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great american authors: related resources
Activity Ideas | Related Resources
Find Below: PBS Web Sites, Other Recommended Links, Recommended Books
pbs online
African American World
Explore the creative genius of African American poets and authors.
American Masters
Learn about the lives and key works of America's most influential writers.
American Storytellers: The Sensible Thing
Discover the triumphs and tragedies that marked the lives of F. Scott and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald.
Culture Shock: Born to Trouble: Adventures of Huck Finn
Examine how this classic continues to incite heated debate more than 100 years after it was first published.
Independent Lens: Every Child is Born a Poet - The Life and Work of Piri Thomas
Learn about this Afro-Cuban-Puerto Rican poet and author.
Independent Lens: Loaded Gun - Life, and Death, and Dickinson
Investigate the life and legacy of Emily Dickinson from the perspective of psychoanalysts, poets, professors, and aspiring actresses.
Kate Chopin: A Re-Awakening
Learn about the renowned Louisiana author whose stories and novels scandalized the 19th century and triggered a revolution in the 20th.
Mark Twain
Explore Twain's life and the enduring legacy of his work.
Masterpiece Theatre - The American Collection
Learn about the stories and authors behind some of America's most enduring works of literature.
Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure
Embark on a journey to recapture the world of Ernest Hemingway.
recommended web sites
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/writers_aa19/
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century is a digital collection of over 50 published works by more than 30 19th Century black women writers. Familiar names such as Phyllis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet A. Jacobs stand out, but read through the short biographies of each woman, there are many who continued to write in the face of poverty and hardship. Many became teachers and ministers after Emancipation. Until recent decades, most African American women writers were unfamiliar to students and scholars. This site from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture reintroduces these women to us. There are works of fiction, biography and autobiography, essays, and poetry.
Subject: Reading & Language Arts
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Links
Dickinson Electronic Archives
http://www.emilydickinson.org/
Browse the Digital Articles about how Emily Dickinson wrote, but also an intriguing article titled: "Mutilations: What Was Erased, Inked Over, and Cut Away". Sometimes finding out what was removed is more interesting than a complete text. There is also some humor to be found in Emily's Cartoons. "Titanic Operas" is a collection of text and audio clips of poets at a 1986 conference to mark the centenary of Emily Dickinson's death. Included are Gwendolyn Brooks and Mary Oliver, among two dozen poets. Most documents provide an image of the actual letter or poem, transcription, and notes. Audio requires RealPlayer. Some sections of the site are restricted access.
Subject: Reading & Language Arts
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Links
Willa Cather Archive
http://cather.unl.edu/
Author Willa Cather wrote of immigrant women and pioneers in the Plains. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln hosts a site with examples of Cather's writing including scholarly editions of My Antonia and O Pioneers! with annotations. Other works posted are examples of short fiction and nonfiction. You will have a deeper understanding of Cather through her interviews, letters, and speeches. In addition, there are biographical sketches, a chronology, photos, and an audio clip of Willa Cather from 1933.
Subject: Reading & Language Arts
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Links
William Faulkner on the Web
http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/%7Eegjbp/faulkner/faulkner.html
William Faulkner wrote many of his books and stories about characters set in Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional county in northern Mississippi. This site is great for character lists, how families are related, and an extensive glossary. You can tour the house and grounds of Rowan Oak, Faulkner's home, by means of clickable maps and floor plans with details. The Library section has synopses of novels and other helpful materials.
Subject: Reading & Language Arts
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Links
recommended books
The World that Loved Books
By Stephen Parlato
Published June 2004
Grades: PreK-2; 3-5
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts
Once there was a world in which all creatures loved to read so much that a man reading a book about flowers became flowers and a horse reading about snakes and lizards became snakes and lizards. Parlato has created strange and wonderful collage portraits in the manner of 16th century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo. This would be a good starter for a unit on collage or portraiture.
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Books
Walt Whitman: Words for America
By Barbara Kerley and Brian Selznick
Published October 2004
Grades: 3-5; 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts
From printers apprentice to the Good Gray Poet, this picture book traces the life of America's best known poet. Much of the book looks at Whitman's writing and activities during the Civil War. The author and illustrator provide notes. Complete shorter poems and excerpts from some of the longer are also included.
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Books
The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles
By Stephen Koch
Published June 2005
Grades: 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts
When they left for Spain in 1937, Hemingway and Dos Passos were still friends, though Hemingway's jealousy was already undermining their relationship. Temperamentally very different, their experiences in Spain led them in different political directions. Their friendship did not survive the Civil War. The split changed their lives and writing, and the author argues the course of American Literature.
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Books
The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury
By Sam Weller
Published April 2005
Grades: 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts
Bradbury may be America's best known science fiction writer. His books include Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, I Sing the Body Electric, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and more, many of which have been made into movies. This biography tries to make sense of a SF writer who never learned to drive a car and refused to use computers.
More Recommended Reading & Language Arts Books
Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World
By Cynthia Chin-Lee, Megan Halsey and Sean Addy
Published January 2005
Grades: 3-5; 6-8
Subjects: Social Studies
This ABC book summarizes the lives of twenty-six women from around the world and spanning two centuries: adventurers, athletes, scientists, artists, politicians, writers, and more.
More Recommended Social Studies Books