English

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

Mythos III: The Shaping of the Western Tradition (2011)

Icon: 
DVD icon

"[Western myths] represented something that is typical to Europe and nowhere else, and that is respect for the individual and the individual path, the individual way." - Joseph Campbell

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
04:45
Mythos III: The Shaping of the Western Tradition

The Persuaders (2004)

Icon: 
DVD icon

FRONTLINE takes an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar "persuasion industries" of advertising and public relations. To cut through mass-media clutter and to overcome consumers' growing resistance to their pitches, marketers have developed new ways of integrating their messages deeper into the fabric of our lives.

Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Length: 
01:30
The Persuaders

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

Dragonwings

Icon: 
Compact Disc icon

Moon Shadow is eight when he sails from China to join his father, Windrider, in America. Windrider lives in San Francisco’s Chinatown and works in a laundry. Moon Shadow has never seen him.

Moon Shadow soon loves and respects this father, a man of genius, a man with a fabulous dream. With Moon Shadows help, Windrider is willing to endure the mockery of the other Chinese, the poverty, and longing for his own country to make his dream come true.

Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 1

The first "manned" hot-air balloon is about to take off! But what are those noises coming from the basket?Based on the (POSSIBLY) true report of a day in 1783, this si the story of (PERHAPS) the bravest collection of flyers the world has ever seen, as (SORT OF) told to Marjorie Priceman.

Author: 
Marjorie Priceman
Lexile: 
AD690L

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 1

In 1974, French aerialist Philippe Petit threw a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking, dancing, and performing high-wire tricks a quarter mile in the sky. This picture book captures the poetry and magic of the event with a poetry of its own: lyrical words and lovely paintings that present the detail, daring, and--in two dramatic foldout spreads-- the vertiginous drama of Petit's feat.

Author: 
Mordicai Gerstein
Lexile: 
AD480L

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

Drawing from Memory

Icon: 
Book icon
Copies: 7

Caldecott Medalist Allen Say presents a stunning graphic novel chronicling his journey as an artist during WWII, when he apprenticed under Noro Shinpei, Japan’s premier cartoonist

Author: 
Allen Say
Lexile: 
HL560L
Drawing from Memory

Coretta Scott

Icon: 
DVD icon
Icon: 
Streaming icon

This extraordinary union of poetic text by Ntozake Shange and monumental artwork by Kadir Nelson captures the movement for civil rights in the United STates and honors its most elegant inspiration,

Author: 
Ntozake Shange
Grade Level: 
Elementary
Length: 
00:07
Coretta Scott

Nelson Mandela

Icon: 
DVD icon
Icon: 
Streaming icon

This is the story of a young boy who grew up to become president of South Africa. His lifelong quest was to establish equality for people of all colors.

Author: 
Kadir Nelson
Grade Level: 
Elementary
Length: 
00:10
Nelson Mandela

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

Pages