PBS
A Separate Peace
Jenna and Barbara Bush, daughters of former President George W. Bush, and author Armistead Maupin share with viewers their reasons for selecting John Knowles' A Separate Peace as one of their favorite books.
PBS
Ready Player One
Ready Player One has been praised as a novel that captures the vitality, the allure, and the essence of the virtual reality experience. Speakers in a short video share their rationale for why Ernest Clines' dystopian novel should be...
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
Heroes and Hope in Frank Herbert's Dune
Wil Wheaton shares his rationale for why readers should vote for Frank Herbert's Dune as their choice for the Great American Read program. His talk touches on the major themes of the novel and its central conflicts.
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
The Continuing Fight for Tom Robinson and To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960, but its messages remain just as true today as they were in Harper Lee's novel. Learners watch a video that details the story of Anthony Ray Hinton, who was sent to prison for a crime he...
PBS
Family and Identity through To Kill a Mockingbird
How does the Finch family structure set it apart from their community, even before Atticus begins defending Tom Robinson? Watch a video that discusses how Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird establishes a distinctly American world...
PBS
Chosen Family and The Outsiders
Can you choose your family after all? The greasers in S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders are as close as family, even though only Pony Boy and his brothers are related. A short video features commentary by hip-hop artist Danny Boy O'Connor...
PBS
The Call of the Wild
Jack London's books feature male characters, but that doesn't mean they're just for boys! Chelsea Clinton and Shanna Peeples discuss the underlying messages of love and sacrifice in The Call of the Wild, as well as the conflict of man...
PBS
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Is the Queen of Hearts a misunderstood monarch or an unchecked tyrant? A video from a series on villainous characters examines how Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland paints the Queen of Hearts as the ultimate...
TED-Ed
"Three Months After" by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
What does despair feel like, and what does it look like? Pupils explore the theme of sadness with the sixth episode from the first season of the "There's a Poem for That" playlist. They watch an animated representation of Cristin O'Keefe...
TED-Ed
"All the World's a Stage" by William Shakespeare
"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" ... and so begins one of English literature's most quoted plays. Scholars watch a visual interpretation of William Shakespeare's poem "All the World's a Stage" from As...
TED-Ed
"The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats
War, anarchy, destruction ... William Butler Yeats's poem "The Second Coming" has a little something for everyone! With episode four from season one of the "There's a Poem for That" playlist, scholars watch an animated version of the...
TED-Ed
"The Nutritionist" by Andrea Gibson
How can poems help people express their innermost feelings? With episode three from the first season of the There's a Poem for That playlist, pupils listen to the narrator share about her inner world. As Andrea Gibson reads her poem,...
TED-Ed
"To Make Use of Water" by Safia Elhillo
How can someone manipulate language to describe an essential resource such as water? Pupils consider the question with the second episode from season one of the There's a Poem for That playlist. Learners watch an animated version of the...
TED-Ed
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
What happens when people take the road less traveled? Scholars explore the topic using the first episode from season one of the There's a Poem for That playlist. Viewers watch an animated adaptation of Robert Frost's classic and...
PBS
Defying Convention | Little Women
Jo's decision not to marry her childhood friend Laurie broke the hearts of many readers—but it also represented Little Women's successful break from traditional nineteenth-century gender roles. A short clip illustrates Jo's desire to...
British Council
The Tempest 2: Greed, Wrath and Lust
A magician strands a group of people on a deserted island and The Tempest begins. A video introduces English learners to Shakespeare's dramatic—and final—play. After listening to a summary of the plot and analysis of one of the...
Crash Course
Moonlight
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences awarded its 2017 Best Picture award to Moonlight, which was written and directed by Barry Jenkins. The tender exploration of expectations for black men, contrasted with the reality of...
The School of Life
James Joyce
James Joyce was not the first writer to use stream of consciousness, but the sensory experience in such novels as Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was revolutionary in the literary world. Learn more...
The School of Life
Charles Dickens
How much do you know about the life of Charles Dickens? A thorough video discusses the author's professional successes and private failures with engaging animation and informative narration.
The School of Life
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
While Fyodor Dostoyevsky experienced more difficulty and suffering than he did happiness, his point of view reveals aspects of humanity that are essential to the way we relate to each other now. A thorough and rich video...