Inspiring Biographies

This study guide collection celebrates the life stories of fascinating and inspirational figures. Read on to discover insightful analyses and discussion starters for an array of uplifting biographies, including the award-winning A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea by Melissa Fleming, Becoming Nicole by Amy Ellis Nutt, and Strength in What Remains by the Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer Tracy Kidder.

Publication year 2008

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Justice, Race, Grief

Tags Crime & Law, Incarceration, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Grief & Death, Politics & Government, Biography

No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row is a nonfiction young adult book published by Susan Kuklin in 2009. The book recounts Kuklin’s interviews with teenagers sentenced to death row or life without the possibility of parole. In addition to allowing her subjects to share their experiences in their own words, the book also delves into the US criminal justice system and the issue of capital punishment. No Choirboy is a 2009 Bank... Read No Choirboy Summary

Publication year 2009

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Forgiveness, Shame & Pride, Justice

Tags History: African , Politics & Government, Social Justice, Race & Racism, African Literature, Biography, World History, Religion & Spirituality

Originally published in 1999, No Future Without Forgiveness is the memoir of Desmond Mpilo Tutu. Tutu won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1984 for his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. He served as Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Cape Town and later chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which President Mandela established to help address the atrocities of apartheid.Although Tutu’s memoir focuses on his work with the TRC between 1995... Read No Future Without Forgiveness Summary

Publication year 2009

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment

Tags Sociology, Education, Education, Climate Change, Biography

No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process is an autobiography published in 2009. Author Colin Beavan, tired of being a liberal who only lectures his wife about not wearing fur, decides to dedicate himself, his wife Michelle, and their toddler Isabella to a year of creating no impact on the environment. His... Read No Impact Man Summary

Publication year 1996

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Fate, Good & Evil, Community

Tags Sociology, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Social Justice, Politics & Government, Biography

No Matter How Loud I Shout is a work of nonfiction written by Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes and published in 1996. This work comprises the author’s ethnographical observations and participations in the Los Angeles juvenile justice system for the year of 1994. Humes asserts that the names of juveniles have been changed in accordance with state laws regarding confidentiality; however, everything else is true, and reported in the allegedly unbiased style of 1990s investigative journalism... Read No Matter How Loud I Shout Summary

Publication year 1998

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Childhood & Youth

Tags World War II, Holocaust, European History, Trauma & Abuse, Jewish Literature, Military & War, World History, Biography

Anita Lobel is the author of No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War. First published in 1998 and a finalist for the National Book Award, the memoir details Lobel’s memories of growing up in Poland and how she survived World War II and the Holocaust. As the book follows Lobel from a child to a teen, it’s also a coming-of-age story and features themes about displacement and identity, as well as ideas like the differences... Read No Pretty Pictures Summary

Publication year 2014

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Perseverance, Environment, Place, Self Discovery, Beauty

Tags Sports, Action & Adventure, Animals, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, Travel Literature, Biography

No Summit out of Sight (2014) is a young adult memoir written by Jordan Romero and Linda LeBlanc. Jordan Romero is the youngest person to ever climb the Seven Summits. The novel explores themes including The Power of Setting and Achieving Goals, Focusing on a Personal Best, and The Value of Teamwork.This guide uses the 2014 Simon & Schuster edition of the memoir.SummaryFourth grader Jordan Romero gazes at a mural of the Seven Summits (the... Read No Summit Out Of Sight Summary

Publication year 1955

Genre Essay Collection, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Hate & Anger

Tags Sociology, Existentialism, Black Arts Movement, Black Lives Matter, Race & Racism, World History, Social Justice, Classic Fiction, Politics & Government, Biography

Notes of a Native Son is a collection of nonfiction essays by James Baldwin. Baldwin originally published the essays individually in various literary and cultural commentary magazines between 1948 and 1955. The Beacon Press first republished the essays as Notes of a Native Son in 1955. This study guide refers to the 2012 Beacon Press edition of Notes of a Native Son. Citations to page numbers, however, come from the volume The Price of the... Read Notes of a Native Son Summary

Publication year 2009

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Asian Literature, Sociology, Korean Literature, Journalism, Immigration & Refugeeism, World History, Travel Literature, Politics & Government, Biography

Barbara Demick’s 2010 nonfiction book, Nothing to Envy, is based on interviews with North Korean defectors from the city of Chongjin, six of whom are profiled in the book. It relays the history of modern Korea, from the end of Japanese occupation after WWII, to the division of Korea into two by the United States, to the economic rise and fall of the North Korean state in the late 20th century. There is a particular... Read Nothing to Envy Summary

Publication year 2023

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Safety & Danger, Truth & Lies, Nation, Politics & Government, Loyalty & Betrayal

Tags Politics & Government, US History, Trauma & Abuse, World History, Biography

Publication year 2001

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Appearance & Reality

Tags Immigration & Refugeeism, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, Biography

Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard is the memoir of Selamawi “Mawi” Asgedom. Mawi recounts overcoming numerous disadvantages as an African refugee and ascending to the highest reaches of American society, ultimately graduating from Harvard University with top honors in 1999. Through Mawi’s story, the book explores the experiences of refugees in America. Born in September 1979, in Adi Wahla, Ethiopia, Mawi and his family flee Ethiopia due... Read Of Beetles and Angels Summary

Publication year 1651

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags US History, Religion & Spirituality, Education, Education, American Literature, World History, Classic Fiction, Biography

Of Plymouth Plantation is a firsthand account of both the events leading up to the voyage of the Mayflower and the first twenty-five years of settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was written as a journal by William Bradford, a passenger on the Mayflower who also served multiple terms as Plymouth's governor. He appears in Of Plymouth Plantation both as a narrator and as a character in the story's events, which are told in retrospect. In... Read Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647 Summary

Publication year 1976

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Grief, The Past, Language

Tags Lyric Poem, American Literature, Arts & Culture, LGBTQ+, Classic Fiction, Biography

Throughout her life, Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) suffered many losses. Her father died before her first birthday and her mother entered a mental institution when Bishop was only five, leaving her to the guardianship of maternal and paternal grandparents. Later, Bishop’s lover committed suicide in Brazil, prompting Bishop’s return to the US. “One Art” (1976) alludes to several of these prominent losses, though the poem objectively approaches loss. “One Art” defines loss as a special form... Read One Art Summary

Publication year 2002

Genre Graphic Memoir , Nonfiction

Themes Art, Memory, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Hope, Shame & Pride, Femininity, Language, Race, Childhood & Youth, Midlife, Animals, Food, Mothers, Self Discovery, Social Class, Education, Immigration, Beauty, Literature

Tags Humor, Arts & Culture, Biography

One! Hundred! Demons! is a semi-autobiographical genre-defying graphic novel by American cartoonist and pedagogue, Lynda Barry. Over the course of her career as a prominent cartoonist with nationally syndicated comic strips, published collections, and illustrated novels, Barry has received many national and state-wide awards for her work, including two Eisner awards and MacArthur Genius Grant.Originally published serially in Salon magazine, the collected cartoon chapters were collected and published by Sasquatch Books in 2002, and later... Read One! Hundred! Demons! Summary

Publication year 2008

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Gratitude, Guilt, Hope, Loneliness, Memory, Shame & Pride, Indigenous Identity, Language, Animals, Plants, Place, Self Discovery, Colonialism, Community, Education, Nation, Art, Beauty, Equality, Fate, Justice, Literature, Music, Religion & Spirituality, Truth & Lies

Tags World History, Biography