The following booklist represents a portion of the books available in the Northglenn High School library. For additional books on this topic or related topics, please visit the library or use Destiny to search the collection.

Source Code: My Beginnings

92 GAB

A memoir by a pioneering big-wave surfer, this book traces Maya Gabeira’s journey from a Rio de Janeiro teenager who fell in love with surfing at a beach party to a world-record holder. Headstrong and independent, she persuaded her divorced parents to support her pursuit despite severe asthma. In a male-dominated sport marked by misogyny and isolation, a chance encounter with big-wave surfer Eraldo Gueiros inspired her to chase waves over 20 feet tall. Battling injuries, anxiety, and self-doubt, Gabeira ultimately broke the record for the largest wave surfed by a woman in Nazaré, Portugal—an inspiring story for young athletes and outsiders determined to break barriers.

Source Code: My Beginnings

92 SAN (Graphic Novel)

In this moving young adult illustrated memoir, Raymond Santana of the Central Park Five reflects on his wrongful conviction and eventual exoneration in 2002. Arrested at just fourteen for a crime he did not commit, Santana recounts his journey from Harlem to his arrest, trial, the years in prison, and his long fight for justice. Through vivid illustrations created with artist Keith Henry Brown, Santana shows how creativity—especially art and fashion—became a refuge and source of hope. His story highlights resilience, the power of hope, and the importance of standing up against injustice.

Source Code: My Beginnings

92 GAT

Source Code is Bill Gates’s personal origin story, focusing not on Microsoft or philanthropy, but on the experiences that shaped him. Gates reflects on his childhood, family influences, friendships, losses, and early struggles to belong, alongside his discovery of computers at the dawn of the digital age. From late-night coding as a teenager to his college years, the book traces the formative moments that led him toward changing the world, offering a warm, revealing portrait of the human being behind the legend.

Hick: The Trailblazing Journalist Who Captured Eleanor Roosevelt's Heart

92 HIC

Lorena Hickok rose from a difficult childhood, supporting herself from age fourteen, to become a gifted writer and one of the Associated Press’s top reporters by her mid-thirties. Breaking into male-dominated Midwestern newsrooms, she covered everything from sports to politics. Her life changed dramatically when she was assigned to cover Eleanor Roosevelt during FDR’s campaign, falling deeply in love with the future First Lady and altering the course of her personal and professional life.

The Ballerina of Auschwitz

92 EGE

Edie is a talented dancer and a skilled gymnast with hopes of making the Olympic team. Between her rigorous training and her struggle to find her place in a family where she's the daughter "with brains but no looks," Edie's too busy to dwell on the state of the world. But life in Hungary in 1943 is dangerous for a Jewish girl, and just as Edie falls in love for the first time, Europe collapses into war. Edie's family is forced onto a train bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp. Even in those darkest of moments, Edie's beloved, Eric, kindles hope. Auschwitz is horrifying beyond belief, yet through starvation and unthinkable terrors, dreams of Eric sustain Edie, and against all odds, she and her sister Magda survive.

Hollow: A Memoir of My Body in the Marines

92 WIL

This memoir follows the author's experience as an eighteen-year-old Mormon woman who left her strict upbringing to join the Marine Corps. But the first language the Marine Corps taught her wasn't Arabic, Farsi, or Dari. It was how Marines speak to—and about—women.

A powerful coming-of-age story of one girl's struggle, adrift in warrior culture.

Who's That Girl?

92 EVE

In this memoir, Eve reveals her experience working both in hip-hop and Hollywood, dealing with a male-constructed industry that directly affects female rappers, the internal mental health struggles that come from fame, her journey through fertility issues and motherhood, working on an entertaining yet controversial talk show, and finding her balance as a wife, mother, and international superstar

This fearless, empowering, and inspirational memoir from hip-hop sensation Eve explores her rise to stardom as a female MC, her lasting legacy on pop culture and music, and her incredible yet enduring struggle to balance her personal life with her professional one.

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music

92 GRO

This memoir chronicles the life of Grammy award-winning musician Dave Grohl and details his early life, as well as his music career with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters. Includes black and white photographs.

The Chair and the Valley: A Memoir of Trauma, Healing, and the Outdoors

92 LYO

Banning Lyon was your average 15-year-old, living in Dallas, TX. He enjoyed skateboarding, listening to punk rock, and even had a part-time job. But in January 1987 his life quickly changed after a school guidance counsellor falsely believed he was suicidal. Days later he was admitted into a psychiatric hospital, and what he was told would be a two-week stay turned into 353 days that would change his life forever. Banning takes readers through his fraught relationship with his family, the abuse he suffered at the hospital, the lawsuit against the owners of the facility, and his desire to make sense of what happened to him.

Chipped: Writing from a Skateboarder's Lens

92 VAD

Chipping a board—where small pieces of deck and tape break off around the nose and tail—is a natural part of skateboarding. Novice or pro, you'll see folks riding chipped boards as symbols of their stubborn dedication toward a deck, a toy, and aging bodies that will also reach their inevitable end. In Chipped, Jose Vadi uses essays to explore his own empathy in aging, and to elaborate on the impact skateboarding has had on culture, power, and art. From tracing a critical mass skater takeover of San Francisco's streets, to an analysis of visceral '90s skate videos and soundtracks, to the solace found skating a parking lot during a global pandemic, Vadi expands our understanding of the ways skateboarding can alter one's life.

Diary of a Dying Girl

92 SMI

Mallory Smith was no ordinary girl, and this is no ordinary story. At age three, Mallory was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis--a disease that attacks the internal organs and would eventually kill her. Despite living on borrowed time, Mallory pursued her passions—volleyball, writing, the environment, her boyfriend, family, and friends. Most importantly, every day she chose to embody the mantra "live happy." Mallory also had her struggles--everything from love and sex to living with illness and just being a human on this planet. And she chronicled every bit of it, writing thousands of diary entries before her death in her twenties. This is the poignant, true story of a young woman who refused to be defined by chronic illness. Her light and her life are shared here in her own words to encourage everyone to live life to the fullest, as she did, even as she was dying.

The Girl Who Sang

NAD (Graphic Novels)

A child at the mercy of her neighbors during a terrifying time in history, The Girl Who Sang is an enthralling first-hand account of the fight for survival during World War II. Estelle weathered loss, betrayal, near-execution, and spent two years away from the warmth of the sun--all before the age of eleven. And once the war was over,she walked barefoot across European borders and found remnants of home in an Austrian displaced persons camp before finally crossing the Atlantic to arrive in New York City as a young woman carrying the unseen scars of war.

Pieces of a Girl

92 KUE

A raw and bold memoir about abuse and addiction, and the power of expression and community that helped the author survive and thrive. Told in varied narrative styles, including journal entries, original illustration, and pages torn from her actual diaries and zines, this is the memoir of Stephanie's life as a struggling outsider who survived substance and relationship abuse to become a strong young woman.

Layers: A Memoir

BAG (Graphic Novels)

Pénélope Bagieu never thought she'd publish a graphic memoir. But when she dusted off her old diaries (no, really--this book is based on her actual diaries), she found cringe-worthy, hilarious, and heartbreaking stories begging to be drawn. In Layers , Bagieu reflects on her childhood and teen years with her characteristic wit and unflinching honesty. The result is fifteen short stories about friendship, love, grief, and those awkward first steps toward adulthood.