John Lennon’s song “Imagine” encourages listeners to envision a world at peace. He describes how without the barriers of religion, nationality or material possessions, humans could finally live together harmoniously. During the Vietnam War, it became a protest song and symbol for the peace movement. The song is suitable for interdisciplinary teaching with regard to […]
This long poem about the devastating nature of war and the hope for peace is one of the most significant works of modernist literature. Influenced by the breakdown of European civilisation during World War I and the increasing alienation in Western societies, this poem expresses psychological fragmentation and a quest for meaning. The poem might […]
This historical novel about racism, war, the abuse of power and the holocaust, is the kick-off to a series of five: Felix is a 9-year-old Jewish boy hiding in Nazi-occupied Poland 1942. Separated from his parents, he is waiting in an orphanage, under the impression that his parents are just trying to save their book […]
This verse novel explores the author’s childhood in South Carolina and New York in the 1960s and 1970s: Growing up as an African American woman both with the aftermath of Jim Crow laws and the beginning Civil Rights movement. Her poems feature topics of racism, religion, spiritualism, family, history and the power of memory, storytelling, […]
A movie drama about health, sports and honesty. Dr. Omalu came to the USA from Nigeria in order to work as a forensic pathologist. When several former NFL-players commit suicide, Dr. Omalu suspects that repeated concussions suffered during football games are to blame. As was to be expected, the NFL will do everything in its […]
A drama movie about sports, stereotypes, belonging and loyalty: When two US-American high schools are forced to merge, their two football coaches – one black and one white – now need to work together. Because if these two cannot overcome their mutual prejudice, how are their players supposed to develop some team spirit of their […]
In this film about racism, otherness and football culture following a true story, Michael Oher is a black orphan growing up in poverty. After making friends with another boy named Sean Jr., Sean Jr.’s parents decide to adopt Michael. While he does not excel academically, Michael’s protective instincts seem to be exceptionally developed, leading him […]
This movie drama (based on the novel Q and A) revolves around family, friendship and fate: Jamal grows up as a poor beggar in India but when he is 18 years old he finds himself as contestant in ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ nonetheless. Neither the show’s host nor the viewers can easily believe […]
In this epistolary novel about family, migration and loss, a 12-year-old Jewish girl named Rifka documents her family’s escape from Russia in 1919 and their journey to the USA: how Rifka distracted guards by telling them stories, how she fell sick and needed to be treated in Belgium before they could go on and how […]
A gripping dystopian story about security, freedom, and the willingness to buy one with the other. Marcus is a 17-year-old tech-savvy student in San Francisco. When he is not breaking his school’s security measures, he spends his free time playing augmented reality games with his friends. It is not his fault that the police find […]
A story about the readiness to help, false suspicion and the American ‘war on terror’. This novel is based on the true story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun and his family: When hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, Abdulrahman was one of the few people who refused to leave. Traveling the sunken city by canoe, he rescues other […]
This historical graphic novel revolves around racism, civil disobedience and the Civil Rights movement in the USA: Rosa Parks is arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus and not moving to the section designated for black people, all of which will fuel the Civil Rights movement. This graphic […]
In this novel between fundamentalism and family, between loyalty and disobedience, 12-year-old Martha is brought up by strictly religious parents, their rules shaping Martha’s life: no TV and no pop music among other things. Most importanty though, Martha must not invite somebody else home. Too big is her parents’ fear that Abomination, their shameful secret, […]
An epistolary novel about bullying, violence and school shootings. When Brendan and Gary decide they had enough of humiliation at their high school, especially by the hands of the popular football players, they make plans to take revenge on their peers. Their plan goes awry, however, when they start taking hostages.
This is a story about family, loss, suppression and human trafficking: Rosa is living with her mother in Sheffield. When Rosa’s mother thinks about adopting a child, Rosa only slowly warms to the idea. Meanwhile, in an African village, Abela, an orphan from Tanzania is send by her uncle off to England, after her mother […]
A literary respone to the shootings of black teenagers Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown in the USA. In this fictional account, Tariq is 16 years old when he is shot by a white policeman, creating an uproar in his community. No two stories of the event match and so finding out what really happened that […]
This dystopian adventure novel about bravery, friendship and courage follows the twelve-year-old Prince Alfred. The story is set in future Britain, to be precise in the year 2120 – environmental pollution lead to most devastating effects of climate change: melting ice cabs, violent earthquakes and volcano eruptions that darken the sky over London: “The kingdom […]