High

Social Studies (X) - ELA (X) - High (X) - English (X)

Essential Art House Pygmalion

Icon: 
DVD icon

George Bernard Shaw was once quoted as humorously saying, "Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed." Yet his Pygmalion has lived on. His play, indeed, is better known to contemporary readers than the Greek myth (about a sculptor who falls in love with one of his statues) from which it derives its title. Shaw's rag-to-riches comedy made the leap from stage to screen in 1938, but it wasn't a smooth transition.

Director: 
Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard
Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
01:30
Essential Art House Pygmalion

Freedom Riders (2011)

Icon: 
DVD icon

In 1961, segregation seemed to have an overwhelming grip on American society. Many states violently enforced the policy, while the federal government, under the Kennedy administration, remained indifferent, preoccupied with matters abroad.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
02:00
Freedom Riders

Nine From Little Rock (2005)

Icon: 
DVD icon

The heroism of nine students in Little Rock, Arkansas
Pioneers of desegregation

Nine From Little Rock chronicles the Arkansas school integration crisis and the changes wrought in subsequent years.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
00:19
Nine From Little Rock

Mark Twain (2001)

Icon: 
DVD icon

Samuel Clemens rose from a hardscrabble boyhood in the backwoods of Missouri to become Mark Twain, America's best-known and best-loved author. Considered in his time as the funniest man on earth, Twain was also an unflinching critic of human nature who used his humor to attack hypocrisy, greed and racism.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
04:00
Mark Twain

The Cellist of Sarajevo

Icon: 
ipod icon

Sarajevo in the 1990's, is a hellish place. The ongoing war devours human life, tears families apart and transforms even banal routines, such as acquiring water, into life-threatening expeditions. Day after day, a cellist stations himself in the midst of the devastation, defying the ever-present snipers to play tributes to victims of a massacre.

Author: 
Steven Galloway
Grade Level: 
High
Length: 
05:23

Fahrenheit 451

Icon: 
DVD icon

Ray Bradbury's best-selling science fiction masterpiece about a future without books takes on a chillingly realistic dimension in this film classic directed by one of the most important screen innovators of all time, the late Francois Truffaut. Julie Christie stars in the challenging dual role of Oskar Werner's pleasure-seeking conformist wife, Linda, and his rebellious, book-collecting mistress, Clarisse.

Director: 
Francois Truffaut
Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
01:53
Fahrenheit 451

The Breadwinner

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 5

Parvana felt the shadow before she saw it, as the man moved between her and the sun. Turning her head, she saw the dark turban that was the uniform of the Taliban. A rifle was slung across his chest as casually as her father's shoulder bag had been slung across hers...

The Talib kept looking down at her. Then he put his hand inside his vest. Keeping his eyes on Parvana, he drew something out of his vest pocket.

Parvana was about to squish her eyes shut and wait to be shot when she saw that the Talib had taken out a letter.

He sat down beside her on the blanket.

Author: 
Deborah Ellis
Lexile: 
630L
The Breadwinner

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793

Icon: 
Book icon
Icon: 
Teacher's Guide icon
Copies: 1

It's 1793, and there's an invisible killer roaming the streets of Philadelphia. The city's residents are fleeing in fear. This killer has a name—yellow fever—but everything else about it is a mystery. Its cause is unknown, and there is no cure.

Author: 
Jim Murphy
Lexile: 
1130L

Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 7

In 1964, Mississippi civil rights groups banded together to fight Jim Crow laws in a state where only 6.4 percent of eligible black voters were registered. Testing a bold new strategy, they recruited students from across the United States. That summer these young volunteers defied segregation by living with local black hosts, opening Freedom Schools to educate disenfranchised adults and their children, and canvassing door-to-door to register voters.

Author: 
Susan Goldman Rubin
Lexile: 
980L
Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi

The Breadwinner

Icon: 
ipod icon

Imagine living in a country in which women and girls are not allowed to leave the house without a man. Imagine having to wear clothes that cover every part of your body, including your face, whenever you go out.

Author: 
Deborah Ellis
Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Lexile: 
630L
Length: 
03:00
The Breadwinner

After Innocence (2005)

Icon: 
DVD icon

After Innocence tells the dramatic and compelling story of the exonerated - innocent men wrongfully imprisoned for decades and then released after DNA evidence proved their innocence.

Grade Level: 
High
Length: 
01:35
After Innocence

Erin Brockovich

Icon: 
DVD icon

A real woman. A real story. A real triumph. Julia Roberts stars as Erin Brockovich, a feisty young mother who fought for justice any way she knew how. Desperate for a job to support herself and her three children, she convinces attorney Ed Masry (Albert Finney) to hire her, and promptly stumbles upon a monumental law case against a giant corporation. Now, Erin's determined to take on this powerful adversary even though no law firm has dared to do it before. And while Ed doesn't want anything to do with the case, Erin won't take "no" for an answer.

Director: 
Steven Soderbergh
Grade Level: 
High
Length: 
02:12
Erin Brockovich

Profiles in Courage

Icon: 
Compact Disc icon

During 1954-1955, John F. Kennedy, then a U.S. Senator, chose eight of his historical colleagues to profile for their acts of astounding integrity in the face of overwhelming opposition. These heroes include John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and Sam Houston.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Icon: 
ipod icon

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells, taken without her knowledge, become one of the most important tools in medicine. The first immortal human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than 60 years.

Author: 
Rebecca Skloot
Grade Level: 
High
Lexile: 
1140L
Length: 
12:30
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged)

Icon: 
ipod icon

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.

Author: 
Laura Hillenbrand
Grade Level: 
High
Lexile: 
1010L
Length: 
13:57
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Unabridged)

Pages