How extensive the text is — how long it takes to complete the text.
A playful tale of misfortune following the lives of the Baudelaire siblings under the mercy of their legal guardian Count Olaf.
Year of Release: 1999
Author(s): Lemony Snicket
Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/78411.The_Bad_Beginning
ISBN:
Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:The book tells about the story of police violence in the United States where Marvin Johnson’s twin brother, Tyler, was deadly shot. Talking about current race debates in the United States, the book brings quetsions of (in)justices to the forefront.
Year of Release: 2018
Author(s): Jay Coles
ISBN:
ebook URL: https://www.amazon.de/Tyler-Johnson-Was-Here-English-ebook/dp/B073Q2R9SN
Audiobook URL: https://www.amazon.de/Tyler-Johnson-Was-Here/dp/B07BHS5Y62/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:Felix, a transgender teenager, falls in love for the first time while making sense of his identity and growing up at the same time. Fearing that he is one marginizaliation too many as a transgender, queer, black, teenager, the novel depicts a complex coming-of age story.
Year of Release: 2020
Author(s): Kacen Callender
ISBN:
ebook URL: https://www.amazon.de/Felix-After-English-Kacen-Callender-ebook/dp/B07WCPKFLD
Audiobook URL: https://www.amazon.de/Felix-Ever-After/dp/B092RBR7BR/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:This romantic comedy novel published by Becky Albertalli and Adam Sivera depicts the stories of the two very different boys Arthur and Ben whose lives seem to collide and be pushed apart at the same time.
Year of Release: 2019
Author(s): Becky Albertalli, Adam Sivera
Preview: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36341204-what-if-it-s-us
ISBN: 0062795252
Audiobook URL: https://www.amazon.de/What-If-Its-Us/dp/B07F3ZTB4F/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:Poet X tells the story of teenage girl Xiomara growing up in the United States feeling lost and finding herself in the poetry she writes. The poet-style novel describes her family, school, and love life by mediating everyday struggles for teenager coming-off age. Intercultural and intergenerational tensions are evident in the book and challenge heteronormative assumptions of gender, age, and ethnicity.
Year of Release: 2020
Author(s): Elizabeth Alcevedo
Preview: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33294200-the-poet-x
ISBN:
Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:The chapters are written in verse form and can be used as extracts.
As a young adult version of Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, We Set the Dark on Fire mirrors real world issues of immigration and equality by describing the Medio School of Girls, an institute that trains distinguished young women for the roles in their dystopian society. Depending on the girl’s quality, she will either ran a husband’s household or take care of his children. The book traces Daniela’s story at the school and brings pressing questions of gender equality, diversity, sexuality, and immigration to the forefront.
Year of Release: 2019
Author(s): Tehlor Kay Meija
Preview: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37868569-we-set-the-dark-on-fire
ISBN: 0062691325
ebook URL: https://www.amazon.de/We-Set-Dark-Fire-English-ebook/dp/B078R3DFK3
Audiobook URL: https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B07N7M3RY4/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:As part of a series, they could be used as a sole set of texts for teaching throughout a semester. Level of English is B1-B2+.
The House on Mango Street is Sandra Cisneros’s greatly admired novel of a Latina girl growing up in Chicago. It tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn’t want to belong — not to her rundown neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza’s story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.
Book cover
Jane, the Fox and Me, written by Fanny Britt and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault is a graphic coming-of-age story for pre-teens and teens as much as it is a story for adults. It is also a great book for language learners. It is easy to connect to the characters, who range from cool-kid gangs to everyday nerds and outcasts. There are also lots of fun language resources to explore. The visual world of the book is a real treat as it will support language learners in understanding the narrative in depth.
Year of Release: 2013
Author(s): Fanny Britt, Isabelle Arsenault (illustrator)
Preview: https://www.walker.co.uk/Jane-the-Fox-and-Me-9781406353044.aspx
Further information (link): https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17214302-jane-the-fox-me
ISBN: 9781406353044
ebook URL: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Jane_the_Fox_and_Me?id=AbRAAQAAQBAJ&hl=en&gl=US
Online text: https://www.helblinglanguages.com/int/en/blog/beat-the-bullies-through-books-a-review-of-jane-the-fox-me
Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:Explore the visual world of the book and use it as a starting point for discussions. The typography, the colours and the layout of the pages add new layers of meaning to the written narrative. You can also talk about the intertextual references to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
A very short poem about feeling different and about the importance of being your true self. Illustrated by the author.
(From the volume: Everything On It)
Year of Release: 2011
Author(s): Shel Silverstein
ISBN: ISBN 10: 0061998168ISBN 13: 9780061998164
Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:The language of this poem is very simple, but you may want to use it as a starting point for discussions that go far beyond B1 level.
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
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
Extract and usage suggestions for teaching:Film also available: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808417/