Scientist Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains why Gulliver's Travels is his favorite novel. Tyson shares his joy in the sometimes otherworldly stories.

Journey along with the narrator of a short, animated video who explains the political connections to be found in Dante's The Divine Comedy.

Lord of the Flies, William Golding's tale of English schoolboys who have crashed and are stranded on a remote island, reflects Golding's view of just how thin the veneer of civilized behavior is. The narrator of a short video argues for...

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.

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.

Laughter is the heart of dark comedy. It makes the unbearable bearable. Joseph Heller crafted his dark comedy Catch-22 to enable readers to laugh at the painful realities and underscore the absurdities of a war where people you don't...

Some assignments are great, some can become great, and some have greatness thrust upon them. This one is great. After completing Joseph Heller's classic satire, Catch-22, groups craft and present their own political satire.

Catch-22, Joseph Heller's send-up of military organizational bureaucracy, provides readers with an opportunity to consider the importance of the anti-hero. Class members fill out a worksheet comparing and contrasting the qualities of...

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...

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.

Benjamin Franklin may be known as a Founding Father, but he was also a prolific writer. Scholars examine his better-known pieces to learn about genre, voice, and early American history. The resource includes options for various...

The best Russian novel of the 20th century? The narrator of an interesting short video offers reasons why readers should tackle Mikhail Bulgakov's satirical comedy, The Master and Margarita.

More than 15 of Jane Austen's novels have been adapted into films. While viewers enjoy the lush sets, period costumes, and the depictions of eighteenth-century British gentry, what is often lost in these adaptations is Austen's satire. A...

What would Ben do? Jumping off from the pseudonymous letters Ben Franklin fooled his older brother into publishing when he was still a teenager, young literary lovers dive into acting, writing, and addressing a local issue with wit and...

Who is in line for the presidency? Learners research the line of succession in the executive branch. They analyze the role the cabinet plays in a situation where the president and vice president are not able to serve. Along the way,...

Good discussion questions are hard to find and even harder to craft. If you're looking for questions that will stimulate in-depth discussions for all four books in of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, check out this resource.

Travel the world with Lemuel Gulliver, stopping to meet the tiny people on the island of Lilliput and the giants of Brobdingnag. Scholars access the eBook to read all 12 chapters of the satirical adventure tale by Jonathan Swift. True to...

Gulliver's Travels tells the story of a man who goes on voyages and encounters strange people. A unit plan introduces readers to the classic text, as well as excerpts from other examples of sarcasm and satire, such as "A Modest Proposal"...

A free press is entitled to its opinions. While the news pages report the facts of events, editorial pages feature writers' and cartoonists' opinions about events to either directly or indirectly persuade. Introduce viewers to the art of...

Irony, the discrepancy between what is expected and what occurs, is the focus of a reference sheet that provides young writers with models of this literary device.

What is satire, and what are its characteristics? A handy handout provides young satirists with all the information they need to analyze a satire or to craft their own.

Hey, what's so funny? Explore the use of satire in a variety of media with a hands-on lesson. Fourth in a five-part journalism series from iCivics, the activity introduces satirical language in print and online. Pupils work alone or in...

Being a clown is hard work — no joke! Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee's Laugh Clown Laugh, a short film about German clown Reinhard "Filou" Harstkotte, asks viewers to consider the various roles played by clowns and to consider the implications of...

Like Mark Twain's introduction to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz warns readers not to search for a hidden message or moral in his tale. Yet many, such as Henry Littlefield, have done just...