No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row
10 best books like No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row (Susan Kuklin): Me, the Missing, and the Dead, Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI, Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition, Jim Thorpe, Original All-American, Lady Q: The Rise and Fall of a Latin Queen, The Brothers Torres, The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez, Suckerpunch, They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group, Becoming Billie Holiday
Me: Lucas Swain: I'm nearly sixteen years old and live in London. I was fairly normal until the night I found Violet. Then everything changed. The Missing: Dad. He disappeared five years ago. Nobody knows what happened to him, and nobody cares except me. It's enough to drive you crazy. The Dead: That's...
| Author | Ryan Smithson |
| ISBN | 0061664685 |
In this extraordinary and harrowing memoir, follow one GI’s tour of duty as Ryan Smithson brings readers inside a world that few understand.
This is no ordinary teenager’s story. Instead of opting for college life, Ryan Smithson joined the Army Reserve when he was seventeen. Two years...
It began with the best of intentions. Worried about the effects of alcohol on American families, mothers and civic leaders started a movement to outlaw drinking in public places. Over time, their protests, petitions, and activism paid off—when a Constitional Amendment banning the sale and consumption...
Jim Thorpe, Original All-American
| Author | Joseph Bruchac |
| ISBN | 0803731183 |
Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. He played professional football, Major League Baseball, and won Olympic gold medals in track & field. But his life wasn’t an easy one. Born on the Sac and Fox Reservation in 1887, he encountered much family tragedy, and was sent as a young...
| Author | Reymundo Sánchez |
| ISBN | 1556527225 |
This is a raw and powerful memoir not only of one woman’s struggle to survive the streets but also of her ascent to the top ranks of the new mafia, where the only people more dangerous than rival gangs were members of her own. At age five Sonia Rodriguez’s stepfather began to abuse her; at 10 she was...
| Author | Coert Voorhees |
| ISBN | 1423103041 |
Frankie Towers has always looked up to his older brother, Steve, and with good reason. Steve is a popular senior who always gets what he wants: girls, a soccer scholarship, and--lately--street cred. Frankie, on the other hand, spends his time shooting off fireworks with his best friend Zach, working...
| Author | Alan Sitomer |
| ISBN | 1423110722 |
Sonia is a Mexican American whose parents came to the United States illegally for the American dream. Sonia is like any ordinary Hispanic teenager who has to do all the chores and cook, her mom expects her to do everything especially now since she is pregnant with twins. Sonia has a hard working dad who...
| Author | David Hernandez |
| ISBN | 0061173304 |
Numerous reasons exist to prompt a reader into picking up this book for National Hispanic Heritage Month. The reader should pay attention to the development of masculinity. Hernandez cleverly unravels the danger of macho-bullshit. Enrique, the character who is most abused, embraces a tough guy...
| Author | Susan Campbell Bartoletti |
"Boys, let us get up a club."With those words, six restless young men raided the linens at a friend’s mansion in 1866. They pulled white sheets over their heads, hopped on horses, and cavorted through the streets of Pulaski, Tennessee. Soon, the six friends named their club the Ku Klux Klan and began...
| Author | Carole Boston Weatherford |
Before the legend of Billie Holiday, there was a girl named Eleanora. In 1915, Sadie Fagan gave birth to a daughter she named Eleanora. The world, however, would know her as Billie Holiday, possibly the greatest jazz singer of all time. Eleanora's journey into legend took her through pain, poverty,...
| Author | Marc Aronson |
| ISBN | 0763636258 |
In a provocative anthology, two editors with opposing viewpoints present an unflinching collection of works reflecting on the nature of war.
Marc Aronson thinks war is inevitable. Patty Campbell thinks war is cruel, deceptive, and wrong. But both agree on one thing: that teens need to hear...
| Author | Robin Bowman |
| ISBN | 1884167691 |
Robin Bowman’s five-year journey into the heart of teenage America created a series of 414 “collaborative portraits,” wherein she shares her discoveries of a generation now coming of age. In searing and intimate photographs, presented alongside the young people’s voices of passion, pride,...
| Author | Linas Alsenas |
| ISBN | 0810994879 |
Milestones of gay and lesbian life in the United States are brought together in the first-ever nonfiction book published specifically for teens.
Profusely illustrated with archival images, the groundbreaking Gay America reveals how gay men and women have lived, worked, and loved for the past...
Crazy in America: The Hidden Tragedy of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill
| Author | Mary Beth Pfeiffer |
| ISBN | 0786717459 |
Crazy in America shows how people suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and other serious psychological illnesses are regularly incarcerated because alternative care is not available. Once behind bars, they are frequently punished again for behavior that is...
| Author | Ann Bausum |
| ISBN | 1426303327 |
With painstaking research, an unerring eye for just the right illustration, and her unique narrative style, award-winning author Ann Bausum makes the history of immigration in America come alive for young people. The story of America has always been shaped by people from all corners of the Earth who...
| Author | Rick Bowers |
| ISBN | 1426305958 |
The Spies of Mississippi is a compelling story of how state spies tried to block voting rights for African Americans during the Civil Rights era. This book sheds new light on one of the most momentous periods in American history.
Author Rick Bowers has combed through primary-source materials...
| Author | Sarah Mussi |
| ISBN | 1416915508 |
Zac Baxter's grandfather has always told him that he's the descendant of African kings, whose treasure was stolen when his ancestors were sold into slavery. Of course, Zac brushes this off as a tall tale -- until his grandfather is murdered and their apartment is completely ransacked. Clearly somebody...
An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank
| Author | Elaine Marie Alphin |
| ISBN | 0822589443 |
I hardly know what to say about this one. An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank is in all probability the best nonfiction book I've ever read. It takes an old, generally forgotten court case from the dusty annals of the history of the American justice system and forms from...
Swords: An Artist's Devotion
| Author | Ben Boos |
| ISBN | 0763631485 |
Be smitten by the sword! An extraordinary young artist brings the history of this noble weapon -- and its skillful masters -- into stunningly sharp relief.
Brave men and women have taken up the sword since ages of old, and a fascination with this formidable weapon grips dedicated followers...
| Author | Faith D'Aluisio |
| ISBN | 1582462461 |
Sitting down to a daily family meal has long been a tradition for billions of people. But in every corner of the world this age-old custom is rapidly changing. From increased trade between countries to the expansion of global food corporations like Kraft and Nestlé, current events are having a tremendous...
I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure
| Author | Rachel Fershleiser |
| ISBN | 0061726842 |
From the editors of the international phenomenon and New York Times bestseller Not Quite What I Was Planning comes a collection of six-word memoirs created by and for teens.
From cancer to creativity, prom dates to promiscuity, and breaking hearts to breaking laws, the memoirs in this collection...
Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth
| Author | John Hubner |
| ISBN | 0375508090 |
A powerful, bracing and deeply spiritual look at intensely, troubled youth, Last Chance in Texas gives a stirring account of the way one remarkable prison rehabilitates its inmates.
While reporting on the juvenile court system, journalist John Hubner kept hearing about a facility in Texas...
The Warrior's Heart: Becoming a Man of Compassion and Courage
| Author | Eric Greitens |
| ISBN | 0547868529 |
In this adaptation of his best-selling book, The Heart and the Fist, Eric speaks directly to teen readers, interweaving memoir and intimate second-person narratives that ask the reader to put themselves in the shoes of himself and others. Readers will share in Eric’s evolution from average kid...
The Boy Who Carried Bricks: A True Story
| Author | Alton Carter |
| ISBN | 1937054349 |
Despite the cover, this is not a kids' or YA book. The Boy Who Carried Bricks is Alton Carter's gritty yet ultimately hopeful memoir of growing up in central Oklahoma in a family so dysfunctional and violent he had to run away to survive.
Carter's account is unflinching but he also gives kind recognition...
I am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee
| Author | Charles J. Shields |
| ISBN | 0805083340 |
To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most widely read novels in American literature. It's also a perennial favorite in highschool English classrooms across the nation. Yet onetime author Harper Lee is a mysterious figure who leads a very private life in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, refusing...
