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Lit Guide
Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O’Dell
Twelve-year-old Karana is gathering roots with her six-year-old brother, Ramo, when they catch sight of a red ship in the distance. Karana, Ramo, and their older sister Ulape are part of a tribe th...
Lit Guide
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
by August Wilson
In Chicago in 1927, two white music industry executives prepare for a recording session with Ma Rainey, a popular Black singer. As they set up the studio, Sturdvyant tells Irvin to keep Ma “in line...
Lit Guide
Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech
In Walk Two Moons, the 13-year-old narrator, Sal, tells three interwoven stories. In the present, she’s on a cross-country road trip with her grandparents, Gram and Gramps, to visit her Momma, who’...
Lit Guide
My Boy Jack
by David Haig
It’s 1913, and the famous British author Rudyard Kipling is in the drawing room of his home in Sussex, England. In the dark, book-filled room, he helps his 15-year-old son, Jack, prepare for a meet...
Lit Guide
Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O’Dell
Twelve-year-old Karana is gathering roots with her six-year-old brother, Ramo, when they catch sight of a red ship in the distance. Karana, Ramo, and their older sister Ulape are part of a tribe th...
Lit Guide
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
by August Wilson
In Chicago in 1927, two white music industry executives prepare for a recording session with Ma Rainey, a popular Black singer. As they set up the studio, Sturdvyant tells Irvin to keep Ma “in line...
Lit Guide
Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech
In Walk Two Moons, the 13-year-old narrator, Sal, tells three interwoven stories. In the present, she’s on a cross-country road trip with her grandparents, Gram and Gramps, to visit her Momma, who’...
Lit Guide
Rising Out of Hatred
by Eli Saslow
Rising Out of Hatred chronicles the true story of Derek Black, a young white nationalist who ultimately renounces the movement. Derek is the son of Don Black, a prominent white nationalist who foun...
Poetry Guide
How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix
by Robert Browning
"How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" is Robert Browning's tale of heroism and memory. In this dramatic monologue, a soldier recounts a valiant ride he made to carry a critical message...
Poetry Guide
The Song of Wandering Aengus
by William Butler Yeats
First printed in 1897 and collected in The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), W. B. Yeats's "The Song of Wandering Aengus" is a dramatic monologue about burning and thwarted passion. Written in the voice...
Poetry Guide
Waterfall
by Lauris Edmond
In New Zealand poet Lauris Edmond's "Waterfall," a speaker muses on the way that time and aging shape love and relationships. The poem suggests that the inevitability of death imbues the present mo...
Poetry Guide
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
"The Peace of Wild Things" is one of American poet Wendell Berry's most enduring and widely-loved poems. First published in 1968, the poem illustrates the soothing, restorative power of nature. Whe...
Poetry Guide
I measure every Grief I meet
by Emily Dickinson
"I measure every Grief I meet," one of Emily Dickinson's longest poems, is a meditation on the nature of grief. The poem's speaker finds herself searching other people's grief for similarities to h...
Poetry Guide
The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean
by Emily Dickinson
In this short poem, a speaker gazes gloomily at a chilly, gray winter's day, which looks just about as dismal as the speaker seems to feel. That's not so unusual, the speaker reflects, with a touch...
Poetry Guide
Home
by Warsan Shire
Warsan Shire's "Home," though never formally published in a collection of poetry, has reached millions of readers. The poem, which captures the pain and trauma of the refugee experience, has gone v...
Poetry Guide
Eating Poetry
by Mark Strand
"Eating Poetry" is the opening poem in Mark Strand's 1968 collection Reasons for Moving. Using Strand's characteristically dark humor, the poem finds its speaker in the act of "eating" poetry in a ...
Poetry Guide
The Ecchoing Green
by William Blake
William Blake first printed "The Ecchoing Green" in Songs of Innocence, his important 1789 collection. The poem follows one day on the "Ecchoing Green," a village common space where children and th...
Poetry Guide
Hurricane Hits England
by Grace Nichols
“Hurricane Hits England” was written by the poet Grace Nichols, who was born in Guyana and moved to England in 1977. The poem’s speaker, who can be read as a representation of Nichols herself, is a...
Lit Guide
My Boy Jack
by David Haig
It’s 1913, and the famous British author Rudyard Kipling is in the drawing room of his home in Sussex, England. In the dark, book-filled room, he helps his 15-year-old son, Jack, prepare for a meet...
Lit Guide
Rising Out of Hatred
by Eli Saslow
Rising Out of Hatred chronicles the true story of Derek Black, a young white nationalist who ultimately renounces the movement. Derek is the son of Don Black, a prominent white nationalist who foun...
Poetry Guide
How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix
by Robert Browning
"How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" is Robert Browning's tale of heroism and memory. In this dramatic monologue, a soldier recounts a valiant ride he made to carry a critical message...
Poetry Guide
The Song of Wandering Aengus
by William Butler Yeats
First printed in 1897 and collected in The Wind Among the Reeds (1899), W. B. Yeats's "The Song of Wandering Aengus" is a dramatic monologue about burning and thwarted passion. Written in the voice...
Poetry Guide
Waterfall
by Lauris Edmond
In New Zealand poet Lauris Edmond's "Waterfall," a speaker muses on the way that time and aging shape love and relationships. The poem suggests that the inevitability of death imbues the present mo...
Poetry Guide
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
"The Peace of Wild Things" is one of American poet Wendell Berry's most enduring and widely-loved poems. First published in 1968, the poem illustrates the soothing, restorative power of nature. Whe...
Poetry Guide
I measure every Grief I meet
by Emily Dickinson
"I measure every Grief I meet," one of Emily Dickinson's longest poems, is a meditation on the nature of grief. The poem's speaker finds herself searching other people's grief for similarities to h...
Poetry Guide
The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean
by Emily Dickinson
In this short poem, a speaker gazes gloomily at a chilly, gray winter's day, which looks just about as dismal as the speaker seems to feel. That's not so unusual, the speaker reflects, with a touch...
Poetry Guide
Home
by Warsan Shire
Warsan Shire's "Home," though never formally published in a collection of poetry, has reached millions of readers. The poem, which captures the pain and trauma of the refugee experience, has gone v...
Poetry Guide
Eating Poetry
by Mark Strand
"Eating Poetry" is the opening poem in Mark Strand's 1968 collection Reasons for Moving. Using Strand's characteristically dark humor, the poem finds its speaker in the act of "eating" poetry in a ...
Poetry Guide
The Ecchoing Green
by William Blake
William Blake first printed "The Ecchoing Green" in Songs of Innocence, his important 1789 collection. The poem follows one day on the "Ecchoing Green," a village common space where children and th...
Poetry Guide
Hurricane Hits England
by Grace Nichols
“Hurricane Hits England” was written by the poet Grace Nichols, who was born in Guyana and moved to England in 1977. The poem’s speaker, who can be read as a representation of Nichols herself, is a...
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