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Although many people traditionally categorize memoirs as subsets of autobiography and biography, memoirs are actually different in form, presenting a more narrowed focus. Although a biography or autobiography covers the story of a particular life, a memoir tells the story of a specific event or series of events highlighted as memorable moments in the author’s life.

The authors of biographies, such as the titles shown in Figure 3-6, write in the third person and do a lot of research. You can use a very literary style with biographies of historical, cultural, and scientific figures, past and present; whereas biographies of current hipsters and celebrities (both movie/TV stars and sports heroes) tend to read like Teen People magazine. And both types of biography have their readership. Biographies are generally written as picture books, middle-grade books, and YA — even graphic novels.

a) From Sing and Shout : The Mighty Voice of Paul Robeson reprinted by permission of the author. © 2020 Susan Goldman Rubin. The cover of Sing and Shout is courtesy of Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers. b) From book covers/jackets published by Abrams Books. Used by permission of Harry N. Abrams, New York. All rights reserved. The Eye That Never Sleeps: How Detective Pinkerton Saved President Lincoln text © 2018 Marissa Moss. Illustrations © 2018 Jeremy Holmes.

FIGURE 3-6: Example biographies.

Great new literary picture book biographies include The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read, by Rita Lorraine Hubbard, illustrated by Oge Mora (Anne Schwartz Books) and Drawing on Walls, by Mike Burgess, illustrated by Josh Cochran (Enchanted Lion Books), about Keith Haring.

For middle-graders, check out biographies and memoirs such as The Missing: The True Story of My Family in World War II, by Michael Rosen (Candlewick); and The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, by Sandy Tolan (Bloomsbury USA). And for the YA audience, Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band, by Christian Staebler and Sonia Paoloni, illustrated by Thibault Balahy (IDW Publishing); and Beauty Mark: A Verse Novel of Marilyn Monroe, by Carole Boston Weatherford (Candlewick).

The best biographies always reveal the most about the central figure’s character and include enough details and tidbits about the character’s personal life to make the reader feel like they’re getting a realistic and comprehensive look at another person’s life.

Memoirs are books of nonfiction narrative that are about a person’s life and personal experiences. The author is the main character of a memoir, so the reader assumes the content is factual.

Although most writers are adults, not all memoirs are for adults. Many adults write memoirs for middle-graders and especially young adults. The prolific writer Nikki Grimes’ Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir (Wordsong) recalls a fraught childhood transformed by writing. Stupid Black Girl: Essays from an American African, by Aisha Redux (Street Noise Books), is “an important and eye-opening contribution to conversations about global identity politics,” according to Kirkus Review, a reviewing body that we discuss in Chapter 20.