Early in the school year with senior students we complete a personal writing unit where students explore essays and chapters of memoirs. Here are two suggested memoirs for secondary ELA that will be perfect additions to this unit. I will be using excerpts from both memoirs – Eternity Martis’ 2020 book They Said This Would Be Fun and Jenny Heijun Wills’ Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related, which won the 2019 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
Eternity Martis’ They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up
Book Summary
The first suggested memoir for secondary ELA is this one by Toronto-based author Eternity Martis has been on my TBR list all year (I included it on my Summer TBR and reviewed it here) and after reading it I am adding a copy to the memoirs I use in my classroom.
Writing about her time as an undergraduate student at Western University in London, Ontario, Martis shares her experiences of growing up while away from home for school and the many, many incidents of anti-Black racism she faced at university and in the community.
How To Use This Memoir In ELA
With students making their post-secondary plans, this book will provide an essential point of view that has been missing from the unit. Martis writes, “I’ve used my own experiences, as well as examples from across Canadian universities, to illustrate that this is a nationwide issue that demands attention”. There is specificity in her experience as she relates it in the book but there too is a universality to it – like all good stories!
There are two chapters that may work well within my unit plans: “token” and “Party Gastritis” (Note: There are references to alcohol, drugs, and sex in this second chapter. You know your students best so make sure to preview the material to make a more informed decision.) The inclusion of these topics in a realistic way will be important parts of our classroom discussion around this particular chapter.
Read more about this book on the author’s webpage.
Jenny Heijun Wills’ Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related.
Book Summary
The second suggested memoir for secondary ELA is Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related., told in letters and vignettes, explores the experience of one transnational adoptee. And, like Martis’ memoir, this book too focuses on the specific in order to share a more universal experience as it relates to identity. Notable in the narrative is an examination of the disjointed or fragmented nature of identity, particularly as it relates to the importance of language and food (among other facets).
The author re-tells her experience of returning to South Korea in her early twenties to meet her first family after having been adopted at six months old by a couple in Southern Ontario. Wills recalls the experiences of travelling, locating, and meeting her birth parents and the relationship that continued after that first visit. She also explores her ongoing relationship with her family after she leaves South Korea that first time, including her parents’ visit to Montreal for her wedding and her younger sister’s relocation to Canada.
How To Use This Memoir In ELA
I will be using the opening pages of the book with my students in which Wills explains her birth, naming, adoption to Canadian parents, and the very early parts of her return to South Korea in her late-twenties. Being able to present a range of voices and experiences in my classroom is important and this adoption narrative will be a welcome addition.
Read more about this book, including an excerpt of the opening pages, on the publisher’s webpage.
