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 […]
David is yet another American trying to find an escape from life in Paris in the 1950s. His girlfriend, Hella, is spending time alone in Spain trying to make up her mind regarding his proposal. Lonely and broke, David meets with an acquaintance at a bar in hopes of getting a financial boost. There, he […]
This short fiction from the period of Restauration and Enlightenment tells the story of the life of the African prince Oroonoko. His grandfather, the king, marries his grandson’s love and a fiancée who is sold into slavery for participating in an uprising against the king. When Oroonoko is aboard a ship towards Europe, he is […]
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 […]
A Shakespearean Renaissance sonnet that satirises the idealistic descriptions of beauty in the Elizabethan era. The lyric persona uses stereotypical Renaissance nature imagery to contrast his mistress with. In the end, he indicates that his love is truer as it is not based on “false compare”. This sonnet, which is in the public domain, provides […]
This Shakespearean sonnet from Renaissance belongs to the Fair Youth sequence focussing on love, passion, beauty and seperation. The persona misses the beloved one and describes the beauty of spring that is not enjoyable because they were apart. This is an easily accessible example of a Shakespearean sonnet that can be used well for comparison […]
This Renaissance comedy is a play about deceptions and the importance of honour packed into a colourful story of love, wit, and confusion. The soldiers Claudio and Benedick return from battle to Messina. Claudio and Hero are in love with each other and plan to marry. Meanwhile, Benedick, an opponent of marriage, is at a […]
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 […]
“Article 5: Children are considered valid citizens when conceived by a married man and wife. All other children are to be removed from the home and subjected to rehabilitative procedures.“ In this dystopian world, the Bill of Rights has been replaced by the Moral Statutes after a war rampaged through the United States. Children out […]
This dystopian novel details the journey of a father and his son through the post-apocalyptic remains of the United States. Their sole goal being survival, the two travel across the barren terrain with nothing but a gun, two small backpacks and a shopping cart. On their journey, they encounter individuals who are immediately treated as […]
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 novel explores the history of sexual abuse in connection to the catholic church that was uncovered in Ireland. Odran Yates has dedicated his life to priesthood and the church. His devotion is challenged however, when revelations about child abuse emerge that destroy the church’s public image. And although he is at first reluctant to […]
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 […]
This empowering picture book calls the readers attention to environmental pollution and eco-activism. In the second volume of the series, Rocket, a young girl, who loves science and astronomy, visits her grandparents who live on a Caribbean island. When she stumbles upon a baby turtle, who is trapped in a plastic bag, she discovers that […]