Curated OER
What Makes a Hero?
Viewers will love this engaging video, which is an adventure of its own! The narrator begins by relating the hero's journey to modern books, and then introduces Joseph Campbell and his thoughts about the process. As the narrator details...
TED-Ed
"Ode to the Only Black Kid in the Class" poem by Clint Smith
Poet Clint Smith reads his poem "Ode to the Only Black Kid in the Class."
PBS
Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises: “Talking” with Authors and Scholars
Film clips from the documentary Hemingway Ken Burns and Lynn Novick provide readers of The Sun Also Rises with the opportunity to hear what other writers and critics have to say about Hemingway's portrayal of the post-World War I Lost...
PBS
Comparing Hemingway to Young Adult Literature
Challenge groups to create a recommended reading list of contemporary young adult fiction that explores the same themes found in Ernest Hemingway's short stories and novels. After examining a list Hemingway created and a list put...
PBS
The Old Man and the Sea: Critical Interpretations
Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; however, the critical interpretations of the novel have called it everything from "ordinary" and "schoolboy writing" to a "masterpiece." Readers are allowed to...
PBS
Hemingway’s Influences and Contemporaries
Three clips from the documentary Hemingway by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick explore the events and people who influenced Ernest Hemingway.
PBS
Chosen Family and Ghost
There's something powerful about a book that speaks your language and experiences or introduces you to the language and experiences of others. A National Book Award winner, Jason Reynolds' novel, Ghost, is such a book. Find out more...
PBS
Looking for Alaska
Looking for Alaska is the subject of a short PBS video that encourages viewers to read John Green's award-winning young adult novel about first love.
PBS
Relatable Characters in Dark Tales and The Book Thief
Markus Zusak's The Book Thief is another novel high on the list of must-reads from The Great American Read collection. Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George W. Bush, and John Green of Crash Course series fame share...
PBS
Falling in Love with Reading and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
At first glance, it doesn't seem like Betty Smith's story of 11-year old Francie Nolan, a poor Irish girl living in the 1920's Brooklyn, should remain a best-seller for almost 100 years. But A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has remained a...
PBS
Preaching the Gospel of the Revolution
Articulate and determined, passionate about equal treatment for all Americans, James Baldwin was an early spokesman for the Civil Rights Movement. The short PBS video provides viewers with the opportunity to hear Baldwin share his ideas...
PBS
Neil DeGrasse Tyson Explores Gulliver's Travels
Scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains why Gulliver's Travels is his favorite novel. Tyson shares his joy in the sometimes otherworldly stories.
PBS
100 Years of Solitude, Part 2
Part 2 of the Crash Course Literature focused on One Hundred Years of Solitude looks at Gabriel Garcia Marquez's story as a reflection of Latin America's history of colonialism and exploitation by corporations.
PBS
100 Years of Solitude, Part 1
100 Years of Solitude is not for readers who prefer linear narratives. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's tale mixes the past, present, and future simultaneously. Marquez's masterpiece of Magical Realism models that individual perspectives...
PBS
Pride and Prejudice
Published in 1813 and considered by many to be the first romance novel, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice still tops the chart as a favorite read. Literary experts share why the tale of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy continues to win the...
PBS
Jane Eyre 2: Meeting Mr. Rochester
Adapting a much-beloved novel for the screen can be a tricky business. Each media has its own possibilities and limitations. The second PBS Jane Eyre resource in the Masterpiece series asks readers to evaluate how the filmmakers have...
PBS
Jane Eyre and First-Person Narrative
An episode from the PBS Great American Read series focuses on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and how the first-person narrative impacted two very modern women.
PBS
Jane Eyre 3: The Governess
The third episode in the Masterpiece Jane Eyre series focuses on the episode in which Jane has been invited to bring Adele to meet Lady Ingram and her daughter Blanche. Viewers are asked to compare how the film and the novel convey...
PBS
Jane Eyre 1: First Impressions
As part of a study of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, class members compare the portion of Chapter IV, where Jane is criticized by Mrs. Reed and interrogated by Mr. Brocklehurst, with the film interpretation of the same scene.
PBS
Gulliver's Travels | The Great American Read
Neil deGrasse Tyson shares his rationale for why Gulliver's Travels was his favorite book as a child and still is as an adult. He urges viewers to vote to include Swift's satire in The Great American Read program.
PBS
Frankenstein | The Great American Read
A top vote-getter for the Great American Read program is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Find out why the classic tale, adapted into over 50 films and numerous TV shows, has earned its spot on the favorites list.
PBS
Allison Williams Explains Her Love for Frankenstein's Monster
Ah, but who is the real monster in Frankenstein? Actress Allison Williams shares her reasoning for why Mary Shelly's horror story should be included in The Great American Read series.
PBS
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Rather than windmills, Ignatius J. Reilly, the hero of John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Confederacy of Dunces, battles against modernity. Find out why Professor Walter Isaacson thinks Toole's novel should get viewers' votes...
PBS
Bill T. Jones Discusses James Baldwin's Another Country
Bill T. Jones, Artistic Director of New York Line Arts describes why he picked James Baldwin's novel, Another Country as his favorite novel.