Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Write Your Memoirs
Write Your Memoirs Day
Reading Comprehension for April 11
We get our word memoir from the French word mémoire, which literally means "memory." It comes from the Latin word memoria. Isn't it interesting how similar these three words - in English, French, and Latin - are? A memoir is a story of a person's own experience. We most often use this word in its plural form -- memoirs. Those who pen memoirs are writing down their memories. It's the same as an autobiography. It's the story of a life.
Many celebrities publish their memoirs. It can be fun to read a book about the interesting things they have seen and done, the places they've visited, and the people they have known. Celebrities try to leave out the boring stuff and share only the most amusing, touching, or poignant memories. However, you don't have to be a movie star or sports hero to write your memoirs. You can begin today. It will be easier to write them now. You have fewer years to cover. The longer you live, the longer your memoirs would grow!
Someone once compared memoirs to home movies. If you include every dull moment, it will bore everyone but you! It's not supposed to sound like a textbook's list of facts. Unless your birth was unusual, you don't need to pour a lot of effort into describing how it happened. You don't have to include each year of your life if you don't remember something noteworthy occurring during some of those years. Your use of descriptive, colorful words will breathe life into your writing. The lively stories you choose to tell and the emotions you include will add interest as well.
