Getting to Know You

Getting to Know You

A list by Jessie, Community Libraries Director

I love getting to know someone and hearing their story. Every book on this list tells the story of a real person and the adversity they faced.

Books

A story of growing up under apartheid, illegal simply by being born to a white father and Black mother... but a funny comedian version.

A story about returning to life after a tragic medical illness.

The story about a young boy and a war that he never wanted to be a part of.

A story of love, loss, and a little girl.

A story of a little girl in a very different part of our world and what she did to take control of her own life.

A story of how one poor woman in the 1930s impacted modern medicine.

A story of a teen cast out of her ultra-Orthodox Jewish family.

A story of what it took for one French boy to become a celebrity chef.

A story of a young woman with a mystery illness.

A story about one man's mission to fight the Taliban by building schools to educate the local children (including the girls).

A story of a neurosurgeon facing his own mortality. Get a box of tissues ready.

A story of a traveler in the Middle East held hostage for 460 days and what it took for her to survive.

The story of a man facing a terminal cancer diagnosis.

A story about two troubled boys and the destruction they caused.

A story about a boy born into a poor working class family, who was able to escape his upbringing and graduate from Yale Law School.