Born a Crime
Trevor Noah

In this memoir, Trevor Noah writes about his childhood and upbringing in South Africa under apartheid.

Major thematic elements: identity and belonging, family, race and racism, survival & courage

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IB Literature and IB Language and Literature Connections

Place of publication: United States
Language: English
Era: 21st Century
Genre: Nonfiction - Memoir
Author: Male

Readers, writers and texts | Time and space | Intertextuality: Connecting texts

Common Sense Media rating for It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime for Young Readers: 11+

Full text, basic summaries, and overviews

Born a Crime | Full text and excerpts
The full text PDF we found for Born a Crime isn’t well-formatted, but it’s readable enough that if you want to get a preview of the text before committing to teaching it, you can. We also found a few
Full text from tarkashastra.co.in | Excerpt from chapter 1 via CBS Sunday Morning

Born a Crime Study Guide | Spark Notes
This study guide includes chapter and full book summary and analysis, character list and overview of main characters, themes, symbols, and motifs, and key quotes organized by theme.
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‘Born a Crime,’ Trevor Noah’s Raw Account of Life Under Apartheid | The New York Times | Michiko Kakutani | November 2016 | Book Review
This review stays focused on the key features of his memoir, especially the portrayal of life in South Africa with his family.
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Born a Crime: A Memoir of Love, Hope, and Resistance | LA Review of Books | Jeneé Darden | February 18, 2017
This review focuses on Noah’s portrayal of his mother in his memoir and looks at the text through the reviewer’s lens as a black woman.
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Born a Crime | Wikipedia
Wikipedia’s entry for this book is broken into five sections: narrative, reception, film adaptation, references, and external links.
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About the author

Trevor Chats with His Grandma About Apartheid and Tours Her Home, “MTV Cribs”-Style | The Daily Show | YouTube | 11:19
Because this video was produced for The Daily Show, we recommend previewing it to double-check its appropriateness for your classroom. This video is narrated by Noah as he travels home and discusses what his childhood was like and interviews his grandmother about what life was like for both of them under apartheid.
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Q&A: Author and Comedian Trevor Noah on Why He Wrote ‘Born a Crime’ | Audible | YouTube | 8:10
This video is of Noah responding to questions that appear on screen in text only. It’s easy to watch and follow along with.
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HCC Libraries | Trevor Noah Interviews
This page collects 9 video clips from Trevor Noah interviews, some of which connect directly to the publication of Born a Crime and some which were produced before he wrote his memoir but connect thematically to the text.
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Trevor Noah Says He Grew Up ‘In the Shadow of a Giant’ (His Mom) | NPR | Fresh Air | 43-minute listen
This page includes the audio of this interview and also pulls out key moments from the interview into text form.
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Trevor Noah | Britannica.com | Biography
For a straightforward biography of Trevor Noah, we like this article by Britannica. It’s only 6 paragraphs long and includes hyperlinks to topics students may want to learn more about.
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Articles, essays, and videos about Born a Crime

Curriculum Guide: “How Big is Africa?” | Boston University Pardee School of Global Studies: African Studies Center
This website presents six lesson plans on Africa for students in upper elementary, middle school, and high school.
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What is Systemic Racism [videos] | RaceForward.org
This is an “8-part video series that shows how racism shows up in our lives across institutions and society: Wealth Gap, Employment, Housing Discrimination, Government Surveillance, Incarceration, Drug Arrests, Immigration Arrests, Infant Mortality.”
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Why South Africa is still so segregated | Vox | YouTube | 10:15
This video examines “how centuries of division built one of the most unequal countries on earth.”
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Longing for Belonging: The Universality of Born a Crime | Providence College | Madison Palmieri, 2018 | Student Essay
This essay advocates for the use of Born a Crime in AP Literature curriculum, particularly based on the text’s theme of belonging.
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How does it feel to be born a problem? | SagePub.com | Whitney n. Laster Pirtle | Summer 2019 | Essay
This essay examines how Noah “uses the complexity and absurdity of his life to tease out numerous sociological concepts.”
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Lesson plans and other teaching resources

Born a Crime | Unit Plans
Ms. Filkins Website | Unit plan with pre-reading, during reading and post-reading activities, including full text, worksheets, and PowerPoints.
Teach with Born a Crime: Boward College Libraries | Hyperlinks additional documents and resources and a virtual escape room game

Born a Crime Teacher’s Guide | Penguin Random House
Teacher’s guide (downloadable as a PDF) and Freshman Year/Common Reading Guide are available.

Personal Essays and Storytelling: Trevor Noah, Nelson Mandela, and Nadine Gordimer | Yale National Initiative | Akela Leach
Full unit including objectives, teaching strategies, activities, resources, notes, bibliography and appendix.
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PBS Learning Media Lessons
Deepening Your Understanding of Race and Racism | Tools for Anti-Racist Teaching | Grades: All
Life Under Apartheid | Teaching with Primary Sources | Grades 6-8, 9-12
Winnie Mandela on Raising Children Under Apartheid | Grades 6-8, 9-12
Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela: The Battle to End Apartheid | Grades 6-8, 9-12
Promised Land: This Land is My Land, Not Yours | Grades 9-12

South African Apartheid | CommonLit
This article comes with an annotation tool, guiding questions, assessment questions, and discussion prompts.
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The Power of the Personal Story | PulitzerCenter.org
This lesson is designed to be taught after students have read Born a Crime. It focuses on modes of writing in an untimed format using news stories, autobiographies, and nonfiction texts.
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Born a Crime Summer Reading Assignments | Various Sources
From ACHS for English III using The Scarlet Letter, A Separate Peace, and Born a Crime
From Mr. Manser and Ms. Hogan for AP Language using In Cold Blood, and a choice of Born a Crime, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, or Educated
From Lower Dauphin High School for AP Language and Composition
From charterschool.org for AP English Language and Composition
From dimanregional.org - Modified assignment for students in grades 9 & 10 using the young adult version of Born a Crime

Born a Crime Discussion Questions | Various Sources
From fortbend-tx.aauw .net | 10 discussion questions
From Geneva Public Library District | Author biography, 12 discussion questions, book reviews, and readalikes
From kpl.gov | Summary and 19 discussion questions
From Random House Kids | 16 discussion questions for young adult version of text

Shopping List

Texts and other resources you may find helpful.

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Born a Crime
Paperback on Amazon.com

Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography
Paperback on Amazon.com

After Mandela: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa
Paperback on Amazon.com

It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (young readers)
Paperback on Amazon.com

Mandela: The Authorized Biography
Paperback on Amazon.com

Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White
Paperback on Amazon.com

Born a CrimeTrevor Noah

Back to Browse by Title | Browse by Author

IB Literature and IB Language and Literature Connections

Full text, basic summaries, and overviews

About the author

Articles, essays, and videos about Born a Crime

Lesson plans and other teaching resources

Shopping List

Back to Browse by Title | Browse by Author

Teacher Comp

Born a Crime
Trevor Noah