Two American boys, two very different circumstances. Rashad, a black 16-year-old student, is mistakenly accused of shoplifting in a convenience store. The arrest leads to Rashad being beaten by police officer Paul Galluzo. And although the assault is witnessed by Quinn, who sees Paul as a father-figure, the football player struggles with accepting the brutality […]

This alarming play about homophobia, discrimination and hate crime is based on the brutal murder of the gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard on October 6, 1998. Told from many perspectives, which are taken from actual interviews with relatives, friends and neighbours of Matthew Shepard, Thee Laramie Project investigates the case and its aftermath capturing the […]

This Oscar-winning short film examines prejudice, stereotyping, racial profiling and police violence. Trapped in a time loop, the black graphic designer Carter James has to go through his worst nightmare over and over again. Every morning, when James wakes up and puts a step in the streets of New York City, he is confronted by […]

This modern novel describes a dystopian version of the year 1984. The world is ruled by three totalitarian superpowers with the book focusing on Oceania. The people are under constant surveillance and anyone opposing or even criticising the regime is eliminated together with all records of existence. Only thinking about another life or reality is […]

The Canterbury Tales are a medieval collection of 24 different short stories written in verse and prose. Frame action is a storytelling contest between a couple of pilgrims on their way from London to Canterbury. The characters such as the Knight, the Nun, the Cook, the Pardoner and the Wife of Bath represent different estates […]

Based on a true story, this novel is set in a 1960s reform school in Florida. 16-year-old Elwood Curtis has always admired Dr. Martin Luther King and plans on enrolling in a local black college. However, an accident leads to Elwood being sent to the “Nickel Academy”, where he meets his fellow inmate Turner. At […]

This award-winning children’s book is narrated from the perspective of a young Ojibwe girl, who speaks up to defend her people’s land from the black snake (representing oil pipelines). Threatening to pollute and destroy planet earth, the black snake must be stopped, before it eventually poisons the life-giving water. Will the voice of the young […]

This coming-of-age autobiography by award-winning author Maya Angelou features a memoir of racism, trauma, identity and hope. The title refers to the first line of the third stanza of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy” (1899), which reflected the perspective of a caged bird’s longing for freedom and its wish to escape its prison. As Dunbar’s […]

This inspiring picture book illustrates the real-life story of Jadav Payeng, who grew 1,300 acres of forest to protect the environment. “In India, on a large river island, among farms and families hard at work, there lived a boy who loved trees.” Jadav becomes alerted when he finds out that animals are dying around his […]

Here, four of Shakespeare’s most famous plays are rewritten for a younger audience: Twelfth Night, Macbeth, The Tempest, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They are shorter and told from the perspective of the side characters Malvolio, Banquo, Caliban, and Peaseblossom. I, Shakespeare might be useful if you want to avoid reading the longer originals but […]

These two one-act plays by award-winning author Drew Hayden Taylor on belonging, identity, hope, tradition and modern life examine the past, present and the future of the Canadian First Nations from a teenage perspective. Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock follows teenage boy Rusty to the spiritual place of his ancestors. While sipping his beer at Dreamer’s Rock, he […]

This empowering play about power, masculinity and femininity explores roles and opportunities for woman in modern society. Set in London during the early 1980s, the play follows Marlene, an ambitious, career-driven businesswoman who made irreversible sacrifices for her success. Dishonesty, aggression and manipulation are her weapons against the oppressive patriarchy. She finally got the promotion […]

This award-winning play offers five perspectives on alienation, forced assimilation and removal, hope and the struggle to find one’s identity. It explores the stories of five Aboriginal children that were taken away from their parents by the Australian government. As part of the Stolen Generation, Sandy, Ruby, Jimmy, Anne, and Shirley have lived very different […]

This Gothic novel explores the themes of the supernatural, masculinity and femininity, class and revenge in a Romantic context. Mr Lockwood encounters the strange constellation of people at the remote farmhouse Wuthering Heights who are all quite inhospitable. He is haunted at night by a former inhabitant of his room. Later, his housekeeper tells him the intricate […]

This early 18th-century satire novel was supposed to parody the popular genre of travel literature. It juxtaposes physical and moral strength, the power of knowledge and differences of societies and state structures. English surgeon Lemuel Gulliver leaves England again and again for travels to far-off lands. The countries and societies he visits are fictional and, […]

This drama is a fictional depiction of the night leading up to Martin Luther King’s assassination. After King’s speech I’ve Been to the Mountaintop in Memphis, he returns to his hotel, the Lorraine Motel. There, he encounters a maid called Camae. And although initially flirtatious, she soon reveals her true intentions. Sent down to earth […]

In this award-winning biography about the fight for justice, Lee Lawrence tells a story sadly no less relevant today than 30 years ago. When Lee was 11 years old, he witnessed his mother being shot by a police officer, resulting in her paralysis. This event shaped the political climate at the time, acting as the […]

This award-winning, young adult drama novel featuring racism, injustice, violence, isolation and loneliness follows a 16-year old boy who awaits his murder trial. Steve Harmon is in prison, maybe for life. They say he murdered someone; tell him he’s a monster. Is he? Or was it a case of being in the wrong place at […]