What do you think?
Rate this book
Dreams from My Father (Adapted for Young Adults): A Story of Race and Inheritance
Now adapted for young adults--the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, which Toni Morrison called "quite extraordinary," offers an intimate look at Barack Obama's early days. This is a compelling journey tracing the future 44th president's odyssey through family, race, and identity.
A revealing portrait of a young Black man asking questions about self-discovery and belonging--long before he became one of the most important voices in America. This unique edition includes a new introduction from the author, full-color photo insert, and family tree.
The son of a white American mother and a Black Kenyan father, Obama was born in Hawaii, where he lived until he was six years old, when he moved with his mother and stepfather to Indonesia. At twelve, he returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. Obama brings readers along as he faces the challenges of high school and college, living in New York, becoming a community organizer in Chicago, and traveling to Kenya. Through these experiences, he forms an enduring commitment to leadership and justice. Told through the lens of his relationships with his family--the mother and grandparents who raised him, the father he knows more as a myth than as a man, and the extended family in Kenya he meets for the first time--Obama confronts the complicated truth of his father's life and legacy and comes to embrace his divided heritage.
On his journey to adulthood from a humble background, he forges his own path through trial and error while staying connected to his roots. Barack Obama is determined to lead a life of purpose, service, and authenticity. This powerful memoir will inspire readers to examine both where they come from and where they are capable of going.
A revealing portrait of a young Black man asking questions about self-discovery and belonging--long before he became one of the most important voices in America. This unique edition includes a new introduction from the author, full-color photo insert, and family tree.
The son of a white American mother and a Black Kenyan father, Obama was born in Hawaii, where he lived until he was six years old, when he moved with his mother and stepfather to Indonesia. At twelve, he returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. Obama brings readers along as he faces the challenges of high school and college, living in New York, becoming a community organizer in Chicago, and traveling to Kenya. Through these experiences, he forms an enduring commitment to leadership and justice. Told through the lens of his relationships with his family--the mother and grandparents who raised him, the father he knows more as a myth than as a man, and the extended family in Kenya he meets for the first time--Obama confronts the complicated truth of his father's life and legacy and comes to embrace his divided heritage.
On his journey to adulthood from a humble background, he forges his own path through trial and error while staying connected to his roots. Barack Obama is determined to lead a life of purpose, service, and authenticity. This powerful memoir will inspire readers to examine both where they come from and where they are capable of going.
- GenresNonfictionBiographyTeen
305 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 5, 2021
46 people are currently reading
213 people want to read
About the author
Barack Obama
318 books21.7k followersBarack Obama was the 44th president of the United States, elected in November 2008 and holding office for two terms. He is the author of two previous New York Times bestselling books, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope, and the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Michelle. They have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 15, 2024
I had known a little of his story from Promised Land but this was very delightful to read as it dug a bit further into his home before law school. His perspective and ability to pick apart situations and common issues across the world is amazing. I truly wish he could become a judge and serve on our Supreme Court. This man makes a difference and is a strong willed American. I cannot wait to read more of his work.
December 28, 2021
Beautifully Written Memoir
I never read the original version because at the time I didn’t read books by politicians. I’m a bit different now. This is a great YA edition and very accessible to teens/ adults who are learning English or more accessible books. What a great idea.
I never read the original version because at the time I didn’t read books by politicians. I’m a bit different now. This is a great YA edition and very accessible to teens/ adults who are learning English or more accessible books. What a great idea.
January 22, 2022
I read the young adult version of this and loved it! He lived such an interesting childhood and life as a young adult. The fact that he wrote it before he got into politics made it even more compelling to me because as a reader we know what his future had in store for him.
April 8, 2025
This was really interesting, but I don't think it was particularly well written - maybe because it has been adapted for young adults.
There was a lot about Obama's African Dad who was absent for most of his life. His Mum was also absent for periods of his life and he was bought up in part by his grandparents on his mum's side.
He grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii so two very different cultures and experiences. He also goes to visit his Dad's family in Kenya and meets a load of half siblings and aunts and uncles. His family is massive!
You can see how his early career led to studying law and then politics.
There is a lot about belonging early on and his experiences of racism.
There was a lot about Obama's African Dad who was absent for most of his life. His Mum was also absent for periods of his life and he was bought up in part by his grandparents on his mum's side.
He grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii so two very different cultures and experiences. He also goes to visit his Dad's family in Kenya and meets a load of half siblings and aunts and uncles. His family is massive!
You can see how his early career led to studying law and then politics.
There is a lot about belonging early on and his experiences of racism.
August 10, 2022
Quote : "I tell you this so you will
know the pressure your father was under. So you don't judge
him too harshly. You must learn from his life. If you have some-
thing, then everyone will want a piece of it. So you have to draw
the line somewhere. If everyone is family, no one is family. Your
father, he never understood this.
know the pressure your father was under. So you don't judge
him too harshly. You must learn from his life. If you have some-
thing, then everyone will want a piece of it. So you have to draw
the line somewhere. If everyone is family, no one is family. Your
father, he never understood this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2025
Where do I start? First, I am not a young adult. I borrowed this book accidentally, had a laugh, then decided I should go ahead and read it. As a tutor it's always good to have new book ideas on hand. But I loved it, whatever age it was designed for.
President Obama is so insightful and interesting it's hard to pick out just a couple of passages, but here you are:
*p 225, "What is family? Is it just a genetic chain, parents and children? Or is it two people who choose each other--who form a partnership--with the idea that together they will form a household? Does sharing the same memories make you family?
My own family were so complex and confusing that I'd never found a definite answer. Instead, I drew a series of circles around myself. An inner circle--where love was constant and unquestioned--almost taken for granted. Then a second circle, in which love and commitment were freely chosen. And then a circle for colleagues and acquaintances, like the cheerful gray-haired lady who rang up my groceries back in Chicago."
Or this: *p 233, about his father, he was told: "...You must learn from his life. If you have something, then everyone will want a piece of it. So you have to draw the line somewhere. If everyone is family, no one is family. Your father, he never understood this."
Or this: * p 292, his half sister Auma tells him about the special trees, and Obama thinks that it is true, "Each tree seemed to possess its own character--not generous, not cruel, but simply enduring, with secrets whose depths I would never plumb. They looked as if they might uproot themselves and simply walk away, if it weren't for the knowledge that on this earth one place is not so different from another --the knowledge that one moment carries within it all that's gone before."
In this book (which was first published in 1995), President Obama tells about his one visit with his late father, the senior Barack, who came to stay with his family in Hawaii for one month when he was 10. It is heartbreaking for the reader to realize he never saw him again, but I won't spoil the book for you and tell you why this is. I was heartened that they did write after that visit, albeit there were also periods of estrangement.
You will wonder reading this why the author sought to become anything other than a writer. He is so eloquent, so perceptive, and so lyrical in his prose-writing that he rivals the very best of non-fiction writers. I enjoyed particularly getting to see Kenya through his eyes and looking at how a family system, no matter how flawed, defines so much of our identity. Even miles and seas apart, we are our parents'children. The postscript (written in 2004) at the end for his mother Ann Dunham, who had died of cancer after he wrote the text, broke my heart, and I cried. She was a good woman, a scientist, who never spoke badly of the senior Barack. That was a gift.
President Obama is so insightful and interesting it's hard to pick out just a couple of passages, but here you are:
*p 225, "What is family? Is it just a genetic chain, parents and children? Or is it two people who choose each other--who form a partnership--with the idea that together they will form a household? Does sharing the same memories make you family?
My own family were so complex and confusing that I'd never found a definite answer. Instead, I drew a series of circles around myself. An inner circle--where love was constant and unquestioned--almost taken for granted. Then a second circle, in which love and commitment were freely chosen. And then a circle for colleagues and acquaintances, like the cheerful gray-haired lady who rang up my groceries back in Chicago."
Or this: *p 233, about his father, he was told: "...You must learn from his life. If you have something, then everyone will want a piece of it. So you have to draw the line somewhere. If everyone is family, no one is family. Your father, he never understood this."
Or this: * p 292, his half sister Auma tells him about the special trees, and Obama thinks that it is true, "Each tree seemed to possess its own character--not generous, not cruel, but simply enduring, with secrets whose depths I would never plumb. They looked as if they might uproot themselves and simply walk away, if it weren't for the knowledge that on this earth one place is not so different from another --the knowledge that one moment carries within it all that's gone before."
In this book (which was first published in 1995), President Obama tells about his one visit with his late father, the senior Barack, who came to stay with his family in Hawaii for one month when he was 10. It is heartbreaking for the reader to realize he never saw him again, but I won't spoil the book for you and tell you why this is. I was heartened that they did write after that visit, albeit there were also periods of estrangement.
You will wonder reading this why the author sought to become anything other than a writer. He is so eloquent, so perceptive, and so lyrical in his prose-writing that he rivals the very best of non-fiction writers. I enjoyed particularly getting to see Kenya through his eyes and looking at how a family system, no matter how flawed, defines so much of our identity. Even miles and seas apart, we are our parents'children. The postscript (written in 2004) at the end for his mother Ann Dunham, who had died of cancer after he wrote the text, broke my heart, and I cried. She was a good woman, a scientist, who never spoke badly of the senior Barack. That was a gift.
January 9, 2023
After reading Barack Obama’s Dreams from my Father, I am comforted to know I am not alone in questioning the sense of belonging and in search of home.
We are all right where we need to be. In this moment.
Cheers to finding our soul purpose, family and home in the world.
Highlights from the book
- The act of writing is exactly that powerful. It’s a chance to be inquisitive with yourself, to observe the world, confront your limits, walk in the shoes of others, and try on new ideas.
-This work can anchor you, and fortify you, and surprise you.
- The journey is always worth taking. Your answers will come.
- What concerned me more was the gap between our talk and our actions.
- I thought I could start over. But now I know you can never start over. Not really.
- “The Audacity of Hope.” ... move beyond our narrow dreams, to be part of something larger than ourselves.
- ... on this earth one place is not so different from another—the one moment carries within it all that’s gone on before.
- ... so long as the questions are still being asked, there is hope that what binds us together will prove stronger than what drives us apart.
We are all right where we need to be. In this moment.
Cheers to finding our soul purpose, family and home in the world.
Highlights from the book
- The act of writing is exactly that powerful. It’s a chance to be inquisitive with yourself, to observe the world, confront your limits, walk in the shoes of others, and try on new ideas.
-This work can anchor you, and fortify you, and surprise you.
- The journey is always worth taking. Your answers will come.
- What concerned me more was the gap between our talk and our actions.
- I thought I could start over. But now I know you can never start over. Not really.
- “The Audacity of Hope.” ... move beyond our narrow dreams, to be part of something larger than ourselves.
- ... on this earth one place is not so different from another—the one moment carries within it all that’s gone on before.
- ... so long as the questions are still being asked, there is hope that what binds us together will prove stronger than what drives us apart.
April 24, 2024
This version is a shorter version of the book, and made for a young audience. Though I am over 40, it still resonated with me, so do not be disheartened as you will get the story that Barack Obama wanted to transmit.
One of the most charismatic leaders to ever grace the World, the 44th President of the USA shares with us his family tree and his upbringing as a child of a white woman and a Kenyan father he barely knew.
This is his quest of accepting himself in a changing America, in finding his African roots and coming to know his father through his distant relatives.
Through his story we get more familiar with the struggle of race in America. The phrase synonymous with Mr. Obama, such as 'the audacity of hope' resonates throughout this book, where one can trace his vision back to when he was younger. What a man!
One of the most charismatic leaders to ever grace the World, the 44th President of the USA shares with us his family tree and his upbringing as a child of a white woman and a Kenyan father he barely knew.
This is his quest of accepting himself in a changing America, in finding his African roots and coming to know his father through his distant relatives.
Through his story we get more familiar with the struggle of race in America. The phrase synonymous with Mr. Obama, such as 'the audacity of hope' resonates throughout this book, where one can trace his vision back to when he was younger. What a man!
February 11, 2024
There were some great parts I was really getting into, like his organizer time in Chicago, and then his life changed paths. The family stories got a little convoluted. I wanted more on his social change work and his feelings. I feel like I only got a taste of who he is since discovering his family’s story. I think the book was written before he really figured things out.
Read
December 24, 2022i didn’t wanna rate the book bc it’s someone’s literal life story BUT i will say that it was very insightful. read this if you’re looking for a book that will make you THINK about society, family dynamics, and racial identity.
August 12, 2025
A compelling story or a man’s journey to young adulthood through race, faith, family, expectations and values. A book to learn from and relate to, regardless of background. Beautifully written and a nice, light read.
February 23, 2022
I had no idea this book was published so long ago. I found this book really inspiring and it made me want to start taking a hard look at my life and see what I want out of it.
September 14, 2022
This book adapted for young readers deals with various aspects of identity and how several pressures that one has to encounter in life.
July 15, 2023
Good book about identity, Obama's struggles with race and the perseverance of the American spirit.
March 10, 2024
Clear and easy to read. Elaborated me on the life and mental path of the previous U.S. president Barack Obama. It's always enjoyable and fascinating to read a biography of a great person.
April 8, 2024
You learn a lot of his back story and get a peak into different cultures. An okay read not as inspiring as I thought it would be.
September 25, 2025
Beautiful read, very moving and uplifting story
January 13, 2026
Barack Obama is a great storyteller! The audio book was read by him. Enjoyed listening to this lesson on where he came from and his connection to family.
November 3, 2021
I found the start a bit slow like it was a script but as it went on and Obama opened up more I found it more and more interesting, It was a good read and I did enjoy this book.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews