• Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates. This novel deals with the complex relationship between girls of a gang, their families, and their inner and outer antagonists.
• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. A prequal to Jane Eyre, this novel presents Antoinette’s / Bertha’s perspective on her attic imprisonment.
• Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams. This novel eloquently portrays the complex feelings associated with falling in and out of love, whether the couples are teenagers or adults.
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

Independent Film Viewing

• Dead Poets Society
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
• Lean on Me
• Up the Down Staircase
• The Browning Version
• Dangerous Minds
• To Sir, With Love
• Mr. Holland's Opus
• The Emperor's Club
• The Substitute

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• a. There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz :

Set in the Henry Horner project homes of inner-city Chicago, this memoir from the late 80's early 90's chronicles the lives of two boys in their early adolescence. Struggling to overcome the lure of gangs and other vices of impoverished neighborhoods, these boys are presented in a startlingly honest, eye-opening light by Kotlowitz.

• b. Gatekeepers by Jacques Steinberg :

Set at the turn of the century (2000), this text chronicles the lives of teenagers applying to the elite colleges and Universities of our country, with particular attention to a year in the life of an admissions officer at Wesleyan University. In addition to describing the intensely competitive world of college admissions, this text provides an open and accurate account of the lives of teenagers compelled to make decisions about their high school careers and futures.

• c. Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol :

Similar to the Kotlowitz title, Kozol's work attempts to level the playing field of American education by describing some of the most impoverished school districts in America, implicitly condemning American society for its failure to provide all children the equality needed in order to have equal opportunity.