A collection of nine humurous short stories about the unusual exploits of different animals. The fifth short story, “The Ant-Eater”, provides a good entry point for poems that can easily be incorporated into the classroom. This poem presents the differences between American and British pronunciation in an unusually witty way. A spoiled American boy begs […]
A fable about helping others. When an ant is stranded on an island and asks different animals for help, each one has an excuse as to why they can’t help the ant. Only the elephant helps him. Shortly after, the elephant falls into a ravine and a horde of ants comes to his rescue, showing […]
A book series surrounding two siblings, Jack and Annie Smith, traveling through space and time in a magic tree house. Their adventures range from watching dinosaurs and meeting Shakespeare to being dropped into the American Civil War. Suitable for interdisciplinary teaching, primarily in the subjects History, Geography, and Biology. The “Fact Trackers” are non-fiction books […]
A poem on worries, anxieties, fears and other what-ifs. The speaker describes how, at night, he lies awake and asks himself “what if questions”. He doubts himself and worries about all the things that could go wrong in the near future.
A fantasy story in rhymes that encourages bravery, the willingness to help others, and the necessity to follow your passions and dreams. “Meet the Flying Doctors – a dragon, knight and girl. Their names are Gadabout the Great, and Zog, and Princess Pearl […]”, who embark on adventures as a team.
A story in rhymes about crime, ministry and the clever, book-loving detective dog Nel. When the school’s library simply vanishes overnight, it is up to Nell to sniff out the culprit.
An eco-critical story on friendship, survival and environmental pollution reminding us to keep trash out of the sea. Tally, a little Turtle, and her friend Ara, a red lobster, are swimming through the Pacific Ocean when they come upon some funnily-shaped, colorful objects floating by. What seems like a dream turns into a nightmare: Tally […]
This little story on environmental pollution follows Stanley – who is no ordinary jellyfish but a little plastic bag that was thrown into the ocean. Foregrounding the dangers for sea creatures who want to take a bite of Stanley, this story makes clear that plastic bags do not belong in the sea. As the story […]
This classic tale is based on a true story featuring the loyal and faithful dog Bobby: Over a hundred years ago in Edinburgh, the little Bobby would return for fourteen years, day by day, to his master’s graveside. His story is retold from the perspective of Tom and Becky, two children who are on a […]
A rhyming, eco-critical story about the relativity of prejudices and stereotypes, the importance of friendship and environmental protection: “This is a tale of a tiny snail and a great big, grey-blue humpback whale…”
A prototypical poem of British Romanticism drawing upon the city-country-dichotomy. In Wordsworth’s famous poem, the speaker describes encountering a field of daffodils beside a lake. The overwhelming image of the dancing flowers will remain and spend “bliss and solitude” whenever the speaker feels “vacant” or in “pensive mood”.
A coming-of-age story about friendship, abilities and weaknesses, childhood and imagination. Winnie-the-Pooh is a honey-loving teddy bear who lives in the forest. There he experiences all kinds of adventures together with his friends: A piglet, an owl, a rabbit, a donkey, a kangaroo and a human boy named Christopher Robin.
The speaker tells the story of how he got a one-dollar bill from his father. He then happily traded this bill for two 25-cent coins because, clearly, two coins are worth more than one bill. After a few more trades he returns to his father, proudly showing him the five one-penny coins he acquired.
This educational poem explains how the outcome of anything depends on what one puts into it.
A detective story through the eyes of a teenage narrator – about abilities and disabilities, changes and challenges. Christopher is a 15-year old boy, on the autistic spectrum, who lives with his father in Swindon, England. After he discovers the body of his neighbour’s dog that was killed with a garden fork, he starts to […]
This Victorian Christmas tale follows Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly, bitter gentleman who despises the festive season and everything other people love about it. One Christmas Eve three ghosts visit him. With the intention to change his perspective, they show Mr Scrooge the Christmas Eves of the past, the present and the future – and thereby […]
This award-winning childhood classic follows the life cycle of a very hungry caterpillar that hatches from a tiny egg and eventually transforms into a beautiful butterfly after eating quantities of food. The story, which was adapted and translated in more than 60 languages covers vocabulary related to different kinds of fruit and food, the days of the week and counting up […]
A rhyming story about a clever little mouse taking a stroll in the deep, dark woods. To evade the dangerous animals (fox, owl, snake) it meets there, the little mouse invents a monstrous friend …and finally meets the “Gruffalo”.