immigration through the story of a young boy's dangerous journey from Honduras to the U.S. in search of his mother, who left him and his sibling behind to make a better life for her family.
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I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai; Christina Lamb (As told to)ISBN: 0316322407
Publication Date: 2013-10-08
Malala Yousafzai's describes her fight for education for girls under Taliban rule, the support she received from her parents to pursue an education, and how the Taliban retaliated against her by trying to kill her.
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Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li JiangISBN: 0060275855
Publication Date: 1997-09-06
The author tells about the happy life she led in China up until she was twelve-years-old when her family became a target of the Cultural Revolution, and discusses the choice she had to make between denouncing her father and breaking with her family, or refusing to speak against him and losing her future in the Communist Party.
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Facing the Lion by Joseph Lemasolai LekutonISBN: 0792251253
Publication Date: 2003-09-01
A member of the Masai people describes his life as he grew up in a northern Kenya village, traveled to America to attend college, and became an elementary school teacher in Virginia.
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Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen MahISBN: 0440228654
Publication Date: 2001-03-13
The author tells the story of her painful childhood in China where she lived until the age of fourteen with her father, stepmother, and siblings, all of whom considered her bad luck because her mother died shortly after giving birth to her.
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Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh DumasISBN: 0812968379
Publication Date: 2004-01-13
Firoozeh Dumas recounts the experiences she had after her family moved from Iran to Southern California, discussing how her family adapted to life in America.
Writers
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Bad Boy by Walter Dean MyersISBN: 0064472884
Publication Date: 2002-05-07
Author Walter Dean Myers describes his childhood in Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s, discussing his loving stepmother, his problems in school, his reasons for leaving home, and his beginnings as a writer.
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Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline WoodsonISBN: 0399252517
Publication Date: 2014-08-28
The author shares her childhood memories and reveals the first sparks that ignited her writing career in free-verse poems about growing up in the North and South.
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I Am Scout by Charles J. ShieldsISBN: 0805083340
Publication Date: 2008-04-01
An exploration of the life and achievements of Harper Lee that discusses her Southern upbringing, education, family, writing of "To Kill a Mockingbird," association with Truman Capote, and personality.
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouISBN: 0553279378
Publication Date: 1983-04-01
Autobiography covering the childhood of a woman who has been a professional dancer, actress, poet, journalist, and television producer.
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Hole in My Life by Jack GantosISBN: 0374430896
Publication Date: 2004-09-08
The author relates how, as a young adult, he became a drug user and smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and went to college, all the while hoping to become a writer.
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Small Steps by Peg KehretISBN: 0807574589
Publication Date: 1996-01-01
The author describes her battle against polio when she was thirteen and her efforts to overcome its debilitating effects.
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The Trouble Begins at 8 by Sid FleischmanISBN: 0061344311
Publication Date: 2008-07-29
A narrative account of the childhood and youth of nineteenth-century writer Mark Twain. Includes period engravings, newspaper cartoons, and black-and-white photographs.
Science & Technology
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Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam; Homer H. HickamISBN: 038533320X
Publication Date: 1998-09-15
An autobiographical account of NASA engineer Homer Hickam's life that discusses his childhood, his obsession with rockets, his NASA career, and other related topics.
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My Dream of Stars by Anousheh Ansari; Homer HickamISBN: 0230619932
Publication Date: 2010-03-02
Anousheh Ansari shares the story of her life, discussing her youth in revolutionary Iran, her dreams of having a career in science, her move to America where she fell in love and became a successful entrepreneur, and events that led to her becoming the first female commercial spaceflight participant.
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Steve Jobs - The Man Who Thought Different by Karen BlumenthalISBN: 125001557X
Publication Date: 2012-02-14
Chronicles the life and accomplishments of Apple mogul Steve Jobs, discussing his ideas, and describing how he has influenced life in the twenty-first century.
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Charles and Emma by Deborah HeiligmanISBN: 0805087214
Publication Date: 2009-01-06
A biography of English naturalist Charles Darwin that provides an account of the personality behind evolutionary theory and the affect of his work on his personal life, such as his relationship with his religious wife.
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Something Out of Nothing by Carla Killough McClaffertyISBN: 0374380368
Publication Date: 2006-03-21
Chronicles the life of Marie Curie, discussing her childhood in Poland, schooling in France, discovery of the element radium, efforts to create mobile X-ray units during World War I, and eventual death from radium poisoning.
War
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Unbroken by Laura HillenbrandISBN: 0385742517
Publication Date: 2014-11-11
A biography of Olympic runner and World War II bombardier, Louis Zamperini, who had been rambunctious in childhood before succeeding in track and eventually serving in the military, which led to a trial in which he was forced to find a way to survive in the open ocean after being shot down.
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Ghosts of War by Ryan SmithsonISBN: 0061664715
Publication Date: 2010-05-04
Ryan Smithson recounts the experiences he had serving his first tour of duty as an Army engineer in Iraq when he was only nineteen.
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Lost Boy, Lost Girl by John Bul Dau; Martha Arual AkechISBN: 142630708X
Publication Date: 2010-10-12
John Bul Dau and his wife, Martha, describe the hardships they experienced, including violence, famine, and war, while growing up in the Sudan and explain how they escaped the region to start a new life.
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Behind Rebel Lines by Seymour V. ReitISBN: 0152164278
Publication Date: 2001-08-01
Recounts the story of Emma Edmonds, the Canadian-born woman who disguised herself as a man and slipped behind Confederate lines to spy for the Union army.
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Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic; Janine di Giovanni (Introduction by); Christina Pribichevich-Zoric (Translator)ISBN: 0670857246
Publication Date: 1994-02-01
The diary of a thirteen-year-old girl living in Sarajevo, begun just before her eleventh birthday when there was still peace in her homeland.
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I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-JacksonISBN: 0689810229
Publication Date: 1997-04-01
A memoir of Elli Friedmann in which she tells about her experiences at Auschwitz concentration camp where she was taken at the age of thirteen in 1944 when the Nazis invaded her native Hungary.
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The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank; B. M. Mooyaart (Translator); Eleanor Roosevelt (Introduction by)ISBN: 0553296981
Publication Date: 1993-06-01
A thirteen-year-old Dutch-Jewish girl records her impressions of the two years she and seven others spent hiding from the Nazis before they were discovered and taken to concentration camps. Includes entries previously omitted.
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Surviving Hitler by Andrea WarrenISBN: 0060007672
Publication Date: 2002-09-17
A biography of Jack Mandelbaum, who survived Nazi concentration camps when he was a teenager.
Social Issues
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Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-CourterISBN: 1416948066
Publication Date: 2008-01-08
Ashley Rhodes-Courter provides an account of her life, focusing on the nine years she spent in Florida's foster care system after being removed from her mother at the age of three, and explaining how her life changed after she was adopted.
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Popular by Maya Van WagenenISBN: 0525426817
Publication Date: 2014-04-15
Presents a memoir of a one year social experiment in which teen author Maya Van Wagenen followed a 1950's popularity guide, written by former teen model Betty Cornell.
Historical Figures
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The Notorious Benedict Arnold by Steve SheinkinISBN: 1250024609
Publication Date: 2013-02-19
An introduction to the life of Benedict Arnold that highlights not only the traitorous actions that made him legendary, but also his heroic involvement in the American Revolution.
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Amelia Lost by Candace FlemingISBN: 0375841989
Publication Date: 2011-02-08
Traces the life of female aviator Amelia Earhart from her childhood to her final flight, discusses the extensive search for her and her missing plane, and includes photographs, maps, handwritten notes by Amelia, and sidebars.
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The Wright Brothers by Russell Freedman; Orville Wright (Photographer); Wilbur Wright (Photographer)ISBN: 0823408752
Publication Date: 1991-01-01
Follows the lives of the Wright brothers and describes how they developed the first airplane.
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The Family Romanov by Candace FlemingISBN: 0375867821
Publication Date: 2014-07-08
Details the history of Russia's last royal family, the Romanovs.
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The Story of My Life by Helen Keller; James Berger (Editor, Preface by)ISBN: 9780812968866
Publication Date: 2004-03-09
Helen Keller tells of her early life, her relationship with her teacher Anne Sullivan, and her struggles to triumph over blindness and deafness.
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Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates; Nora S. Unwin (Illustrator); Elizabeth Yates; Unwin Nora (Illustrator)ISBN: 0140341587
Publication Date: 1989-05-01
The life of the eighteenth-century African prince who, after being captured by slave traders, was brought to Massachusetts where he was a slave until he was able to buy his freedom at the age of sixty.
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Escape! by Sid FleischmanISBN: 0060850949
Publication Date: 2006-08-01
A biography of the magician, ghost chaser, aviator, and king of escape artists whose amazing feats are remembered long after his death in 1926.
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Eleanor Roosevelt by Russell FreedmanISBN: 0899198627
Publication Date: 1993-08-15
A biography of the first wife of a president to have a public life and career of her own.
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Lincoln by Russell FreedmanISBN: 0395518482
Publication Date: 1989-09-25
Photographs and text trace the life of the Civil War President.