The Hate U Give (THUG for short) was published in 2017. The setting, events, and characters of this coming-of-age story are largely inspired by Thomas’s own life. It was a number-one New York Times Best Seller, made the 2017 National Book Award Longlist, and was adapted into a movie in 2018. The protagonist is Starr Carter, a … Continue reading “Book Notes: The Hate U Give”
Joe Sacco has been creating works of comic non-fiction for more than two decades, illustrating conflict, war and human atrocity through the medium of graphic art. For his latest book — “Paying the Land”—Joe Sacco travels to the Arctic regions of Canada and tells us the history of the Dene Nation, an indigenous people living … Continue reading “Comic Notes: Joe Sacco “Paying the Land””
African American novelist Colson Whitehead has joined an exclusive club of only four authors who have won Pulitzer Prizes for literature for two different novels. After 2017’s prize for The Underground Railroad, Whitehead has been awarded the 2020 prize for The Nickel Boys, set in the Civil Rights era and based on the true story … Continue reading “Double Pulitzer for Colson Whitehead”
A new film adaptation of Jack London’s famous novel returns to the original story and focuses much more on Buck, the dog, than previous films. Pupils will also enjoy recognising Harrison Ford and Omar Sy. The activities below include watching the film trailer without, then with sound, and reading a short, simple article. Language and … Continue reading “The Call of the Wild”
San Francisco theatre company Word for Word’s annual French tour is being postponed to the autumn. This year their show is a coming-of-age story by Mexican-American writer Octavio Solis, Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border. They will perform it in Nancy, Paris, Angers and Lyon. For 25 years, Word for Word has … Continue reading “Tales of the US Border in Theatres Around France”
Greta Gerwig’s new adaptation of the classic coming-of-age story Little Women retells the story of the novel in parallel with the life of its author, Louisa May Alcott. Alcott wrote the novel in 1868. She had been writing stories commercially for several years when a publisher asked her to write a novel for girls. Alcott … Continue reading “Little Women: Big Film”
Greta Gerwig’s latest movie based on Louisa May Alcott’s novel will take you into a female world in which conventions are defied, questioned and challenged by four sisters. Indeed, these four women on the brink of emancipation shatter the traditional image of upper-middle class young ladies whose role (and even duty) was to get married … Continue reading “Little Women”
The Goldfinch is a stunning coming-of-age story set in New York, Las Vegas and Amsterdam. Donna Tartt’s 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has been adapted for the screen. The story centres on Theo Decker, 13 when the book opens. His reasonably settled teenage life living with his mother is torn apart in seconds. During a visit … Continue reading “Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch” on Screen”
This A2 activity is based on a short presentation of Washington Irving’s short story Rip Van Winkle, which was first published in 1819, two hundred years ago. Although it was inspired by a German traditional story, Irving gave it a clearly American context as the eponymous Van Winkle magically falls asleep for 20 years, completely … Continue reading “Rip van Winkle”
In 2019, for the first time, the U.S.A.’s poet laureate — the nation’s “official” poet — will be a Native American. Joy Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation from Alabama. She aims to honour both the “Native” and the “American”, saying, “When you grow up as a person in your culture, you … Continue reading “Native Voice”