There are many reasons students learn a foreign language other than meeting high school or college graduation requirements or taking proficiency exams. Learning a foreign language offers opportunities for students to connect with other people while traveling abroad, to read a text in its original language, or to communicate with a family member or a friend. [Read More]

Mexican-American author, Sandra Cisneros, tells the story of a young Latin American girl growing up in a poor Chicago neighborhood. Taught in middle school and in high school classrooms throughout the country and translated into many languages, this coming-of-age narrative is a timeless classic [Read More]

Based on Sherman Alexie’s autobiographical experiences and accompanied by Ellen Forney’s moving drawings, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tells the narrative of an adolescent Native American boy, Junior, also known as Arnold, who strives to break away from the life he is fated to live, and to forge for himself a new destiny and a self-identity. In this coming-of-age novel, Alexie equips his protagonist, Junior, with rich and descriptive language, and a unique narrative voice that blends dark humor with irony. Throughout this first-person narrative, Junior must balance between two worlds.. [Read More]

Ranked among the favorites of “Teen Fiction,” John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars appears five times in the top 100 list. Published in 2012, The Fault in Our Stars is Green’s sixth novel. The title, inspired by nobleman Cassius’ lines in William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, explores serious themes, such as the insensitivity of the universe, the necessity of human suffering, the reality of death, human existence, and human consciousness. Yet, the protagonist’s wit and sense of humor throughout the first-person narration lightens the seriousness and gravity of the narrative. [Read More]