How do characters make a story? In this episode of Crash Course Kids Literature, we’ll investigate the traits of characters from “King and the Dragonflies” by Kacen Callender and uncover the ways they relate to each...

If you want to learn about a new topic, where do you start? In this episode of Crash Course Kids Literature, we synthesize information from two nonfiction books about a woman with an eye for insects: Maria...

Reading books can be fun, but there’s so much more to discover beneath the surface. In this episode of Crash Course Kids Literature, we’ll use our background knowledge and story evidence to make inferences about E.B. White’s novel,...

How do characters make a story? In this episode of Crash Course Kids Literature, we’ll investigate the traits of characters from “King and the Dragonflies” by Kacen Callender and uncover the ways they relate to each other. Topic:...

Where do you find a theme? Deep in the characters, under the setting, entwined in the plot? In this episode of Crash Course Kids Literature, we travel through the universe with the characters in “A Wrinkle in Time” to discover its...

If you want to learn about a new topic, where do you start? In this episode of Crash Course Kids Literature, we synthesize information from two nonfiction books about a woman with an eye for insects: Maria Merian. Topic: Synthesizing...

Roses are red, violets are blue… What on Earth CAN’T a poem do? In this episode of Crash Course Kids Literature, we dive into the poems that make up Thanhhà Lại’s verse novel, “Inside Out and Back Again” and the figurative language that...

Fairy tales aren’t just “once upon a time…” and “happily ever after.” They can connect us to people across the world! In our final episode of Crash Course Kids Literature, we compare and contrast different versions of “Little Red Riding...

Of all Shakespeare’s plays, perhaps none is stranger than “Macbeth”— a parable on power rife with supernatural elements. But according to texts from the 11th century, this tragedy has its roots in reality. What’s more, other accounts...

Sergeant-Major Morris regaled his friends with epic tales from faraway lands— until one asked about an artifact the Sergeant had alluded to. Slowly, he produced the object: a mummified monkey’s paw. He explained that a holy man had...

When Queen Jocasta of Thebes gave birth to Oedipus, a grim air seized the occasion. Her husband, King Laius, had received a prophecy from Apollo's oracle foretelling that he would die at the hands of his own son. Determined to escape...

As a self-proclaimed radical street librarian, Storybook Maze makes books appear where they're scarce. Through initiatives like free, public book vending machines and street corner story times, she eliminates book deserts — or areas with...

One day in the fall, you called upon your friend, Sherlock Holmes, and found him in conversation with Jabez Wilson. Wilson had been working for the mysterious League of Red-Headed Men. Today, he arrived at work to find the group had...

Stories of werewolves have existed for thousands of years and continue to live on today. They're especially prominent in European literature and folklore, and often found in cultures where the wolf is the largest natural predator. Over...

William Faulkner is considered one of America's most remarkable and perplexing writers. He confused his audience intentionally, using complex sentences, unreliable narrators, and outlandish imagery. His body of work is shocking,...

The 1930s in the United States were pretty bad for employment in all industries, and the theater was no exception. As part of Roosevelt's New Deal, the Works Progress Administration created a division called the Federal Theatre Project....

We're back! This year Mike Rugnetta is teaching you about theater and drama. Are you in drama club? Want to know about the history of theater? Maybe learn some theater history? Have a lot of fun? This is the series for you! Over the next...

In 1998, a school district removed one of American literature's most acclaimed works from its curriculum. Parents pushing for the ban said the book was both "sexually explicit" and "anti-white." The book at the center of this debate was...

In 1830, David Walker sewed a pamphlet into the lining of a coat. The volume was thin enough to be hidden, but its content was far from insubstantial. At the time, many members of the US government considered this pamphlet to be one of...

This week on Crash Course Literature, John Green is continuing to talk about Shakespeare's dark, bloody, Scottish play, Macbeth. This time around, we're looking at the play's characters operate, how the play deals with gender, and the...

Uprisings of enslaved people in the United States were not uncommon, and they had a big influence on how the institution of slavery evolved. One uprising that gets less attention, historically, is the German Coast Uprising that took...

In the 1930s, broadcast radio introduced an entirely new form of storytelling; today, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter are changing the scene again. Andrew Fitzgerald takes a look at the (aptly) short but fascinating history of new...

In which John Green teaches you MORE about Bill Shakespeare's Hamlet. John talks about gender roles in Hamlet, and what kind of power and agency Ophelia and Gertrude had, if they had any at all (spoiler alert: we think they did). You'll...

A husband and wife were in despair. The woman had just given birth to their 13th child, and the growing family was quickly running out of food and money. Wandering into the woods, the father encountered a skeletal figure with sunken eyes...