A Long Way Home

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What distinctions exist between the genres of autobiography and memoir? What literary elements do these genres share with other types of storytelling?

Teaching Suggestion: Like many similar works of nonfiction, this text includes characteristics of both genres. Autobiography is a first-person account, but it is typically told in a straightforward, chronological order and encompasses the person’s factual life history. Memoir is told as a first-person account of the author’s life experiences, but it more often is structured around memory, theme, or other narrative elements the author chooses. In this way, memoirs offer more authorial control over the telling of one’s own story. As a linear narrative that begins with the author’s childhood, A Long Way Home can be seen as autobiographical; however, the text includes strong elements of memoir as well. Students might consider literary elements such as voice, tone, style, and authenticity in their responses. Information from these or similar resources can help students develop more context on the topic.

• Writer’s Digest’s “Defining Creative Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction, Memoir, Autobiography, and Biography” provides some helpful definitions of these genres.