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Showing 1–4 of 4 books

  • List: Alex Awards
  • Genre: Nonfiction
  • Award year: 2000
  • Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child

    Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child

    By Elva Trevino Hart

    "My whole childhood, I never had a bed," begins Hart's bittersweet recollections about growing up one of six children in a migrant family that made the circuit from Texas to Minnesota each year. Her stories about her family, especially her stern but caring father, and about breaking away only to return home, show the moving struggle of an immigrant population, but also the universal personal struggle of finding, then acknowledging, oneself.
  • Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher's First Year

    Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher's First Year

    By Esmé Raji Codell

    This is a story about frustrations in the workplace, about refusing to conform, about taking a stand against mediocrity. The journal of a first-time teacher, her year with her fifth grade class, & her success teaching them reading & creative writing.
  • High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places.

    High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places.

    By David Breashears

    Admittedly stubborn and driven, Breashears recounts his life story-recollections of his abusive father and tumultuous childhood; his discovery and dedication to mountain climbing, which he has always equated with humankind's belief in hope; and his entry into filmmaking. His account of his 1996 Everest IMAX Filming Expedition, during which he and his crew sought to rescue survivors and reclaim the bodies of the people caught in the well-publicized Everest calamity, is a natural link to Jon Krakauer's 1998 Alex winner, Into Thin Air. The danger, the audacity, the adventure will keep teens enthralled, and send them to the shelves to find similar titles.
  • The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey

    The Hungry Ocean: A Swordboat Captain's Journey

    By Linda Greenlaw

    Greenlaw, the captain of the Hanna Boden, sister ship to the Andrea Gail, whose loss was portrayed in 1998 Alex winner The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, tells a different but equally fascinating story of life at sea. Hers is a record of a typical month-long swordfishing trip--the backbreaking work, the danger, the uncertainty of the weather, and the thrill of a gritty job that makes the sea a home. Writing has proven to be hard work, often painful, she says. I can honestly say I'd rather be fishing.