The REAL Thing
Try some of these non-fiction books for a taste of reality.

921 LATIFA Latifa. My Forbidden Face. New York : Talk Miramax Books, c2001.
Latifa, a young woman who was sixteen in 1996 when the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, tells about her family's experiences under the repressive regime, focusing on the lives of women and girls who were abruptly denied the freedom to work, go to school, or even leave their homes without a male escort. The frustrations and horrors of not being allowed to see a doctor, to be imprisoned in one's home and be denied education and a social life are clearly shown here.

958.104 AKB Akbar, Said Hyder.Come Back to Afghanistan. New York :Bloomsbury, 2005.
What's it like to be an American Muslim, especially when your parents escaped from Afghanistan when you were just a toddler? How would you handle the prejudices? Would you help the country of your birth? Hyder, an American teenager, takes a challenging situation and learns much about himself and humnaity. Best Books for Young Adults, 2006.

F CRE Crew, Linda . Brides of Eden. New York : HarperCollins, 2000..
In this story based on true events, sixteen-year-old Eva and her female friends become obsessed with a charismatic young man who comes to Corvallis, Oregon, in 1904, claiming to be a Christian prophet. He brainwashes them into defying all conventions and eventually exploits them.

921 OPDYKE Opdyke, Irene Gut. In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer. New York : Knopf, 1999.
Fleeing from the Germans, Irene ends up with the Russians and is brutalized by soldiers while escaping back to Poland. She is reunited with her family, only to be abducted from church to work in a factory, and eventually to serve as a servant for the German Army. Throughout she shows incredible courage and helps to save innumerable Jewish lives.

940.54 NEL Nelson, Peter. Left for Dead: a young man's search for justice for the USS Indianapolis. New York, N.Y. : Delacorte Press, c2002.
Recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at the end of World War II, the navy cover-up and unfair court martial of the ship's captain.

305.895 FAD Faderman, Lillian.I begin my life all over Boston, : Beacon Press, c1998.
Asian gang life, marriage in the Hmong culture, experiences in Laos and Thailand, refugee camps, religion, and integration intoAmerican life all are revealed through interviews with Hmong-Americans. This is a fascinating book that allows one to see life in a different culture and how traditions are kept and lost.

921 PELZER Pelzer, Dave. A Child Called It. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health communications, Inc., 1995.
David Pelzer, victim of one of the worst child abuse cases in the history of California, tells the story of how he survived his mother's brutality and triumphed over his past.

PB PRE Preston, Richard. The Hot Zone. New York: Anchor, 1989.
Tells the dramatic story of U. S. Army scientists and soldiers who worked to stop the outbreak of a deadly and extremely contagious virus in 1989.

796.5 KRA Krakauer, John. Into thin air: a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster. New York: : Villard, 1997.
This is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest.

364.1 DUN Duncan, Lois. Who Killed My Daughter? New York : Dell Pub., [1994]
Story of popular young adult author Lois Duncan's search for the truth behind her eighteen year old daughter's brutal death while driving alone in her car.

332.024 KIY Kiyosaki, Robert T. Rich dad, poor dad : what the rich teach their kids about money that the poor and middle class do not! Paradise Valley, Ariz. : TechPress, c1998.
Learn to have money working for you, instead of the other way around!

364.15 LAR Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City : murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America. New York : Crown Publishers, c2003.
During the 1893 World's Fair, murderer Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds—a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium.Architect Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake. (from Amazon.com)

306.4 FAD Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux c1997.
Describes the clash between a hospital in California and a refugee family from Laos over the care of Lia, a Hmong child diagnosed with severe epilepsy.

921 MORGAN,H Marrin, Albert. Terror of the Spanish Main : Sir Henry Morgan and his buccaneers. New York : Dutton Children's Books, c1999.
An account of the life and times of the English buccaneer, Henry Morgan, from his birth in Wales through his daring exploits in the Spanish Main to his later years in Jamaica.

Updated 2/7/07