Nonfiction for Teens

True stories, amazing facts, and biographies of famous and not-so-famous people are found here. There are ways to break codes, solve crimes, or decorate your room. You can learn how to knit, how to juggle, or even how to hold a crocodile!

This booklist was contributed by Appleton Public Library Reference and Information Services Staff, 5/07 

Interesting Lives

• Come back to Afghanistan : a California teenager's story by Said Hyder Akbar (2005)
"Said Hyder Akbar was living an ordinary suburban life in California when the shocking events of September 11, 2001, turned his world upside down. After the fall of the Taliban, Hyder's father, a scion of an Afghan political family, sold his business - a hip-hop clothing store in Oakland - and left for Afghanistan, where he became President Hamid Karzai's chief spokesman. Obsessed since youth with a country he had never even visited, seventeen-year-old Hyder convinced his father to let him join him during three successive summer vacations. In Afghanistan, Hyder witnessed a scarred country at a time of radical change, its hope for the future marred by blood feuds, poverty, and divided loyalties. Uncommonly wise and insightful, Hyder journeys from palaces to prisons and from Kabul to the borderlands, revealing Afghanistan as we have never seen or understood it before." --BOOK JACKET
• Danica Patrick : America's hottest racer by Jonathan Ingram (2005)
It didn't take long for Danica Patrick to prove she has what it takes to beat the boys. At the 2005 Indianapolis 500, this rookie driver not only became the first woman to lead a lap at the Brickyard, she was in contention to win in the last few laps of the race. Her strong race performance attracted national media attention, and drew thousands of viewers to America's Greatest Spectacle in racing. Danica's alluring combination of striking good looks, gutsy driving talent, and the backing of one of the best race teams in the world has made her America's newest racing sensation. She has also proved that a nice manicure doesn't get in the way of being tough as nails on the track. This book, with more than 120 images from premier racing photographer Paul Webb and others, chronicles Danica's journey from a young kart racer to becoming the darling of the American media. Award-winning racing journalist Jonathan Ingram writes about Danica's impact on the Indy Racing League, her Rahal Letterman team, and America's love affair with this up and coming young racer. Book jacket. Syndetics
• Hole in my life by Jack Gantos (2002)
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.
• J.K. Rowling by Bradley Steffens (2007)
Lucent's contemporary biography series profiles the lives and careers of some of today's most prominent newsmakers. Whether covering contributions and achievements or notorious deeds, books in this series examine why these well-known personages garnered public attention.
• Lois Lowry : the giver of stories and memories by Lisa Rondinelli Albert (2008)
Through this in-depth portrait of Lowry, readers will recognize similarities between her personal experiences and the events and characters in her books. This connection offers personal insight on Lowry and how she came to be one of the most successful authors for young adults of her time. Book jacket.
• Michelle Wie : the making of a champion by Jennifer Mario (2006)
In the first-ever Michelle Wie biography, golf writer Jennifer Mario tells the story of this inspirational golfing phenomenon, from her million-dollar endorsement deals to her rocket rise to success--from her sweet golf swing to her life as a pro golfer. Michelle Wie's young career already reads like a world-record entry: youngest player to qualify for an LPGA tournament; youngest player to win the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links championship; youngest female to play in PGA Tour events. Now Michelle Wie can add to the list being the youngest female golfer to ever turn professional. This biography will be a great read for anyone interested in the life of their favorite role model--and for readers everywhere looking for the full story behind a legend in the making. Syndetics
• No end in sight : my life as a blind Iditarod racer by Rachael Scdoris (2006)
"For the last eleven years, twenty-one-year-old Rachel Scdoris has been a musher - guiding teams of sled dogs through mountain ranges, across frozen rivers, and over desolate tundra. It's an extraordinary achievement for a young woman, made even more remarkable by the fact that Rachel trains the dogs and competes in races without being able to fully see the animals or the race courses." "Born legally blind, Rachel grew up amid the taunts of classmates who made fun of her, but once she tapped into her innate talent as an athlete, she went on to become captain of her school track team and later an Olympic torch carrier. When Rachel discovered her love of dog sledding, she threw herself into training and competition with all her strength and all her heart. She was the youngest athlete ever to complete a 500-mile sled dog race, and she dreamed of participating in the sport's pinnacle competition: the Iditarod Trail International Sled Dog Race across the wilderness of Alaska.BOOK JACKET
• The story of my life : an Afghan girl on the other side of the sky by Farah Ahmedi (2005)
Ahmedi was born just as the war between the mujahideen and the Soviets reaches its peak in Afghanistan. The sounds of gunfire and fighter planes were as normal to her as the sounds of traffic or children playing are to a schoolgirl in America. When she stepped on a land mine on her way to school, she began to learn--slowly--that ordinary people, often strangers, have immense power to save lives and restore hope. She was taken from a childhood in Afghanistan, where the classrooms are naked chambers with only chalkboards on the walls and are filled with more students than seats (and no books), to a Chicago adolescence, where teenagers struggle to decide whether to try out for school plays, whom to take to the homecoming dance, and where to go to college. This story was selected from hundreds submitted to ABC's Good Morning America.
• Tiger Woods : a biography by Lawrence J. Londino (2006)
Londino (broadcasting, Montclair State University) describes the life and career of the African-American golf prodigy, giving information on his early life, the influence of his parents, and the relationship between celebrity and the media. B&w photos, a timeline, and a bibliography of books, magazine and newspaper articles, videos, and Web sites are included. Syndetics
• Wave of destruction : the stories of four families and history's deadliest tsunami by Erich Krauss (2006)
"At just before 8:00 a.m. local time on December 26, 2004, a monstrously powerful earthquake erupted on the floor of the Indian Ocean. The quake roared across the seabed for a full ten minutes - most earthquakes last only a few seconds - and is estimated to have had a shocking magnitude of 9.15 on the Richter scale. The earthquake, felt as far away as Alaska, generated a cataclysmic tsunami, which devastated coastlines bordering the Indian Ocean. Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian, even Somali coastal areas were all ravaged. As many as 250,000 people died in one of the most horrifying natural disasters in the modern age." "In Wave of Destruction, Erich Krauss tells the stories of four families who escaped the tsunami but not the horror it sowed. Beginning with their fight for life as a forty-foot wave ripped through their community, and ending with their slow, confusing attempt to rebuild after the last of the bodies were buried, Krauss depicts the trials of ordinary people who braved the worst of nature and exemplified the best of man. Krauss weaves these stories together to give a fuller picture of the tsunami's toll and the great resilience shown by those that survived it and rebuilt their lives in its wake."--BOOK JACKET. Syndetics
• Working fire : the making of an accidental fireman by Zac Unger (2004)
Zac Unger didn't feel like much of a firefighter at first. Most of his fellow recruits seemed to have planned for the job all their lives; he was an Ivy League grad responding to a help-wanted ad at an Oakland bus stop. He couldn't keep his boots shined, and he looked horrible in his uniform. Working Fire is the story of how, from this unlikely beginning, Zac Unger came to feel at home among this close-knit tribe, came to master his work's demands, and came to know what it is to see the city of Oakland through a firefighter's eyes. From the materials of his days' work -- the harrowing calls and the hilarious, the moments of triumph and of grief -- Zac Unger has forged a timeless story of finding one's path. He never takes himself too seriously, but he comes to take his job very seriously. Because he tell his story with such extraordinary empathy and wit, the fierce passion he feels for his work, his comrades, and the city he protects becomes our own. Book jacket. Syndetics
• You belong in a zoo! : tales from a lifetime spent with cobras, crocs, and other creatures by Peter Brazaitis (2003)
"After the teenage Peter Brazaitis brought home one creepy crawly creature too many, his stepmother declared, "You are an animal, and you belong in a zoo!" He took her at her word. He went directly from high school in Brooklyn to a job at the Reptile House at the Bronx Zoo, where he stayed for more than thirty years, eventually becoming superintendent of reptiles. He later became curator of the Central Park Zoo, and continues to work with law enforcement as a forensic specialist in the fight to stop illegal importation and slaughter of reptiles for the luxury exotic-leather industry. (His effectiveness at this would earn him the moniker "The Bald-Headed Snake Keeper in the Bronx.") You Belong in a Zoo! presents the amazing experiences Brazaitis has had in more than four decades of working with wild animals."Syndetics