the institutionalized racism of the American South. Hardened to the entrenched discriminationthat excluded him from good jobs <strong>and</strong> "white" restaurants <strong>and</strong> rest rooms, Dawson protestedjust once, when a woman for whom he was doing yard work expected him to eat with her dogs.Despite the harsh conditions of his life, he considers himself fortunate to have enjoyed food,housing, friends <strong>and</strong> family (he has outlived four wives <strong>and</strong> fathered seven children). This is anastonishing <strong>and</strong> unforgettable memoir.Pipe Dreams: A Surfer's Journey by: Kelly SlaterCocoa Beach, Florida, isn't exactly a breeding ground for surfing world champions -- the wavesare tiny. So when Kelly Slater was growing up, the furthest thing from his mind was becoming aworld champion. He was a Florida grommet whose biggest goal was to one day make it out farenough to catch the two-foot waves his dad <strong>and</strong> brother were riding -- anything more was adream.In Pipe Dreams, Slater takes you inside a churning Pipeline tube <strong>and</strong> lets you experience the rushof adrenaline <strong>and</strong> danger. He pays tribute to close friends who lost their lives surfing big waves<strong>and</strong> tells what life on the World Tour is really like, from schmoozing with celebrities torunning from stalker fans to the insane competition <strong>and</strong> off-the-wall antics of the world's mostfamous surfers -- including Tom Curren, Tom Car-roll, Gary Elkerton, Mark Occhilupo, RobMachado, <strong>and</strong> Shane Dorian. Slater also explains his various career moves, such as his stint as aregular on Baywatch, <strong>and</strong> the ups <strong>and</strong> downs of his love life -- from his on-again, off-againromance with Pamela Anderson to Bree, his first love, <strong>and</strong> their broken engagement.Pipe Dreams offers unprecedented access to the globetrotting lifestyle <strong>and</strong> the rarely seen privatelife of the man who destroyed every record in a sport long dominated by people who thoughtworld champions didn't grow up in Florida, himself included. Slater holds nothing back,because after six world titles, there is nothing left to prove -- not to himself or to anyone else.Rosa Parks: My Story by: Rosa Parks"The only tired I was, was tired of giving in." These are the simple yet eloquent words of RosaParks, who on December 1, 1955, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus,sparking the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. Written in her own straightforward <strong>and</strong>moving language, this is her compelling story.The Freedom Writers Diary : How a Teacher <strong>and</strong> 150 Teens Used Writing to ChangeThemselves <strong>and</strong> the World Around Them by: Erin Gruwell <strong>and</strong> The Freedom WritersWhen Gruwell was a first-year high school teacher in Long Beach, CA, teaching the"unteachables" (kids that no other teacher wanted to deal with), she discovered that most of herstudents had not heard of the Holocaust. Shocked, she introduced them to books abouttoleranceAfirst-person accounts by the likes of Anne Frank <strong>and</strong> Zlata Filopvic, who chronicledher life in war-torn Sarajevo. The students were inspired to start keeping diaries of their livesthat showed the violence, homelessness, racism, illness, <strong>and</strong> abuse that surrounded them.Tuesdays With Morrie by: Mitch AlbomThis true story about the love between a spiritual mentor <strong>and</strong> his pupil has soared to thebestseller list for many reasons. For starters: it reminds us of the affection <strong>and</strong> gratitude thatmany of us still feel for the significant mentors of our past. It also plays out a fantasy many of ushave entertained: what would it be like to look those people up again, tell them how much theymeant to us, maybe even resume the mentorship? Plus, we meet Morrie Schwartz--a one of akind professor, whom the author describes as looking like a cross between a biblical prophet<strong>and</strong> Christmas elf. And finally we are privy to intimate moments of Morrie's final days as he liesdying from a terminal illness. Even on his deathbed, this twinkling-eyed man manages to teachus all about living robustly <strong>and</strong> fully. Kudos to author <strong>and</strong> acclaimed sports columnist MitchAlbom for telling this universally touching story with such grace <strong>and</strong> humility.
PoetryHeartbeat by: Sharon CreechTwelve-year-old Annie ponders the many rhythms of life the year that her mother becomespregnant, her gr<strong>and</strong>father begins faltering, <strong>and</strong> her best friend (<strong>and</strong> running partner) becomesdistant.I am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices by: Paul FleischmanDuring a short career, Fleischman has received rave reviews <strong>and</strong> awards for his distinctivestories, radically different from each other. Here the author gives way to the poet, his alter ego,composing works that are arranged as duets but can also be relished by one alone, reading orreciting the lines as paeans to birds of various feathers.Love That Dog by: Sharon CreechJack hates poetry. Only girls write it <strong>and</strong> every time he tries to, his brain feels empty. But histeacher, Ms. Stretchberry, won't stop giving her class poetry assignments—<strong>and</strong> Jack can't avoidthem. But then something amazing happens. The more he writes, the more he learns he doeshave something to say.Out of the Dust by: Karen HesseIn a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family'swheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by: Paul FleischmanWinner of the 1989 Newbery Award, Joyful Noise is a children's book of poetry about insectsthat was designed for two readers to enjoy together. On each page are two columns of verse forchildren to alternate reading aloud about the lives of six-legged creatures ranging from fireflieswriting in the sky to a love affair between two lice, crickets eating pie crumbs <strong>and</strong> the single dayin the life of a mayfly.Witness by: Karen HesseA series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including ayoung black girl <strong>and</strong> a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is tryingto infiltrate the town.
Change language