ELA

An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe (2000)

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Includes a dramatization of "A Tell-Tale Heart" (25 min.); Performances of his poetry including This program from the Master Poets Collection features "To My Mother," The Conqueror Worm," "Annabel Lee," "Eldorado," "Evening Star," "To Helen," "The Haunted Palace," "Israfel," "The City in the Sea" and "The Raven"(34 min.); Stories & Tales Audio Theater (approx.116 min.) includes "The Cask of

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

02:56

A Tale of Two Cities

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The ultimate tale of love, honor and sacrifice during the bloodstained French Revolution is movingly brought to life in this sumptuous production. The dashing Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride) stars in dual roles as the cynical lawyer Sydney Carton and the disenchanted aristocrat Charles Darnay, both in love with the same woman (Alice Krige, Silent Hill, TV's Deadwood). Also starring Peter Cushing (Star Wars), this Golden Globe-nominated version of the Charles Dickens classic thrillingly captures all the drama and emotion of one of history's most explosive eras.

Director:

Jim Goddard

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

02:36

The Gift of the Magi

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Dramatization of the story by O. Henry. A romantic tale of a young married couple who have little money to buy each other a Christmas gift and the ironic sacrifice they make.

Director:

Scott Mansfield

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

00:20

Frankenstein

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Obsessed with violating the laws of nature and life and death, Victor Frankenstein constructs a creature from the limbs of the dead. Once jolted to life, the creature proves even more human than his creator. Unable to inspire love, he chooses to inspire fear and vows to avenge the man who created and abandoned him. Directed by Kevin Connor. Stars William Hurt, Donald Sutherland, Julie Delpy, Luke Goss. Based on the novel by Mary Shelley.

Director:

Kevin Connor

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

03:24

A Raisin in the Sun

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A RAISIN IN THE SUN is a groundbreaking drama celebrating the human spirit, featuring an electrifying performance by Academy Award®-winner Sidney Poitier (Best Actor, Lilies of the Field, 1963).

Director:

Daniel Petrie

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

02:08

A Raisin in the Sun

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Dreams can make a life worth living, but they can also be dashed by bad decisions. This is the crossroads where the Younger family find themselves when their father passes away and leaves them with $10,000 in life insurance money. Should they buy a new home for the family? Perhaps a liquor store? Or even pay for medical school tuition? While no choice is easy, life on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s is even harder.

Director:

Kenny Leon

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

02:11

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

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From the author of the phenomenal #1 NY Times best seller comes the original screen adaptation of MITCH ALBOM'S THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN. This NY Times best seller is broght to life by an award-winning cast, including Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn and Jeff Daniels. The NY Times praised it for its "genuine power to stir and comfort." Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven explores the unexpected mysteries of the afterlife by reminding us what really matters here on Earth.

Director:

Lloyd Kramer

Grade Level:

Elementary

Middle

High

Length:

02:13

Virginia Lee Burton: A Sense of Place

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Virginia Lee Burton was one of the most significant and groundbreaking author/illustrators of the 20th Century.

Grade Level:

Elementary

Middle

High

Length:

00:30

The Girls

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Maya thought she had the greatest friends in the world. But suddenly, BAM!, she's out of the group, with no idea of why her friends have dropped her. The listener will find out, though, as the story of why Maya has been shunned unfolds through five skillfully intertwined, sometimes scorching, first person narratives.

With uncanny precision and unsparing accuracy, Amy Goldman Koss explores the world of middle school cliques, and exposes the "mean girl" phenomenon in this insightful look at the real world behind the headlines.

Disappearing Act

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What do you do when your mother disappears and a strange man starts stalking you? If you're Kevin and Holly Kidd, you try to lose yourself in the wacky world of Venice Beach, California, where boardwalk entertainers do everything from juggling watermelons to telling fortunes as they try to make a living. Soon Kevin and Holly are making a new home among these larger-than-life characters. But just when Holly seems set to achieve her dream of starring in an opera, their stalker reappears, more menacing than ever. What is he after? And how can Kevin save the show—and his sister?

Stop the Train!

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On March 23, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed a proclamation opening two million acres of Oklahoma land to settlement. A month later, with a teeming crush of pioneers, the Oklahoma Land Rush was on.

What I Call Life

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When Cal Lavender's mother has an unfortunate "episode" in the library, a police officer takes Cal to the "Pumpkin House"—a group home where Cal must stay until her mother is able to care for her again. Stranded with four hurt, troubled girls and an eccentric old woman known as "the Knitting Lady", Cal thinks this can't possibly be her real life. Or can it?

The Written Word, Part 1: The Birth of Writing (2005)

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"Takes us to the Sumerian archaeological sites in present day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere, to see the influence of cuneiform, the oldest known writing system in the world. It¶s development brought about a cultural renaissance. And Sumer¶s rise in the Mesopotamian region.

Grade Level:

Middle

High

Length:

00:30

The Written Word, Part 1: The Birth of Writing

My Name is Mina

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Copies: 8

Mina loves the night. While everyone else is in a deep slumber, she gazes out the window, witness to the moon's silvery light. In the stillness, she can even hear her own heart beating. This is when Mina feels that anything is possible, that her imagination is set free.

Author:

Almond, David