A Chance in the World: An Orphan Boy, A Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home

• Genre: Nonfiction; memoir
• Originally Published: 2012
• Reading Level/Interest: Grades 9-12; college/adult
• Structure/Length: 3 parts; approx. 272 pages; approx. 8 hours on audio
• Central Concern: Author Steve Pemberton tells the story of his foster care as a child, his search for family members as a young adult, and his quest for personal closure and fulfillment in later adulthood.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Abuse; racism; foster care; drug and alcohol abuse; child physical and sexual abuse; child neglect

Steve Pemberton, Author

• Bio: Placed in foster care at age 3; inspired and comforted by books and stories throughout childhood; attended Boston College; served as Monster.com’s Diversity Officer and Vice-President of Diversity and Inclusion and Walgreens’s Divisional Vice-President and Chief Diversity Officer; a popular motivational speaker; board member for organizations that serve underprivileged children
• Other Works: The Lighthouse Effect: How Ordinary People Can Have an Extraordinary Impact in the World (2021); A Chance in the World (Young Readers Edition): An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home (2021)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Search for Belonging and a Sense of Home
• Identity, Race, and Racism
• The Evolution of the Meaning of Family