TED-Ed
Why Shakespeare Loved Iambic Pentameter
Spice up your traditional approach to teaching poetic structure with a wonderful animated video, which not only covers such terms as foot, meter, verse, but also stresses Shakespeare's unique use of iambic pentameter to convey...
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
Exploring Hemingway’s Style
The man, the myth, and the reality. Three clips from the documentary Hemingway by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick introduce viewers to the unique features of Ernest Hemingway's writing style and the events in Hemingway's life that...
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
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
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 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
One Hundred Years of Solitude | The Great American Read
One Hundred Years of Solitude introduces readers to magic realism. Told in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Nobel Prize-winning novel is a candidate for The Great American Read program and aficionados...
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
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
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.
PBS
The Handmaid's Tale | The Great American Read
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is the focus of a Great American Read video that urges viewers to read this dystopian novel about a villainous society that oppresses women and minority groups.
PBS
Scarlett O'Hara's True Love in Gone with the Wind
Rather than waiting to think about it tomorrow, a video from the PBS Great American Read series asks viewers to think about Gone with the Wind today, to see the novel as the story of a strong woman, a woman with "gumption."
PBS
George R.R. Martin Discusses Lord of the Rings
George R.R. Martin, famous in his own right for heroes, villains, dragons, and direwolves, offers his rationale for why viewers should vote for J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings with its elves, wizards, and hobbits as part of the Great...
PBS
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Created for the Great American Read series, a short video encourages viewers to vote for Invisible Man. Musician Wynton Marsalis and Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, among others, share their rationale for why Ralph...
PBS
John Green Talks about the Importance of The Catcher in the Rye
A part of The Great American Read series, John Green shares his passion for J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and urges viewers to include the novel on their list of great books.
PBS
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Narrators of a short video offer their rationale for why Catch 22 should be included in the Great American Read program. They touch on the key themes in Heller's satirical and sobering novel about Captain John Yossarian and the catch-22s...
PBS
Joseph Heller's Hilarious Catch-22
Comedian Seth Meyers shares his rationale for why Catch 22 should get viewers to vote for inclusion of Joseph Heller's satire in the Great American Read program.
PBS
Dune
Dune remains one of the most popular science fiction tales ever written. Find out why with a short video that argues for including Frank Herbert's tale of sandworms and Fremen, Mentats and witches, villains and heroes in the Great...
PBS
The Importance of Chicano Representation in Bless Me, Ultima
The best books either enable readers to see themselves, their culture, and their way of life reflected in the story or to gain an understanding of a way of life different from their own. Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima is such a book....
PBS
And Then There Were None
Justice and murder are the heart of the best mysteries. The writers interviewed for this episode of the Great American Read try to convince viewers that the best of this genre is Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.
PBS
1984 by George Orwell
Reverend Katrina Foster offers her rationale for why Winston Smith, the tragic hero of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, is her favorite literary character.