King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography.

Author: Chris Crutcher

Publisher: Random House/Listening Library, p2004.
ISBN-9781400095001
length: 4hrs. 30mins.

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre:Biography
Media Type: audiobook
Read by: Chris Crutcher
Author's website

Grade level: 9+

Reader's annotation: Growing up in a small town in a remote area under the thumb of an older brother isn’t always easy. Being a very non-athletic person in a school that worships its athletes is even more difficult.

Summary: This is the autobiography of Chris Crutcher, mostly his experiences from his childhood and high school years. He keeps us entertained with stories about his sports experiences as he is not really a very good athlete, and being bullied and/or controlled by his older brother, whatever you want to call it. He referred to himself as a bawl baby, and shamelessly told us about all the times he got tricked into doing something he didn’t want to do and ended up crying his way out. There were several touching, and heart-wrenching, in some ways, events that gave the reader insight into how similar his novels are to his real life. At the end he does talk a little bit about his life as an adult.

Evaluation: It is almost hard to remember that this is not one of his novels, especially when you hear a story that sounds familiar. This gives great insight into why Chris writes the kinds of books he does and where his stories come from.

Born on a blue day : inside the extraordinary mind of an autistic savant : a memoir

Author: Daniel Tammet

Publisher: New York: Free Press 2007
ISBN- 978-1416535072
pages: 240
Author's blog

Classification: Adult
Genre: Biography,
Topics: autism, GLBT, coming of age
Media Type: Book

Grade level: 10+

Reader's annotation: Take a journey into the mind of someone who sees personalities in numbers and can learn new languages in a snap but struggles with some of the things most of us take for granted.

Summary: This is a memoir of an autistic savant who really wants the rest of the world to understand what he and others like him go through on a daily basis as they live with their condition. At the time of writing his story, Daniel lives with his boyfriend, has a job that he enjoys and is living an almost normal functioning life in a lot of ways. But it wasn’t always this way and we see the kind of internal struggles Daniel had to deal with as he grew up. Fascinating story that is a great follow-up after reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. He takes us from the beginning, from how is parents dealt with him as a baby and small child, through his childhood and teenage years to his adulthood.

Evaluation: Amazing insight into the life of a savant. The reader gets a front row seat to how he got where he got without feeling like you are invading his space, which of course is what he is struggling with all the time. The way he “sees” the world will benefit anyone who reads this and peak their imagination.

The Endless Steppe

Author: Esther Rudomin Hautzig

Publisher: New York: Harper & Row 1968
ISBN-978-0694056088
pages: 243

Classification: Young Adult Fiction
Genre: Biography
Topics: WWII, coming of age
Media Type: Book

Grade level: 5-Adult

Reader's annotation: During WWII Esther and her family were removed from their comfortable house in Poland and exiled to the harsh Asian Steppes until the war ended. Esther recounts the way they make do and find some creative ways to survive.

Summary: This is Esther’s autobiography of the period when her family was forced out of their home in Poland to live an exiled life on the Russian Siberian Steppe during WWII. Life is pretty grim there, first in the crowded barracks filling their days with the back-breaking work at the gypsum mine, and eventually in their own dirt floored hut, farming potatoes to keep from starving to death. Esther eventually goes to school, makes some friends and even becomes entrepreneurial with her knitting business. Though she has been separated from her father for several years, she is afraid to leave this place and go back to the unknown destruction of Poland after the war is over.

Evaluation: The reader will be impressed with her ability to stay so positive in such poverty and find the beauty in life that keeps her going. Girls will enjoy the compassion to the human spirit that is brought out in them when they read her story and will keep her in their minds afterwards.