While many can identify Ernest Hemingway's famous works, they may be unaware of his service during World War I and how that affected his literary contributions. An video details Hemingway's service in World War I and explains events and...

Discover how writers express identity in their writing. Learners explore how issues of identity surface in the literature of minority writers. Scholars watch a video, read and discuss biographies, conduct research, engage in creative...

How do writers use words to protest injustice, challenge the status quo, and shape their own identities? Individuals watch and discuss a video, read author biographies, write poetry and journals, develop a slideshow, and complete a...

The television and interstate highways both came of age in 1950s America. Scholars use film, text, and discussion to explore how these and other cultural icons shaped the literature of the time. Pupils also create a family history...

How do authors use their writing as a means of responding to social and cultural change? Pupils watch a video, engage in discussion, read interesting author biographies, write an account of a typical day in a sharecropping family, and...

The American Dream is a goal that many pursue, but is it truly attainable for all people? An in-depth lesson explores the plight of migrants in twentieth-century America. The resource includes a video and author biographies and...

How did literature reflect people's attitudes in post-World War I America? A lesson explores the topic using a variety of activities. Individuals watch and respond to a video; read author biographies and engage in discussion; write...

Rhyme, rhythm, free verse, imagery: Do these words describe poetry, or jazz music? The answer is both! A resource explores these similarities as scholars watch a video, engage in discussion, read author biographies, write poetry and...

Many American writers in the late nineteenth century wanted their writing to reflect real life. Individuals watch and discuss a video, read and explore author biographies, write a journal entry and a poem, and complete a multimedia...

How did writers capture and express the distinct voices of their characters in nineteenth-century texts? Individuals explore regional dialect in American literature. They watch a video, engage in discussion, read author biographies,...

How do nineteenth-century texts by African American and Native American writers contribute to the country's ideals of freedom and individuality? Learners explore the topic by watching and discussing a video, reading biographies, writing...

What were the driving forces behind American expansion in the nineteenth century, and what were its effects? Scholars watch a video, read biographies, engage in discussion, write journals and poetry, draw, and create a multimedia...

Poetry is not just for romance. Teach middle schoolers about soldiers' experiences during World War I with poetry written by the soldiers themselves. The lesson includes a simulation activity, a graphic organizer activity, and a...

A reading of Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem" launches the first lesson in a study of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. After reading the poem and examining the title and book cover of the play, individuals craft an essay in which...

Wonderstruck, Brian Selznick's young-adult tale of two preteens who set alone on a quest, provides the text for the clues in a crossword puzzle. A great way to check on readers who were struck by the novel.

The odds will be in your favor that young statisticians will volunteer to participate in this experiment. After watching a short video that is part of the PBS Math at the Core middle school collection, scholars engage in a lottery and...

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...

Amy Tan was surprised by the reception of her story of four Chinese families that immigrated to the San Francisco Bay area. The vignettes about the mothers who make up the Joy Luck Club, and their daughters, models the experiences of...

Douglas Adams' hysterical send-up of bureaucratic thinking, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is the focus of a Great American Read video that urges viewers to vote for one of the greatest satires since Gulliver's Travels.

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...

Bill T. Jones, Artistic Director of New York Line Arts describes why he picked James Baldwin's novel, Another Country as his favorite novel.

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.