Special Collections
Amplify ELA Curriculum Grades 6-8
Description: Here you will find the books listed as Core texts and the Extra texts for each unit of the Amplify ELA Grade 6-8 Curriculum.
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A Raisin in the Sun
by Lorraine Hansberry"Never before, the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of black people's lives been seen on the stage," observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959.Indeed Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning drama about the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of black America--and changed American theater forever. The play's title comes from a line in Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," which warns that a dream deferred might "dry up/like a raisin in the sun.""The events of every passing year add resonance to A Raisin in the Sun," said The New York Times. "It is as if history is conspiring to make the play a classic." This Modern Library edition presents the fully restored, uncut version of Hansberry's landmark work with an introduction by Robert Nemiroff. [This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 11-12 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
To Be Young, Gifted and Black
by Lorraine HansberryAn informal autobiography by the author of "Raisin in the Sun", with an introduction by James Baldwin.
Chocolat
by Joanne HarrisEven before it was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, Joanne Harris' New York Times bestselling novel, Chocolat entranced readers with its mix of hedonism, whimsy, and, of course, chocolate.
In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival. Chocolat's every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It's a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday.
Murphy, Gold Rush Dog
by Alison HartA girl, her mother, and their dog must find a way to survive in gold rush-era Alaska.After escaping from his brutal and merciless owner, Murphy is taken in by a young girl named Sally. She and her mother have just arrived in Nome, Alaska, intent on joining the other gold seekers and making a new life. Yet even with Murphy at their side, Sally and Mama find living in the mining town harsh and forbidding. When it seems they may have to return to San Francisco, Sally and Murphy decide to strike out on their own, hoping to find gold and make a permanent home. But dangers await them—not only blizzards and grizzly bears, but also Murphy's original owner, who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.The Dog Chronicles series features fast-paced, fascinating historical fiction about working dogs, perfect for readers who love books.
Tony Hawk
by Tony Hawk and Sean MortimerIn this young adult autobiography, Tony Hawk shares the stories from his life that have helped him become a skateboarding hero. Hawk speaks of being a super-competitive 'demon' child who found peace while on a skateboard. Classmates teased him because of his interest in an 'uncool' sport. Instead of retaliating with violence, he practiced even more. With his story, he will inspire a younger generation of fans to stand up for what they believe in and follow their dreams.
A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
by Nathaniel HawthorneSix legends of Greek mythology, retold for children by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Included are The Gorgon's Head, The Golden Touch, The Paradise of Children, The Three Golden Apples, The Miraculous Pitcher, and The Chimaera. In 1838, Hawthorne suggested to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that they collaborate on a story for children based on the legend of the Pandora's Box, but this never materialized. He wrote A Wonder Book between April and July 1851, adapting six legends most freely from Charles Anton's A Classical Dictionary (1842). He set out deliberately to "modernize" the stories, freeing them from what he called "cold moonshine" and using a romantic, readable style that was criticized by adults but proved universally popular with children. With full-color illustrations throughout by Arthur Rackham.
Young Goodman Brown
by Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne was one of the greatest American writers of the nineteenth century, and some of his most powerful work was in the form of fable-like tales that make rich use of allegory and symbolism. The dark beauty and moral force of his imagination are evident in this short story by one of the early masters of the form, in which a young man who believes he has witnessed a satanic initiation can never see his pious neighbors the same way again. A Vintage Short.
A Child of Hitler
by Alfons HeckTen-year-old Alfons Heck attended a meeting of the Nazi regime. In this book he describes his rise to power as the leader of Hitler Youth.
The Wide Window
by Lemony Snicket and Brett Helquist and Michael KuppermanDear Reader,
If you have not read anything about the Baudelaire orphans, then before you read even one more sentence, you should know this: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are kindhearted and quick-witted, but their lives, I am sorry to say, are filled with bad luck and misery. All of the stories about these three children are unhappy and wretched, and this one may be the worst of them all.
If you haven't got the stomach for a story that includes a hurricane, a signalling device, hungry leeches, cold cucumber soup, a horrible villain, and a doll named Pretty Penny, then this book will probably fill you with despair.
I will continue to record these tragic tales, for that is what I do. You, however, should decide for yourself whether you can possibly endure this miserable story.
With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket
The Gift of the Magi
by O. HenryLittle Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.O. Henry is one of the most popular American writers of the twentieth century and a true master of the short story. This selection of tales ranges from Christmas in New York to the cattle-lands of Texas, taking in con men, clerks, shop assistants, tramps and tricksters. They all highlight O. Henry's comic eye, his gift for evoking speech and setting, and his unique approach to life's quirks of fate.'His stories are perfectly executed mini-classics' Washington Post
Rocket Boys
by Homer H. Hickam Jr.The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir that inspired the film October Sky, Rocket Boys is a uniquely American memoir—a powerful, luminous story of coming of age at the dawn of the 1960s, of a mother's love and a father's fears, of a group of young men who dreamed of launching rockets into outer space . . . and who made those dreams come true.
With the grace of a natural storyteller, NASA engineer Homer Hickam paints a warm, vivid portrait of the harsh West Virginia mining town of his youth, evoking a time of innocence and promise, when anything was possible, even in a company town that swallowed its men alive. A story of romance and loss, of growing up and getting out, Homer Hickam's lush, lyrical memoir is a chronicle of triumph—at once exquisitely written and marvelously entertaining.
The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson BurnettGet lost in the gardens of Misselthwaite Manor with this stunning illustrated edition of The Secret Garden. Beautiful contemporary artwork fills the pages of this unique collectible classic.The Secret Garden has enchanted readers for over a century with its story of second chances, found family, and the healing power of nature. Rediscover the timeless tale with this lush, illustrated volume featuring the unabridged text by Frances Hodgson Burnett and beautiful paintings by Kate Lewis created especially for this edition. Lewis’s immersive illustrations invite us to join Mary Lennox as she discovers the wonders of the overgrown garden and befriends the kind Dickon and the stubborn Colin. With new art on almost every page, this is a keepsake edition to be handed down through the generations.A COLLECTIBLE CLASSIC FOR ALL AGES: The Secret Garden is a beloved story shared across generations through films, TV shows, and other adaptations. Now, readers of all ages can rediscover the original story in this sophisticated illustrated edition and add it to their collections as a personal keepsake. GORGEOUS ILLUSTRATIONS: The colorful artwork of contemporary painter Kate Lewis fills the pages, bringing the English countryside to life in a fresh style. Readers will delight in the original art created for this new edition, from full-page scenes to floral page borders and illustrations of the curious robin and other animals from the garden and the moors. LOVELY GIFT: Featuring beautiful artwork on the cover and a matching ribbon marker, this elegantly designed hardcover is an eye-catching display book for the home. This is a great gift for adults who enjoyed The Secret Garden as children and for younger readers discovering the story for the first time. Share this new edition with a loved one on Mother’s Day or any special occasion!Perfect for:Fans of The Secret Garden who want to rediscover the story they loved as childrenParents who want to share a beloved classic novel with their kidsAnyone looking for a meaningful birthday, housewarming, or Mother's Day giftFans of classic American and English literatureChildren’s book collectorsFans of Kate LewisLovers of colorful botanical artHome décor seekers and interior designers
The Odyssey
by HomerRobert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning new modern-verse translation. "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy. " So begins Robert Fagles' magnificent translation of the Odyssey, which Jasper Griffin in The New York Times Review of Books hails as "a distinguished achievement. " If the Iliad is the world's greatest war epic, the Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey through life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces, during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, is at once the timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. In the myths and legends that are retold here, Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom, and given us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox's superb Introduction and textual commentary provide new insights and background information for the general reader and scholar alike, intensifying the strength of Fagles' translation. This is an Odyssey to delight both the classicist and the public at large, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students. @IthacaStateOfMind Uh oh. This cave is a giant's lair. He has a taste for cheese, and my companions. He also has only one eye. Trying to keep from laughing. Got him drunk. Put a hot poker in his ONE EYE when he blacked out. That will show him - if he could see. LOL. Time to leave. Damn. Poseidon pissed. How was I supposed to know One-Eye was his son? What Olympian whore did he sleep with to get an issue like that? From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less .
Hero on a Bicycle
by Shirley HughesItaly, 1944: Florence is occupied by Nazi forces. The Italian resistance movement has not given up hope, though -- and neither have thirteen-year- old Paolo and his sister, Costanza. As their mother is pressured into harboring escaping POWs, Paolo and Costanza each find a part to play in opposing the German forces. Both are desperate to fight the occupation, but what can two siblings -- with only a bicycle to help them -- do against a whole army? Middle-grade fans of history and adventure will be riveted by the action and the vividly evoked tension of World War II.
Tales from Ovid
by Ted HughesA powerful version of the Latin classic by England's late Poet Laureate. When it was published in 1997, Tales from Ovid was immediately recognized as a classic in its own right, as the best rendering of Ovid in generations, and as a major book in Ted Hughes's oeuvre. The Metamorphoses of Ovid stands with the works of Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Milton as a classic of world poetry; Hughes translated twenty-four of its stories with great power and directness. The result is the liveliest twentieth-century version of the classic, at once a delight for the Latinist and an appealing introduction to Ovid for the general reader.
Benjamin Franklin
by Walter IsaacsonIn this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin’s life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Walter Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the runaway apprentice who became, over the course of his eighty-four-year life, America’s best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard’s Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation’s alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.In this colorful and intimate narrative, Isaacson provides the full sweep of Franklin’s amazing life, showing how he helped to forge the American national identity and why he has a particular resonance in the twenty-first century.
The Innovators
by Walter IsaacsonFollowing his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson&’s New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed The Innovators is a &“riveting, propulsive, and at times deeply moving&” (The Atlantic) story of the people who created the computer and the internet.What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail? The Innovators is a masterly saga of collaborative genius destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution—and an indispensable guide to how innovation really happens. Isaacson begins the adventure with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter, who pioneered computer programming in the 1840s. He explores the fascinating personalities that created our current digital revolution, such as Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, John von Neumann, J.C.R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Robert Noyce, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Tim Berners-Lee, and Larry Page. This is the story of how their minds worked and what made them so inventive. It’s also a narrative of how their ability to collaborate and master the art of teamwork made them even more creative. For an era that seeks to foster innovation, creativity, and teamwork, The Innovators is “a sweeping and surprisingly tenderhearted history of the digital age” (The New York Times).
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
by Harriet JacobsTormented by her master, a young mother plots a daring escape, in this courageous and captivating slave narrative When her mother dies, six-year-old slave girl Linda Brent is sent to the big house, where she grows up serving a gentle mistress who teaches her to read and write. But the mistress&’s death brings about a sudden and terrible change in Linda&’s fortunes. Her lecherous new master torments Linda mercilessly, making her life a living hell. Unable to join her two young children in their escape to the North, Linda hides in the attic above her grandmother&’s house. For seven years, she waits for the opportunity to flee North Carolina and reunite with her son and daughter in the land of freedom. But when the chance finally comes, Linda discovers she has yet more pain to endure. Based on the true story of Harriet Jacobs&’s escape from the South, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is one of American literature&’s most powerful indictments of the evils of slavery. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
Red Scarf Girl
by Ji-Li JiangIt's 1966, and twelve-year-old Ji-li Jiang has everything a girl could want: brains, tons of friends, and a bright future in Communist China. But it's also the year that China's leader, Mao Ze-dong, launches the Cultural Revolution-and Ji-li's world begins to fall apart. Over the next few years, people who were once her friends and neighbors turn on her and her family, forcing them to live in constant terror of arrest. When Ji-li's father is finally imprisoned, she faces the most difficult dilemma of her life. This is the true story of one girl's determination to hold her family together during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century.
The Secret of the Yellow Death
by Suzanne JurmainRed oozes from the patient's gums. He has a rushing headache and the whites of his eyes look like lemons. He will likely die within days. Here is the true story of how four Americans and one Cuban tracked down a killer, one of the word's most vicious plagues: yellow fever. Set in fever-stricken Cuba, the reader feels the heavy air, smell the stench of disease, hear the whine of mosquitoes biting human volunteers during the surreal experiments. Exploring themes of courage, cooperation, and the ethics of human experimentation, this gripping account is ultimately a story of the triumph of science.
The Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton JusterWhen Milo finds an enormous package in his bedroom, he’s delighted to have something to relieve his boredom with school. And when he opens it to find – as the label states – One Genuine Turnpike Tollbooth, he gets right into his pedal car and sets off through the Tollbooth and away on a magical journey! Milo’s extraordinary voyage takes him into such places as the Land of Expectation, the Doldrums, the Mountains of Ignorance and the Castle in the Air. He meets the weirdest and most unexpected characters (such as Tock, the watchdog, the Gelatinous Giant, and the Threadbare Excuse, who mumbles the same thing over and over again), and, once home, can hardly wait to try out the Tollbooth again. But will it be still there when he gets back from school? This new edition of Norton Juster’s classic story includes a special “Why You’ll Love This Book” introduction by award-winning author, Diana Wynne Jones.
The Story of My Life
by Helen KellerAn American classic rediscovered by each generation, The Story of My Life is Helen Keller's account of her triumph over deafness and blindness. Popularized by the stage play and movie The Miracle Worker, Keller's story has become a symbol of hope for people all over the world.
This book-published when Keller was only twenty-two-portrays the wild child who is locked in the dark and silent prison of her own body. With an extraordinary immediacy, Keller reveals her frustrations and rage, and takes the reader on the unforgettable journey of her education and breakthroughs into the world of communication.
From the moment Keller recognizes the word "water" when her teacher finger-spells the letters, we share her triumph as "that living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free!" An unparalleled chronicle of courage, The Story of My Life remains startlingly fresh and vital more than a century after its first publication, a timeless testament to an indomitable will.
The Dharma Bums
by Jack KerouacOne of the best and most popular of Kerouac's autobiographical novels, The Dharma Bums is based on experiences the writer had during the mid-1950s while living in California, after he'd become interested in Buddhism's spiritual mode of understanding. One of the book's main characters, Japhy Ryder, is based on the real poet Gary Snyder, who was a close friend and whose interest in Buddhism influenced Kerouac.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
by Stephen KingFrom international bestseller Stephen King, a classic story that engages our emotions on the most primal level, a fairy tale grimmer than Grimm but aglow with a girl’s indomitable spirit.What if the woods were full of them? And of course they were, the woods were full of everything you didn’t like, everything you were afraid of and instinctively loathed, everything that tried to overwhelm you with nasty, no-brain panic. The brochure promised a “moderate-to-difficult” six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, where nine-year-old Trisha McFarland was to spend Saturday with her older brother Pete and her recently divorced mother. When she wanders off to escape their constant bickering, then tries to catch up by attempting a shortcut through the woods, Trisha strays deeper into a wilderness full of peril and terror. Especially when night falls. Trisha has only her wits for navigation, only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, only her courage and faith to withstand her mounting fear. For solace she tunes her Walkman to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games and the gritty performances of her hero, number thirty-six, relief pitcher Tom Gordon. And when her radio’s reception begins to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is with her—her key to surviving an enemy known only by the slaughtered animals and mangled trees in its wake.
Flight
by Chris KraftFlight is the stirring account of the U.S. space program from its infancy to its greatest triumphs - written by the one man who was there for it all, Christopher Columbus Kraft, Jr., the first NASA flight director.