Memoir Text Recommendation

Hi all - I know in class a number of us are working on memoir unit plans and I wanted to recommend a memoir text that my CT passed on to me. The text is Learning to Swim by Ann Turner. The memoir is a collection of poems written about a specific period in the author’s life and the sexual abuse that she suffered at the time. It is a quick read (only about 113 pages in total) and very accessible for students. Also I found it very refreshing, as this was a memoir written entirely in poetry form. Very unique and the imagery is amazing. I highly recommend it and I found it powerful and moving.

Just be advised that this text deals with adult topics (molestation) so I'm not sure this would be appropriate for middle school, but I would feel comfortable using it in a high school setting. But again, this depends on your students and the school environment.

I included a link to Amazon.com for Learning to Swim incase you wanted more info on the book (and I guess you could purchase it there if you wanted to...) Just click on the title of this post and it will take you to Amazon.com (high tech! And no, I am not a paid employee of Amazon.)

I would really like to hear any more suggestions on memoir texts that go beyond the usual suspects (i.e. The Color of Water by James McBride and Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt - both very solid memoir texts, but I'm looking to expand my library to pull from).

Thanks,
Jen