This beautifully illustrated collection of simple and also more complex Irish poetry for children and young adults explores multiple topics – from animals, seasons, celebrations and daily incidents to myth and legends. Offering a poetic variety from more than 100 Irish poets, this collection takes its readers to an enchanted world. “The Great Blue Whale” […]

As the title suggests, this illustrated picture book lets children discover their love for reading and its positive side effects. Following a young boy called Henry and his appetite for written words, the readers experience what it means to develop a deep passion for long and short stories, poems and other kinds of literature – […]

This picture book by Jim Arnosky beautifully illustrates Bob Dylan’s song “Man Gave Names To All Animals” (1979) and makes the reader aware of the diversity of animals living on our planet. Its vivid images invite us to learn the names of about 100 animals – from B for ‘baby crane’ to Z for ‘zebra’. […]

This film drama based on the Jodi Picoult novel of the same name approaches medical ethics, sisterhood, isolation and hope. The story follows the unusual life of Anna Fitzgerald. Anna’s older sister Kate has acute promyelocytic leukaemia and, before Anna was born, struggled to find a genetic match for various donations. Anna was conceived via […]

This beautifully illustrated picture book of Langston Hughes’s “Dream Variations” (a poem published in 1926) explores the speaker’s vision of a society without racism, discrimination, segregation, and racial prejudice. Dancing through the ‘white day‘, representing dominant white society, and ‘flinging his arms widely‘ the speaker, a young African-American boy dreaming of equality, freedom and ease, […]

In this poem, the speaker contrasts the ideals of the American Dream, such as liberty, freedom, and equality, with the realities of the time. For minorities, the poor, the lower classes, the immigrants, the African- and Native Americans the Dream is nonexistent. Even though the voice seems disillusioned, it also addresses the hope that the […]

This distopian coming of age novel starts off the trilogy His Dark Materials, an exploration of innocence in a parallel universe ruled by a strict religious authority. At times also known as The Golden Compass, this fantastic novel follows young Lyra, a girl abandoned by her parents and instead of being brought up at prestigious Jordan College […]

This short spoken word poem by Helen Mort praises wild places and outlines, how the speaker (a poet) adapts to them. “The Wild in Me” describes the inspiring and stimulating powers of nature that a poet finds in it and which help him or her to express oneself and being creative. In the video performance, […]

This spoken word poem by Darryll Suliaman Amoako aka ‘Suli Breaks’ deconstructs idealised notions of the ‘American Dream’ and addresses those people striving for success or the ‘pursuit of happiness’ at any cost. Reflecting upon the danger of spending to much time on unsatisfactory jobs and losing oneself the ‘rat race’ from ‘rags to riches’, […]

This collection of twelve dystopian short stories exposes institutionalised racism, social injustice, and the devastating effects of consumerism on contemporary and near-future society. As ‘dark satires’, they explore the interconnectedness of black identity and the socio-economical realities of the US. ‘The Finkelstein Five’, for example, reveals police violence and the prejudice of the US justice system […]

This collection of poetry on depression, family, love, heartbreak, suffering and healing provides the reader with an authentic insight into the speaker’s struggle with a mental health issue. Sabrina Benaim’s poetry makes the reader aware of existing stigmata, stereotypes and discrimination of people with depression – also providing us with the notion that life and […]

This spoken word poem painfully reflects the memory of rape, abuse and sexual assault on women. The speaker demands to take responsibility and to stop making excuses – emotionally opposing trivialising statements and outlining that “no matter how many times, once, was one too many.”  The performance is suitable for a cross-curricular project on Me […]

Three voices loudly recall stereotypical ‘rules’ for people of colour and thereby outline injustice, prejudice and racial bias in contemporary society. Marvin Hodges, Em Allison and Saidu Tejan-Thomas’ spoken word poem provide the audience with a shocking paradigm shift, confronting them with everyday racisms. Text and performance can serve as a great example of young […]

In this poetry slam, three teenage voices tackle topics some would not even want to speak of – rape, racism, social stratification, education and equality. The spoken word poem offers perspectives on current affairs in the US from a teenage perspective and critically reflects the US school system. The empowering and passionate lines of Belissa […]

This action movie about tradition and change, African and African American representation, power structures and sovereignty marks the first film of the superhero genre with a predominantly black cast and reminds us, that “[…] in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers.” Set in Wakanda, a technologically advanced nation in East […]

In this time-flip novel, preteen Hannah Stern is sick and tired of her relatives’ stories about the past. But when she is transported back to 1942 to a village in Poland she faces the harsh reality of those stories. She, along with the village’s Jews, is abducted by Nazis. After being brought to a concentration […]

Set in Germany during World War II, this historical novel follows the coming of age story of Liesel Meminger. Surrounded by hatred and destruction, Liesel struggles to maintain the innocence of childhood. Her foster parents take in a Jewish man, Hans, and hide him from the authorities. Hans teaches Liesel to read, and she goes […]

Based on the famous Spider-Man comic, this animated, adventure-action film on adversity, resilience, collectivity and empowerment follows Miles Morales, an everyday, regular, normal boy – until he gets bitten by a radioactive spider and gains superpowers. When Peter Parker aka ‘the real’ Spider-Man dies, it is on Miles to save the world from the devastating […]