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 2019

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race

Tags US History, Japanese Literature, Asian Literature, Social Justice, World War II, Military & War, World History, Biography

They Called Us Enemy is a 2019 graphic memoir written by author, actor, and activist George Takei and illustrated by Harmony Becker. The story chronicles Takei’s childhood experience in the Japanese concentration camps created by the United States during World War II. Takei frames the narrative with a modern-day talk delivered at the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presided over the country during the war and issued Executive Order 9066, which empowered the US... Read They Called Us Enemy Summary

Publication year 2005

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Love, Memory, Marriage, Mental Health, Grief

Tags Grief & Death, Psychology, Psychology, Classic Fiction, Biography

Joan Didion’s memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking, explores her experiences mourning the death of her husband and the severe illness of her daughter in 2003. Didion, an American journalist and essayist, first gained popularity during the 1960s and 70s covering counterculture and Hollywood, but in The Year of Magical Thinking she turns to more intimate material. Didion’s husband John Gregory Dunne died of a heart attack while he and Didion were caring for their... Read The Year of Magical Thinking Summary

Publication year 2008

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Fear, Good & Evil, Justice

Tags Crime & Law, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Biography

Cylin and John Busby’s The Year We Disappeared is a true crime memoir originally published in 2008. An expanded, 10th-anniversary edition was published in 2018. The book falls into both the memoir and true crime genres and is told from the perspective of the victims rather than a third party, such as a reporter. The Busby’s story was also featured on CBS’s newsmagazine, 48 Hours. It originally aired in 2010.Plot SummaryIn the summer of 1979... Read The Year We Disappeared Summary

Publication year 2019

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Community, Memory

Tags Race & Racism, US History, Social Class, World History, Biography

The Yellow House is a nonfiction memoir published in 2019 by the American author Sarah M. Broom. In a narrative centered around her childhood home, “The Yellow House,” Broom chronicles the history of New Orleans through three generations of her family. The Yellow House won the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize for best debut book.Plot SummaryIn 1961, Broom's mother, Ivory Mae, becomes a widow at the... Read The Yellow House Summary

Publication year 2007

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Hope, War, Animals

Tags World War II, Holocaust, European History, Animals, Military & War, World History, Biography

The Zookeeper’s Wife, by Diane AckermanThe Zookeeper’s Wife is a non-fiction narrative recounting the heroic efforts of Antonina Żabińska and her husband, Jan Żabiński, during World War II. When soldiers of the Third Reich invade Poland on September 1, 1939, Jan is the ambitious director of the Warsaw Zoo. Antonina is an amazingly gifted woman who connects emotionally with all the animals in the zoo and the multitudes of human visitors and officials drawn to... Read The Zookeeper's Wife Summary

Publication year 2023

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Perseverance, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Hope, Love, Memory, Shame & Pride, Race, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, The Past, Family, Fathers, Mothers, Self Discovery, Community, Politics & Government, Art, Fame, Religion & Spirituality, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Emotions/Behavior: Courage

Tags Biography, Arts & Culture

Publication year 1995

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Disability

Tags Disability, Animals, Science & Nature, Psychology, Psychology, Biography

Thinking in Pictures: My Life With Autism (1995) is a scientific memoir by author Temple Grandin. Grandin is a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, where she fomented her specialized career as one of only a handful of livestock-handling equipment designers in the world. Thinking in Pictures narrates Grandin’s experiences as a world-renowned cattle handler, a professor, and a woman living with autism. Grandin fills each chapter with anecdotal stories and empirical research.Thinking... Read Thinking in Pictures Summary

Publication year 1968

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Politics & Government, Russian Literature, US History, Military & War, World History, Biography

Thirteen Days is Robert Kennedy’s personal account of the Cuban missile crisis.As the Attorney General of the United States and President’s Kennedy’s brother and most trusted confidant, Robert Kennedy played a significant role in that critical period. The first-person narrative is organized into titled sections, rather than chapters, and proceeds chronologically, describing the meetings, conversations, developments, and decisions that shaped the American response to the crisis.The chronicle begins on the morning of Tuesday, October 16... Read Thirteen Days Summary

Publication year 2021

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Sexual Identity, Justice

Tags Race & Racism, Black Lives Matter, Social Justice, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, African American Literature, American Literature, World History, Politics & Government, Biography

Publication year 2008

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Mothers, Trust & Doubt, Family, Community

Tags Parenting, Trauma & Abuse, Biography

An international bestseller, Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s 2008 memoir, Three Little Words, provides a moving account of her early life in the foster care system. Ashley is born to a teenage mother, Lorraine, who is not well placed to look after her. After her mother’s new partner, Dusty, moves in, things soon deteriorate. When the family moves to Florida, Lorraine and Dusty are both arrested, and Ashley is placed in foster care along with her younger brother... Read Three Little Words Summary

Publication year 2019

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Femininity, Sexual Identity, Masculinity

Tags Love & Sexuality, Gender & Feminism, Trauma & Abuse, Women`s Studies, Modern Classic Fiction, Biography

Publication year 2014

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Self Discovery, Death, Science & Technology

Tags Self-Improvement, Business & Economics, Psychology, Health, Psychology, Biography

Publication year 1999

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Fear, Hate & Anger, Equality, Justice, Safety & Danger, Truth & Lies

Tags Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, US History, Trauma & Abuse, Race & Racism, Bullying, Black Lives Matter, Education

Through My Eyes is the autobiography of Ruby Bridges. In 1960, Bridges became the first African American child to integrate an elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana following a court mandate for the state to desegregate its public school system. Louisiana trailed segregation effort in neighboring states, such as the nine Black high school students known as the “Little Rock Nine” who integrated a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.Bridges’s autobiography, published in... Read Through My Eyes Summary

Publication year 2006

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Science & Technology, Perseverance, Guilt, Marriage, Social Class, Community, Globalization, Immigration, Fame, Good & Evil, Justice, Power & Greed

Tags Crime & Law, European History, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Science & Nature, World History, Biography

Erik Larson’s Thunderstruck is a 2006 work of narrative nonfiction that braids two seemingly unrelated historical events that captured public attention in the pre-World War I years. The first involves the emerging and transformative technology of wireless communication designed by Marconi, the second a gruesome murder in London perpetrated by a seemingly docile and genial doctor named Crippen. Thunderstruck follows the success of Larson’s 2003 Devil in the White City, which coupled America’s first major... Read Thunderstruck Summary

Publication year 1998

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Fame, Family, Fathers, Power & Greed, Religion & Spirituality, Economics

Tags US History, Business & Economics, Finance, Leadership, World History, Biography

Publication year 1968

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Equality, Nation

Tags US History, Race & Racism, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, World History, Classic Fiction, Biography

To Be a Slave is a nonfiction children’s book written by Julius Lester and published in 1968. In 1969, the book was named a John Newbery Honor Book in recognition of its important contribution to children’s literature.The book focuses on the history of enslavement in the United States. Julius Lester compiled slave narratives and wrote his own historical commentary to accompany them. Lester was writing in the context of the civil rights movement of the... Read To Be a Slave Summary