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From Her

"I was Leila age the first time I watched a sheep get slaughtered."

This sentence of the book makes me feel sad for her. How she saw death in her young age. I wonder how much it inpacked her.

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"When my father was little, he lived in a village named after his family. Everyone in the village was either a Zhang or had married one, and circumstances had been this way for 600 years. His father, my grandfather, was the village doctor" from The Best Teen Writing Of 2012.

This spoke to me because he shared that his father had lived in a village after his family. And that his father, and his grandfather was the village doctor.

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Don't Look Back

They said I'd be safe here. They lied.

I thought this was a really interesting first sentence and really makes you want to read the words that come after.

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"I am born in Ohio but the stories of South Carolina already run like rivers through my veins."

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

I think this was a very captivating start to the story, and it makes me want to read more about it.

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DON'T LOOK BACK.

As I hid in the corner of my bedroom closet, my breath seized at the sound of approaching voices outside our apartment building. They scrambled over one another, pushing and shoving, wrestling for control of the conversation and straining to be heard over the raucous dialogu.

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I think that ji-li from the book Red Scarf Girl is indoctrinated with communist and Chinese propaganda. "Heaven and earth are great,but greater still is the kindness of the communist party".

The memoir From Here starts with startling first sentence Witch I think is trying to captivate you into the story.

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Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

I am born on a Tuesday at University Hospital / Columbus, Ohio / USA- / a country caught / between Black and White.

A very good way to start a book.

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"For some middle schoolers who compete in track and field, ribbons and gold medals might be the main goal but for a barrio girl like me, it's a lot more than winning first place." from Hurdles in the Dark

This passage shows that some people take some sport too seriously and that some people take sports for what they are, for fun.

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From Here by Luma Mufleh

"Is your dad dead?"

I wonder why this is the first sentence...

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I notice that each one of the memoirs start out in the middle of the action. One starts by talking about communism another about a dead father. "'Is your dad dead?' Leila doesn't make eye contact." Most books I've read start with a few pages of introduction, whereas the majority of the memoirs just start with an interesting or dramatic moment.

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"DON"T LOOK BACK"

"They said I'd be safe here. They lied. As I hid in the back corner of my bedroom closet, my breath seized at the sound of approaching voices outside our apartment building."

I chose this memoir because it really grabs you and makes you want to find out more about the story.

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From "They Called Me A Lioness"

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"The sky had disappeared. an object he saw only in silhouette, reaching across a massive arc of space, was suspended low over the house. It was longer than 2 and a half football fields and as tall as a city. It was putting out the stars." I chose this one because it felt like a scary part of history for him and others around him.

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I sit shivering in the tiny freezing cell of an Israeli interrogation center, my wrists and ankles sore from the tightly clasped shackles digging into them.

I did this one because it was kinda dramatic

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They Called Me a Lioness by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri

I sit shivering in the tiny, freezing cell of an Israeli interrogation center, my wrists and ankles sore from the tightly clasped shackles digging into them.

This sentence makes you picture the cell and feel what the main character feels.

It seems like a very sad book.

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"Content Warning: cancer, hospitalization, medical procedures, medical racism, microaggressions, macroaggressions, ableism,chronic pain, stem cell transplant, systemic violence, physical and emotional abuse, neglect, sexual assault, suicidal ideation, financial trauma, social media, substance use, chronic pain, medication, weapons, racism, classism, depression, anxiety, PTSD, neurodivergence, homophobia, misgendering, transphobia, fatphobia, erasure, death of loved ones, grief & loss." Bless the Blood: a cancer memoir by Walela Nehanda

Did anyone else read the content warning on this thing cause ummm.....

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"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. "

Booker T. Washington Hurdles In The Dark

I chose this memoir because it is a motivational meaningful, and intriguing quote, that inspires me in many ways and opens the book in an amazing way.

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"None of the other runners was even in sight. Louie had won by more than a quarter of a mile. He felt as if he would faint, but it wasn't from exertion, It was from the realization of who he was." from Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

This is meaningful because reading it made me proud of the character, like they were a friend that accomplished something amazing.

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On Friday, 12 June, I woke up early at six o' clock; it was my birthday. I'm not allowed to get up then, so I had to wait until a quarter to seven. Than I went down to the dining-room, where Moortje, my cat, welcomed me. At seven I went in to Mummy and Daddy, and then to the the sitting-room for my presents. The nicest present was you - my diary! From The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank

I like this to opening bit because it shows the excitement of when you wake up on our birthday and when you get a really good present that you didn't know you wanted it but you loved it so much. I also read the begining of this book and realized that Anne Frank had the same birthday as me, June 12!

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Bless the Blood by Walela Nahanda

"You have a white blood cell count of 660,000. That is 600 percent more than normal. You likely have leukemia."

I think that this is an action-packed first paragraph without actually having action.

I now want to read the entire book.

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"I am born as the south explodes too many people too many years. I do not yet know who I will be what i'll say how I'll say it. " Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline

Woodson

I think this is memorable because it really brings the reader in with the way she feels confused and you need to read the book to understand and figure it out .

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"There was no safe path in Kenya.

We had no map to guide our way, only stars.

We had no weapons to protect us, only sticks, and we had no guarantee we would survive only hope." from Don't Look Back by Achut Deng and Keely Hutton - p 143

"now you have to choose between two roads. The man from the Revolutionary committee looked straight into my eyes. you can break with your family and follow Chairman Mao, or you can follow your father and become an enemy of the people." from Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang - p 1

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"Chairman Moa, our beloved leader, smiled down on us from his place above the blackboard." from Red Scarf Girl

I think that this sentence is very interesting because as it refers to "Chairman Moa" as "smiling down on us from above" which makes me think that he is not a leader of the people but a ruler of power.

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"They said I'd be safe here. They lied." from Don't Look Back by Achut Deng and Kelly Holton

This quote stuck out to me because it is an attention-drawing way to start a book. It made me want to read the entire book. I hope the entire book is as thrilling as the first sentences.

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As I was walking down Stanton Street early one Sunday morning, I saw a chicken a few yards ahead of me. I was walking faster than the chicken so I gradually caught up. By the time we approached Eighteenth Avenue, I was close behind. The chicken turned south on Eighteenth. At the fourth house along, it turned down the walk, hopped up the front steps, and rapped sharply on the metal storm door with its beak. After a moment, the door opened and the chicken went in." from

I Thought My Father Was God by Paul Auster.

I think this is memorable beccause the chicken was walking free, but still decided to return home. Like in life, sometimes you're free, but at the end of the day, we all have to go home.

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Look, I get it. Normally, I don't read introductions either, but this one is important, and I'm not just saying that because I wrote it.(Yes I am).

I like this because the author is talking to you, not just at you.it makes him seem more real.

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Leukemia speeds up family reunions.

Bless The Blood, by Walela Nehanda.

Despite it's shortness I think this quote sums up the reality and the brutality of cancer so accurately It is hard to read. This is the start of one of the first paragraphs of the book and really set the tone for the memoir.

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"They said i'd be safe here. They lied."

Don't Look Back

Achut Deng and Keely Hotton

These first two sentences stuck out to me

because it feels like someone is telling me something serious and it leaves this cliff hanger effect that makes you want to read the memoir.

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"Still crouching, I pull my hair dryer out from under the cabinet, untangling its cord as i bring it into the open. I begged my parents for weeks to get it for me for my birthday last year, explaining that i did, in fact, need a $150 hair dryer with four different heat levels and a retractable cord. Holding its white plastic, I am suddenly bashed at the back of my head and thrown forward. At the same time, the angry buzz

of a swarm fills my ears as the floor shakes violently" from Obsessed by Allison Britz.

I like this because it's a calm early morning then out of nowhere she gets interrupted and it all goes down hill from there i thinks its a very interesting opening to the book.

By Leah

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"Puberty is the equivalent or guerrilla warfare on your body. Society commonly refers to it as the awkward phase, but I've always preferred to call it the "everything totally sucks and I hate my life" phase.

Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card. by Sara Saedi

I think it is memorable because it can be funny and relatable for a lot of people. It's a great start to make people laugh. I can imagine the author having fun writing the intro. It's a funny, but good way to introduce this book.

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"For some middle schoolers who compete in track and field, ribbons and gold medals might be the main goal, but for a barrio girl like me, its a lot more than winning first place"

I think this is memorable because i can relate to it by being a middle school kid and wanting to win and be competitive in sports.

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All he could see, in every direction, was water. It was June 22, 1943. Somewhere in the pacific ocean, American military airman and Olympic runner Louie Zamperini lay on a small raft.

I like this one because of how bleak it feels and how no matter how hard it was he still made it through to write the book.

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"Puberty is the equivalent of guerrilla warfare on your body. Society commonly refers to it as the awkward phase, but I've always preferred to call it the "everything totally sucks and I hate my life" phase." from Americanized: A Rebel with No Green Card by Sara Saedi

I think opening with a funny or relatable sentence draws readers in. I also like to hear stories about people's "awkward phases". I took this passage from the prologue because the first chapter page was just a ton of pronunciation which is boring.

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"Chairman Mao, our beloved leader, smiled down at us from his place above the blackboard"

I think that this is memorable because the way they adressed him as "our beloved leader" really caught my eye and it is an interesting start to the book.

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"My heels hurt, my head weighs a ton, and something like a giant invisible diving bell holds my whole body prisoner." from The Diving Bell and Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

This quote describes what it feels like to have a sick day or under pressure and I truly relate this because the way the author wrote it really described the feeling of sickness.

"Each of us is born with a history already in place." Bad Boy, by Walter Dean Myers

This spoke to me because it reminds you that everyone has a history and something that is passed along in their family

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Through the frayed curtain at my window,

a wan glow announces the break of day. My heels hurt, my head weighs a ton, and something like a giant invisible diving bell holds my whole body prisoner. My room emerges slowly from the gloom.

I think it is memorable because of the descriptions. and how it shows everything slowly emerging.

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"Each of us is born with a history already in place. There are physical aspects that make us brown-eyed or blue-eyed, that make us tall or not so tall, or give us curly or straight hair.' -- from Bad Boy, by Walter Dean Myers

This one struck me because the first sentence was a little mysterious. I wanted to know what he meant. The second sentence then created an image of us as history books from the moment we're born, which is an interesting idea. We need to read our own books!

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"I don't know what leukemia is.

I haven't even heard of it.

Mmm, well, except this one time at Montessori." from Bless the Blood:

a cancer memoir by Walela Hehanda

I think this is memorable because it creates the space for a story to be told, it's the perfect opening for a flashback, and it made me want to keep reading to know more.

By Aoife

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"Through the frayed curtain at my window, a wan glow announces the break of day. My heels hurt, my head weighs a ton, and something like a giant invisible diving bell holds my whole body prisoner." from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

I think this is memorable because it immediately creates both dread and suspense and I can easily imagine the scene based on the vivid phrases (wan glow).