Author: Monika

Categories
2000-2009 All CEFR B2 Extensive Length (more than 8 hrs) High school (grades 9+) Other Text Formats Print

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir tells the story of her family in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in the 1980s. AFter a few years, Marjane’s family decided that she should be sent to Austria to live at a boarding school to avoid harassment. She talks about her homesickness, the discrimination she faced and how she coped with life in a strange culture.

Year of Release: 2002

Author(s): Marjane Satrapi

Preview:

Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/991197.The_Complete_Persepolis?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=SBo8pdhzlK&rank=2

ISBN: 9780099523994

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Film also available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808417/

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1946-1999 All CEFR B2 High school (grades 9+) Medium Length (up to 8 hrs) Poetry Print

Five Sugars Please

A collection of poetry about life, family, culture, poetry in general.

Year of Release: 1993

Author(s): John Hegley

Preview: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1338550.Five_Sugars_Please

Further information (link): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl1efoOEDzg

ISBN: 0413678806

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Further comments for teachers:

Lots of videos are available with Hegley introducing poetry and his poetry.

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2010-2019 All Available For Free (Open Access) CEFR B2 High school (grades 9+) Online Poetry Very Short Length (up to 20 min)

Panama

Poem about a person migrating to a country where years later he forgot his mother tongue and all the memories he had of his homeland.

Year of Release: 2014

Author(s): Ethelbert Miller

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Further information (link): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-ethelbert-miller

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Online text: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/panama-3

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The poem is easy, it has very simple language. More poems by Ethelbert Miller:
Other poems also by Ethelbert Miller: https://www.poemhunter.com/eugene-ethelbert-miller/poems/

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2010-2019 All CEFR B2 High school (grades 9+) Medium Length (up to 8 hrs) Other Text Formats Print

I Was Their American Dream

Malaka Gharib grew up in the United States as a Filipino Egyptian American. Her parents divorced, and she stayed with her mother, visiting her dad in Egypt every summer. Throughout high school and college, she was seeking an answer to the question: Who am I? She had difficulty finding people with similar backgrounds, so she always felt she was the odd one out. Her graphic memoir tracks this journey.

Year of Release: 2019

Author(s): Malaka Gharib

Preview: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/575400/i-was-their-american-dream-by-malaka-gharib/

Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40909448-i-was-their-american-dream?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ziTd6P5Egh&rank=1

ISBN: 9780525575122

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Chapter 4 deals with Malaka’s self-perception as a high school student torn between two parental cultures and the mainstream American culture.



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2020-today All Available For Free (Open Access) CEFR B2 High school (grades 9+) Online Poetry Very Short Length (up to 20 min)

The Ladder

The poem tells about the poet’s Irish immigrant ancestors. The images of old clothes and long forgotten personal belongings bring ancestral stories back to the poet.

Year of Release: 2020

Author(s): Campbell McGrath

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Online text: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/20/the-ladder

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Categories
2000-2009 All CEFR B2 eBook High school (grades 9+) Medium Length (up to 8 hrs) Novel Print

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

Christopher John Francis Boone is 15 years old and lives with his dad. He has Asperger’s syndrome, which makes life special for him. One day, the neighbor’s dog is killed in Christopher’s yard and the boy starts to investigate the case. Investigating the case makes him face his mother’s decision and his parents’ complex relationship.

Year of Release: 2003

Author(s): Mark Haddon

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Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1618.The_Curious_Incident_of_the_Dog_in_the_Night_Time?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=d0PsoDVSig&rank=1

ISBN: 9783060311170

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2000-2009 2010-2019 All CEFR B2 eBook High school (grades 9+) Medium Length (up to 8 hrs) Novel Print

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

The protagonist, Virginia Shreves, lives in a perfect family in New York, but feels a total outcast. Her parents and her siblings are slim and sporty, while Virginia suffers from low self-esteem due to her obesity. Her parents are devastated by her brother’s date-rape case, and they go into complete denial. Virginia takes her life into her own hands, joins a kickbox class to lose weight and makes new friends.

Year of Release: 2003, 2018

Author(s): Carolyn Mackler

Preview: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/earth-my-butt-and-other-big-round-things-9781681198002/

Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/253106

ISBN: 9781681197982

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Very useful for moderate teenage slang.



Further comments for teachers:

The 2003 edition is different from the new edition published in 2018.

Categories
2000-2009 All CEFR B2 eBook Extensive Length (more than 8 hrs) High school (grades 9+) Novel Print

Black Swan Green

Black Swan Green is David Mitchell’s semi-autobiographical novel about coming to grips with his stammering. The protagonist is 13-year-old Jason Taylor who lives in Black Swan Green. He witnesses his parents’ failing marriage and his father’s affair.

Year of Release: 2006

Author(s): David Mitchell

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Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11806799-black-swan-green

ISBN: 9780340839263

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Teachers’ guide is available: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/115429/black-swan-green-by-david-mitchell/9780812974010/teachers-guide/

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2000-2009 All Audiobook Available For Free (Open Access) CEFR B2 eBook Extensive Length (more than 8 hrs) Extracts - Well Suited for Teaching With Extracts High school (grades 9+) Novel Online Print

The Secret Life of Bees

Lily Owens lives with her abusive father and has trouble remembering what happened to her mother. When she finds the mysterious Black Mary picture, she feels she needs to investigate her past to come to terms with her unrecognized trauma. She and their maid, Rosaleen, leave her father and try to find a new place to live. They meet the Boatwright sisters who invite Lily and Rosaleen to stay.

Year of Release: 2002

Author(s): Sue Monk Kidd

Preview: https://suemonkkidd.com/books/the-secret-life-of-bees/

Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37435.The_Secret_Life_of_Bees?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=pV4wphzdD0&rank=1

ISBN: 13: 978-0142001745

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Online text: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL2941508W/The_secret_life_of_bees?edition=ia%3Asecretlifeofbees00kidd_0

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The film adaptation of the novel came out in 2008.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY9RvcbzTCw
IMDB site: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416212/

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2020-today All CEFR B2 eBook Extensive Length (more than 8 hrs) Extracts - Well Suited for Teaching With Extracts High school (grades 9+) Novel Print

West with Giraffes

Woodrow Wilson Nickel is 105 years old and feels his life is ebbing away at an assisted living residence. He tells the most memorable story of his youth when he helped to get two giraffes to Southern California and met the love of his life. Woodrow grew up in the Texas Panhandle where he lost his parents and sister during the Great Depression. The year is 1938. Penniless due to the lingering depression, rowdy Woodrow arrives in New York after the hurricane devastated the coast. He ends up driving a truck on a twelve-day road trip to Southern California taking the two giraffes to the San Diego Zoo.

Year of Release: 2021

Author(s): Lynda Rutledge

Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGMuq8uPLko

Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56449476-west-with-giraffes?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Q0r0lvK7EB&rank=1

ISBN: 9781542023344

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Ch. 1 deals with the consequences of the Great Depression



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