Wil Wheaton shares his rationale for why readers should vote for Frank Herbert's Dune as their choice for the Great American Read program. His talk touches on the major themes of the novel and its central conflicts.

Concepts

science fiction, heroes, the hero's journey, allegories, environmental stewardship

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Ask class members to craft a persuasive essay in which they argue for or against including Dune in the Great American Read using evidence from either Will Wheaton's video or their own reading of the novel
• Have groups make videos for books they believe should be included in the Great American Read

Classroom Considerations

• Because the novel is so lengthy, it is more appropriate as an independent reading or book circle choice
• Although the voting for favorite book has closed, the video would serve well to introduce readers to Herbert's classic work

Pros

• Includes discussion questions and a vocabulary list

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.7.2 RL.8.2 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.3 RL.11-12.2 RL.11-12.3