Book Discussion Kits

Memoir/Autobiography Kits

The Kits: All titles, with summaries | All titles, by author | All titles, by title | New Adult Titles | New Youth Titles | Information about the Kits

Kits by Genre or Age: Contemporary Fiction | Historical Fiction | Memoir/Autobiography | Mystery | Nonfiction | Grades 4-5 | Grades 6-9

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Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie.
After hearing his college professor was dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease, Albom made weekly visits and learned from him “life’s greatest lessons” of love, forgiveness and the meaning of life. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.
Memoir by the celebrity chef of Les Halles in New York City gives eye-opening behind-the-scenes look at the restaurant business. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Bryson, Bill. In a Sunburned Country.
Bill recounts his travels in Australia, home of deadly plants and animals, lots of empty space, and an atonishing variety of cities and towns, each unique. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Bryson, Bill. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.
Bryson's own childhood in 1950s America is the focus this time. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalacian Trail.
After living 20 years in England, Bryson reacquaints himself with America by walking the Appalachian Trail and shares his comic insight into the trail's people, politics and history. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Burns, Olive Ann. Cold Sassy Tree.
A humorous and loving look at small town life at the beginning of the 20th century. Young Will Tweedy narrates the tale of his grandfather's romance with a younger woman, his purchase of the first automobile in the county, and life at the general store owned by his family. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Chang, Jung. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China.
Chang tells the story of three generations of women in her family who survived the political upheaval of China during the 20th century, beginning with her grandmother, a concubine to a warlord in feudal China, her mother, who rose to a prominent position in the Communist Party, to the author, raised during the Cultural Revolution until she was sent to study in England in 1978, giving a history of China from a personal perspective. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Codell, Esme. Educating Esme.
Your first year teaching at a poor urban school can really be tough. Esme, however, has energy, wit, big ideas and a touch of cynicism. Written in diary form, we read about her successes and failures as a teacher as she experiences them over the course of a year. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking.
Joan Didion addresses her own feelings and the events surrounding her daughter’s hospitalization and the death of her husband by heart attack. Her loving marriage was based in part on a shared intellectual vigor, which she brings to this memoir. Book Discussion Questions from Borzoi.

Dumas, Firoozeh. Funny in Farsi: a Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America.
Dumas chronicles her life in America with a collection of zany-but-true family stories. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, Love.
A memoir of a year-long journey of soul searching and self discovery through the sensual delight in Italy; meditation in India; and love in Indonesia. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

Hillenbrand, Laura. Seabiscuit: An American Legend.
Yes it's true-- a biography of a horse! Seabiscuit was an unlikely champion due to his physical proportion, but the cast of human characters (from owner to trainer to jockey) that believed in him produced a winner. Not just for 'horse people', this quick paced, exciting and much-admired book has been turned into an Academy Award (TM) nominated movie! Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

Hockenberry, John. Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence.
National Public Radio correspondent relates his experiences reporting from a wheelchair in Baghdad, Beirut, Jerusalem and New York City. Book Discussion Questions from MPL .

Mayes, Frances. Under the Tuscan Sun.
A California professor and her partner buy and renovate an abandoned farmhouse in Tuscany, Italy. Part travelogue, part memoir, part renovation guide with recipes, this book has enchanted readers with its poetic descriptions and enchanting setting. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

McBride, James. The Color of Water.
This memoir combines accounts of McBride’s childhood in a mixed-race family and his mother’s life history, and is a powerful portrait of growing up, a meditation on race and identity, and a poignant hymn from a son to his mother. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

McCourt, Frank. Angela's Ashes.
McCourt gives us the sad and humorous tale of his impoverished Irish Catholic childhood, from his birth in Brooklyn, New York, through the family's emigration when he was four to the slums of Limerick, Ireland, and comes full circle with McCourt's return to America as a young man. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

Moehringer, J.R.. The Tender Bar.
A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist recounts growing up in a bar where the barflies became family. This memoir follows Moehringer’s search for a father figure and for the life he desires. Book Discussion Questions from Hyperion Books.

Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran.
Iranian author Nafisi recounts her time leading a secret reading group of women in the mid 1990s. Classics of western literature take on new meaning and insights in the hands of these Muslim women. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

Nielsen, M.D., Jerri. Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole.
Nielsen chronicles her bravery and stamina as she treated her own breast cancer, while working as a medical doctor at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on Antarctica, until she could be rescued when weather conditions permitted. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

Perry, Michael. Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time.
EMT and former nurse Perry moves back to his hometown - New Auburn, WI - after years away. His stories about his emergency calls are compelling and his ruminations on small town life unique. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.

Perry, Michael. Truck: A Love Story.
The author chronicles a year spent restoring an old pickup, gardening, and falling in love. This memoir is filled with eccentric characters, keen observation, and humorous storytelling. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Reichl, Ruth. Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table.
This memoir of family, friends and food by the former restaurant critic for The New York Times and current editor of Gourmet Magazine focuses on the early childhood and adulthood of the author, and shows what led to her love of food.

Sedaris, David. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.
In this collection of humorous essays, David Sedaris discusses childhood, family and relationships, revealing that "normal" is truly a relative term.

Sedaris, David. Me Talk Pretty One Day.
Laugh out loud essays by NPR commentator on his antic family and his life in New York and Paris. Book Discussion Questions from MPL.

Tolan, Sandy. Lemon Tree.
The history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is traced through the personal histories of two who occupied the same house at separate times: Dalia, a woman whose family of Bulgarian Jews immigrated to Israel in 1948, and Bashir, a man whose family was driven out of Palestine. Book Discussion Questions from BloomsburyUSA.

Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle: A Memoir.
Walls recalls growing up in a dysfunctional yet creative family with a brilliant, charismatic father, who was destructive and dishonest when he drank, and a free-spirited artist mother, who hated domesticity and the responsibility of raising a family. Book Discussion Questions from ReadingGroupGuides.