Contemporary Biographies

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• Contemporary books
• Biographies
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Losing My Faculties: a Teacher’s Memoir
By Brendan Halpin
BIOGRAPHY HALPIN
In this journal-like memoir, Halprin explains how he became involved in teaching high school English in Boston and two nearby suburbs. As he was finishing grad school in the early 1990s, he applied for positions in the Boston public school system, wanting to teach kids in an urban area in order to change their lives. Here he shares his nine-year roller-coaster ride of life in those schools.

The Stardust Lounge
By Deborah Digges
BIOGRAPHY DIGGES
At 14, Stephen was stealing cars, waving guns around his house, and running with a violent gang. But his mother, poet and memoirist Deborah Digges, did not give up on Stephen. Instead, she took extraordinary steps to save him, even disguising herself and following him on his nighttime escapades, and inviting gang members into her home.

There Are No Shortcuts
By Rafe Esquith
BIOGRAPHY ESQUITH
What's a Los Angeles middle-school teacher to do when charged with a bunch of fifth and sixth graders, none of whom speak English at home and most of whom are eligible for free lunches? If you're Esquith, you have them read Twain, perform Shakespeare, play classical guitar and study algebra. You take them camping and to concerts and the theater. Part memoir, part manual, but primarily a call for action, Esquith's book is explicitly directed to parents and "concerned citizens" as well as teachers.

There Is No Me without You
By Melissa Greene
362.732 GRE
Journalist Greene sheds light on the AIDS epidemic in Africa by focusing on Haregewoin Teferra, an Ethiopian widow who has opened her heart and her home to her hundreds of her country’s AIDS orphans.