Is anybody familiar with either of these “memoirs”? I hate to use the quotes, but in light of recent revelations about other so-called memoirs . . . Are these, particularly the first one, truly memoirs or fiction packaged as memoirs? They’re two of the books on the Alex Awards list for 2006. “The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) selects ten adult books that will appeal to teen readers to receive the Alex Award each year.” The blurbs are my library’s descriptions, not mine.

Julia Scheeres. Jesus Land: A Memoir
At home, the Scheeres kids must endure the usual trials of adolescence – high-school hormones, incessant bullying, and the deep-seated restlessness of social misfits everywhere – under the shadow of virulent racism neither knows how to contend with. When they start to crack (or fight back), they are packed off to Escuela Caribe. This brutal, prison-like “Christian boot camp” demands that its inhabitants repent for their sins – sins that few of them are aware of having committed. Julia and David’s determination to make it though with heart and soul intact is told here with immediacy, candor, sparkling humor, and not an ounce of malice.

Jeannette Walls. The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Here is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

Other books on the list are Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys and Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.