[LM_NET] HIT: TAR--HS: Anonymous Diaries similar to Go Ask Alice?

[Teresa Tartaglione <thisisteresat@GMAIL.COM>]

Original Query:

Hello All:

I am going through my orientation surveys and where I asked the students to
list some things they like to read about/want to see in the library, one
student put "Non-Fiction: anonymous teenage diaries."  I know students love
Go Ask Alice, which is fiction, but I could not think of any memoirs like
this off the top of my head.  I know they will be popular, so I would really
like to address this request.  Do any of you have some suggestions that
would fit in a high school library?

As always, thank you so much for your endless expertise!

Thank you for your suggestions, they were wonderful and so helpful, as
usual--most people pointed me towards Beatrice Sparks...here are all of the
responses:

 had a copy (unreturned) a number of years ago about a girl with AIDS.
Purportedly by the same "author." Sorry, can't remember the name of it.
When girls ask for this type of book, I usually point them to books
like _A Child Called It_ and that ilk. They seem to be satisfied.
Anyway... Please post a Hit!

Offhand, I would mention It happened to Nancy, Annie's baby and Jay's
journal.

I'm sure others beat me to it today - but look up  Beatrice Sparks. She
edited a number of titles like go Ask Alice, such as:
It Happened to Me
Jay's Journal
Annie's Baby
Kim, Empty Inside

Annie's baby is HOT HOT HOT here

Speak is good

Hi Teresa,
Still fiction, Ellen Hopkins' books are told in verse.  She has titles such
as Crack, Glass, ect.
Mary

Go Ask Alice was actually written by Beatrice Sparks.
Would you be interested in the other books she wrote? She wrote a few
anonymous teenage diaries like:
It Happened to Nancy (rape and AIDS)
and
Jay's Journal (suicide and witchcraft)
and
Annie's Baby (teenage pregnancy)
If you do a search under Beatrice Sparks you will find a few more. I've read
some of them and they are really popular with my kids.

Beatrice Spark, the editor of Go Ask Alice, also has several similar books
on teen drinking, eating disorders, etc.  They might also enjoy Neufeld's
Lisa Bright and Dark and, for older students, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar.

A couple of ideas for you, but they may not be quite what you're after.
We've done really well with anything by Sarah Dessen and Jodi Piccoult as
well.
My Name is Davy, I'm an Alcoholic
Lock and Key
First Part Last
Hanging on to Max
A Halfway Homeless Memoir: Girlbomb
Memoirs of a teenage Amnesiac
The Privilege of Youth
Hope this helps.


Hi Teresa,

The books by Beatrice Sparks appeal to a similar audience, as do the books
by Dave Pelzer, though the latter can be quite harrowing.
I forgot to add Meloday Carlson's various "Diary of a teenage girl" series,
which have a Christian perspective which may or may not be appropriate in
your situation.  Our students enjoy them.

Look for other books by Beatrice Sparks. She is the "author" of Go Ask Alice
and has published other similar titles, e.g. Jay's Journal. Sarah T. by
Robert S. Wagner is another "anonymous" title.

I'm assuming you already have all of Dave Pelzer's books (A Child Called
It).  That series and all of Beatrice Sparks books fly off the shelves.  Not
as popular, but kids will take them when they can't get copies of the
others:  "Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls, "A Girl's Life Online" by
Katherine Tarbox, "Grief Girl" by Erin Vincent.  And although they're
fiction, they also love the Ellen Hopkins books (Crank, Glass, etc.).


The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures (Paperback)~
Phoebe Gloeckner
<
https://mail.uwsuper.edu/Phoebe-Gloeckner/e/B001K7W51Y/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager, A True Story from Her Diary
<http://www.amazon.com/Happened-Nancy-Teenager-Story-Diary/dp/0380773155/ref
=
sr_1_79?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258692284&sr=1-79>  by Anonymous Teenager and
Beatrice Sparks (she has several other titles)

I Want To Live: The Diary of a Young Girl in Stalin's Russia
<http://www.amazon.com/Want-Live-Diary-Stalins-Russia/dp/0618605754/ref=sr_1
_
80?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258692284&sr=1-80>  by Nina Lugovskaya
The Diary of Petr Ginz
<
http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Petr-Ginz-Chava-Pressburger/dp/0871139669/ref=sr
_1_87?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258692729&sr=1-87>  by Chava Pressburger, Elena
Lappin, and Jonathan Safran Foer
The Diary of Ma Yan: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl
<
http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Ma-Yan-Struggles-Schoolgirl/dp/0060764988/ref=sr
_1_149?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258692883&sr=1-149>  by Ma Yan and Pierre Haski
 Covered Wagon Women, Volume 1: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails,
1840-1849
<
http://www.amazon.com/Covered-Wagon-Women-Diaries-1840-1849/dp/0803272774/re
f=sr_1_157?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258692971&sr=1-157>  by Kenneth L. Holmes
<https://mail.uwsuper.edu/Kenneth-L.-Holmes/e/B000APU00A/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk
_
1?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1258692971&sr=1-157>  and Anne M. Butler
<https://mail.uwsuper.edu/Anne-M.-Butler/e/B000APOHAE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1
?_
encoding=UTF8&qid=1258692971&sr=1-157>
Diary of a Teenage Health Freak: Aidan Macfarlane
no Ordinary Lives: Marily Sequin
Diary of a Teenage mind: Shavon Smith
Ancient and Medieval Teenage Diaries: Anne Hart

I have not read these, but they sound good...
I would hope of course, that you have Anne Frank.
The following I have read, more than once :)

Alicia My Story: Alicia Appleman-Jurman
Chinese Cinderella: Adeline Yen Mah
Red Scarf Girl - a Memoir of the Cultural Revolution: Ji-Li- Jiang
My Forbidden Face -Growing up under the Taliban - a Young Woman's Story:
Latifa
China's Son-Growing up in the Cultural Revolution : Da Chen
In My Hands - memories of a holocaust rescuer: Irene Gut Opdyke
I have Lived a thousand Years-growing up in the holocaust: Livia
Bitton-Jackson
Jay's Journal
Annie's Baby
It Happened to Nancy
Almost Lost
These are all fiction by or edited by Beatrice Sparks.

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