Book Reflection

Book Reflection Paper due 3/14 at 9:00 p. submitted
From the reading list, you will choose a book about someone or some group whose background and life are significantly different from yours. It is expected that you will choose a book you have not already read. Your reflection will address the following:

  1. Introduction
  2. Describe and discuss the major themes in the book in relation to the writer/characters’ life experiences, formative influences, and their development of social identity. What were critical social, cultural, or political events that shaped the lives of the writer/character? What coping mechanisms were employed?
  3. What are the major differences between your life/worldview and that of the writer/character in the book?
  4. What insights or observations did you derive that will influence your motivation toward social action on behalf of an oppressed group?
  5. Conclusion

Page Length 3-4 pages, double spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font, with proper citations (APA or MLA)

The assignment will be graded according to the following criteria:

  • Identification of major themes, formative influences, and development of social identity (20%)
  • Discussion of coping mechanisms (20%)
  • Discussion of differences between your life and that of the writer (20%)
  • Reflection on your own insights/observations (20%)
  • Evidence of critical thinking (10%)
  • Organization, grammar, formal writing, citations (10%)

Book Reflection Options

  • Beah, Ishmael A Long Way Gone
  • Bono, Chaz Transition: Becoming Who I Was Always Meant to Be
  • Boo, Katherine Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
  • Brown, Cupcake A Piece of Cake
  • Bragg, Rick Over But the Shoutin’
  • Chai, May-lee Hapa Girl: A Memoir
  • Delman, Carmit Burnt Bread and Chutney: Growing Up Between Cultures-A Memoir of an Indian Jewish Girl
  • DeParle, Jason American Dream
  • Dunn, Stormie Silenced No More: The Courage of a Solider – Life After Military Sexual Trauma
  • Erlbaum, Janice Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir
  • Fadiman, Anne The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
  • Fowler, Connie May When Katie Wakes: A Memoir
  • Grande, Reyna The Distance Between Us
  • Hall, Shyima Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave
  • Halo, Thea Not Even My Name: A True Story
  • Henry, Neil Pearl’s Secret: A Black Man’s Search for His White Family
  • Hijuelos, Oscar Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir
  • hooks, bell Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood
  • Jones, Edward P. The Known World
  • Kim, Eunsun & Falletti, Sebastien A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea
  • Kotlowitz, Alex There Are No Children Here
  • Lim, Shirley Geok-lin Among the White Moon Faces: An Asian American Memoir of the Homelands
  • Moody, Ann Coming of Age in Mississippi
  • Moore, Wes The Other Wes Moore
  • Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
  • Nguyen, Kien The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood
  • O’Brien, John At Home in the Heart of Appalachia
  • Otsuka, Julie When the Emperor Was Divine
  • Skloot, Rebecca The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
  • Wahls, Zach My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family
  • Walker, Rebecca Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self
  • Williams, Gregory Howard Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black
  • Yousafzai, Malala I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot By the Taliban
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