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All books are in the Fiction section of the Main Library unless otherwise noted. * Nonfiction/Biography are marked with an asterisk and the call number given. Titles marked HRC are available in multiple copies through the English Dept.
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Atwood, Margaret CAT’S EYE In this recent novel, the middle-aged narrator, a painter, is still obsessed with her elementary school friend/enemy Cordelia. As she remembers her childhood, she tries to understand why Cordelia held such power over her. Buck, Pearl * MY SEVERAL WORLDS (92/BUCK) The daughter of missionaries in China, Pearl Buck grew up at the time of the Boxer Rebellion in China, and writes with perception and understanding about the people, events and experiences which made up her full life. Cary, Lorene (92/Cary) BLACK ICE In 1971, Lorene was one of the first African-American girls to receive a scholarship to attend the exclusive New Hampshire boarding school, St. Paul's. She describes her experiences there and what they meant in her life. Chang, Jung (92/Chang) WILD SWANS This very long, but totally absorbing story recounts the lives of three generations of women in a Chinese family. It covers the period from the late 1800s through the Cultural Revolution. Cisneros, Sandra (HRC) THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET This very short book is a series of poetic sketches describing the family and experiences of a Chicana girl in her search for meaning and for self. Conway, Jill Ker THE ROAD FROM COORAIN (92/Con) Currently the president of Smith College, Conway describes her childhood on an isolated sheep-farm in the grasslands of Australia. Her relationships with her family and her disillusionment with the opportunities for women in Australia are at the center of this very readable biography. Crow Dog, Mary (with Richard Erdoes) LAKOTA WOMAN Born on a South Dakota, Mary Brave Bird joined the activist AIM (American Indian Movement) of the 1970s in a search for identity and Native American pride. Dillard, Annie AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD (818 Dil) Beautifully written description and narrative. Dillard details the growth of consciousness and awareness that begins at about age 10 and continues through adolescence. Her skill at finding meaning in everyday life will make you want to try writing about your own life. Dorris, Michael A YELLOW RAFT IN BLUE WATER Rayona is a 1980s teenage girl whose father is a black mail carrier and mother a Native American from Montana. Then, through a set of circumstances, she finds herself on a reservation where she's the wrong color, has the wrong background, and doesn't speak the language well. She has to put together an identity for herself. (Students have highly recommended this book.) Gaardner, Jostein SOPHIE’S WORLD A very readable history of philosophy within the framework of a novel. Sophie, a fifteen year old Norwegian girl, suddenly begins receiving mysterious letters that discuss the great questions of life: "Who are you?" "Where does the world come from?" Grealy, Lucy AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FACE (92 Gre) The author, who went through a series of operations for cancer of her jaw, describes her struggle to accept her own disfigured features and to come to terms with rejection by peers. Green, Hannah I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN The 16 year old girl, Deborah, is ill. She is sick of lies, of the hatred she feels, and of the prejudice around her. She invents a mythical kingdom into which she retreats until her arrival at an asylum. Greene, Bette THE SUMMER OF MY GERMAN SOLDIER Patty Bergen was 12 years old when the German prisoners were brought to the prison camp near her home in Arkansas. Awkward and lonely, she was unable to please her parents and longing for a friend. Greene, Bette MORNING IS A LONG TIME COMING This is a sequel to the story above. Patty is now 18 and graduating from high school, yet Anton remains an important person in her life. She decides to go to Germany... Hall, Lynn THE LEAVING Roxanne feels there must be more to life after high school than staying at her parents' farm and waiting for some boy to marry her. Her move out is a turning point in the lives of all she cares about. Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki (HRC) * FAREWELL TO MANZANAR (940.54 HOU)The account of a nisei girl who spent her high school years in an internment camp for Americans of Japanese descent during WWII. She describes the effect on families. Hurston, Zora N. (HRC) THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD. A novel by an African American woman writer of the Harlem Renaissance. The main character is forced to marry when she is still very young. Eventually she learns who she is and what she'd like to become. Written in a mixture of dialect and standard English - poetic throughout.. Jen, Gish MONA IN THE PROMISED LAND. The year is 1968. Chinese American Mona, a Scarshill teenager, decides she’d like to be Jewish. She’s also interested in boys, and social issues, and is sure that her Chinese parents can never understand her. Humorous and insightful view of ethnicity in American society as experienced by a teenager. Kincaid, Jamaica ANNIE JOHN A beautifully written story of a girl growing up in the Caribbean. Once, as a punishment at school, the headmistress asked her to copy Books I and II of Milton's Paradise Lost. Her crime? She had defaced the picture of Columbus which said he "discovered" the West Indies. Kingsolver, Barbara THE BEAN TREES The narrator discovers what it really means to grow up when, in search of freedom and independence, she is suddenly left with someone else’s abandoned child. The story is told in humorous and spirited style. Kingsolver, Barbara THE POISONWOOD BIBLE When their fanatic missionary father brings his wife and four daughters to the Congo (now Zaire) in the late 1950s, all of them are changed forever by their experience. The story follows their lives until the 1980s. Each of the women alternates as narrator. Kingston, Maxine Kong (HRC) * THE WOMAN WARRIOR (92/KINGSTON) Maxine grew up in San Francisco, haunted by two sets of ghosts: the first were the traditional ghosts in stories from China, and the others were the whites, who were considered ghosts by the Chinese of her parents' generation. Kirkland, Gelsey DANCING ON MY GRAVE (92/Kirkland) A frightening picture of the professional ballet world. Kirkland, a serious and talented dancer, describes her torment in trying to fit herself to everyone else's view of what she should be as a dancer and their lack of concern for her as an artist and a human being. (1986) Kogawa, Joy OBASAN (HRC) This novel is based on experiences and observations of growing up as a Japanese-Canadian during the difficult years of WWII. As in the U.S., families of Japanese ancestry faced loss of property, and dispersal of family members in various internment camps. Although a painful story, it is told in sensitive, lyrical language. Kuroyanagi, Tetsuko * TOTTO-CHAN (J/92/KUROYANAGI) The author tells of the wonderful little school where she was taken after she had been expelled from the first grade (for being "different"). A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Laurence, Margaret A BIRD IN THE HOUSE This collection of interrelated short stories by one of Canada's best known authors is a semi-autobiographical account of growing up in central Canada. Lingard, Joan SISTERS BY RITE Growing up together on the same Belfast street in Northern Ireland, Cora, a Christian Scientist, Rosie, a Protestant, and Teresa, a Catholic, become friends. The friendship survives despite stress, but when Cora develops a crush on Gerard, Teresa`s older brother, the consequences are tragic. Markham, Beryl. * (92 Markham) WEST WITH THE NIGHT This is an amazing and true adventure tale. Markham describes growing up in Kenya in the early 20th century, learning to hunt with native warriors, being attacked by a lion, becoming a professional horse trainer, then a professional pilot and safari guide, and the first person to make a solo flight across the Atlantic from Europe to North America. Mason, Bobby Ann IN COUNTRY A teenager of the 80's, Sam is preoccupied with her father who had been killed in Viet Nam and with the meaning of that war for herself, her family, and friends. A visit to the Viet Nam war memorial wall in Washington D.C. begins to bring things in focus. Matsubara, Hisako (HRC) CRANES AT DUSK (J/F/MAT) The story of a Japanese girl who matures intellectually as WWII comes to an end. She sees that her parents' values are at variance with each other, and that seems to goad her into questioning life. McCullers, Carson (HRC) THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER This story focuses on a deaf mute, to whom many in the town offer their confidences. One of these is a young girl, who is sure that Mr. Singer is the only one who really understands her. Mori, Kyoko (HRC) SHIZUKO’S DAUGHTER Although the author now lives in the U.S. and writes in English, her novel is set in Japan. It is a series of poignant vignettes reflecting the inner life of the main character from ages 12 to 18 as she struggles with the fact of her mother’s death and learns to live as a strong woman. Mori, Kyoko THE DREAM OF WATER On sabbatical from her position teaching at a Wisconsin university, the author revisits her home in Kobe, trying to reconcile herself to her mother’s death and father’s cruelty. She views Japan through the lens of one who has adopted the U.S. as her home. Ortiz Cofer, Judith SILENT DANCING (92/ OrtizCofer) A series of poetic sketches made up of the writer's recollections of growing up bilingual and bicultural in Puerto Rico. Her pictures of women relatives are especially intriguing. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Plath, Sylvia THE BELL JAR The story of Esther Greenwood`s stay in New York as a contest-winning junior editor on a magazine. In this semi-autobiographical work, Plath focuses on her increasingly strained relation with her mother, her boy friend, and with madness itself. Rama Rau, Santha HOME TO INDIA. A young Indian teenager brought up in London returns to her own country just before WWII, and has to learn how to be an Indian. Sone, Monica * NISEI DAUGHTER The author, a Japanese- American woman, writes her personal account of growing up in the 1920's and 1930's on the Seattle waterfront, and of her family's internment during WWII. A particularly moving, true story that especially anyone with Japanese relatives would enjoy. Tan, Amy (HRC) THE JOY LUCK CLUB A recent best seller describing the lives of and relationships between several Chinese-American daughters and their Chinese mothers. Toth, Susan * BLOOMING: A SMALL-TOWN GIRLHOOD (92/TOTH) A memoir of growing up in Iowa in the 1950's. Full of vivid detail of a time that has disappeared, Toth's account also shows how the present is constantly shaped by the past as we move through time. Toth, Susan * IVY DAYS (92/TOTH) Toth describes her experiences at Smith College in the late 1950s. She outlines both her academic and social discoveries. Walker, Alice (HRC) THE COLOR PURPLE Celie writes letters to God, because sometimes things are so terrible, "you can't write anyone else." Ultimately she does overcome her difficulties. Wharton, Edith SUMMER Although Wharton's usual topic was wealthy New York society, in this novel, as in ETHAN FROME, she writes about unsophisticated people in a remote New England village. To Charity Royall, 18 and bored with her surroundings, the handsome young outsider seems to offer excitement, and escape... (FIRST SIGHTINGS, Ed. by Loughery, 1993 is an excellent collection of short stories about growing up - both girls and boys. The introduction called "Images of Childhood and Adolescence," is useful.) A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z J. Kushida |
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