Gangrey
Vol. I · No. 1Prolonging the Slow Death of NewspapersEst. 2026

Narrative Nonfiction About Adolescence

Can you folks make a few suggestions? This comes from a Gangrey reader:

I teach high school English to juniors in Chicago. Last year, I discovered that my students absolutely love reading narrative nonfiction pieces about adolescence. Not only did it greatly improve their reading and hence their writing, but it also generated some fascinating discussions about issues that hit really close to home for many of them. With the permission of my principal, I'm spending this summer putting together a curriculum of exclusively narrative nonfiction articles, and I've found a ton of great pieces about high school students on a variety of issues. However, I am still about six to eight pieces short of my goal and I seem to have reached a wall in terms of my search. I was hoping you might have some ideas or even might be able to post a blog entry asking for recommendations. Below I have listed the best articles I've found so far to give you an idea of what I'm looking for. Thanks so much for your help!!

" Murder at Locker 02-069" by Susan Taylor Martin in the St. Petersburg Times on February 11, 2001

"The Terrible Boy" by Tom Junod in Esquire October 2002

"The Boy Behind the Mask" by Tom Hallman Jr. in The Oregonian staff on Saturday, September 30, 2000

"About a Boy Who Isn't" by Benoit Denizet-Lewis in the New Yorrk Times Magazine on May 26, 2002

"Prairie Fire" by Eric Konigsberg in the New Yorker on January 16, 2006

"My Addicted Son" by David Sheff in the New York Times Magazine on February 6, 2005

"Will Jonathan Graduate?" b y Lonnae O'Neal Parker in the Washington Post on Saturday, November 10, 2007

"Yolanda's Crossing" by Paul Meyer and Stella M. Chavez in the Dallas Morning News on W ednesday, December 20, 2006

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