This chapter looks explicitly at empathy and readers taking an empathetic stance. In the chapter we define narrative empathy and feature undergraduate preservice teachers as they move from surface levels of sympathy to deeper empathy when engaged in Life Histories. We focus on two memoirs, A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park and The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez. The chapter addresses preservice teachers grappling with assumptions about African peoples and Latino migrant workers. Misunderstandings of text and characters surface as students make unfounded generalizations about entire populations. Layered texts become important to build background knowledge to counter misconceptions and to rethink, revise, and re-create honest and authentic portrayals.