CommonLit
Common Lit: Ancient Egyptian Dynasties: Ruling Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms
Egypt is famous for its enormous pyramids, many of which can still be visited today. The pyramids were built by the rulers of Egypt, called pharaohs. In the following informational text by USHistory.org, discusses the rise and fall of...
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Common Lit: "Cinderella" by Charles Perrault
French author Charles Perrault is often called the "father of the fairy tale" for his well known tales such as "Little Red Riding Hood," "Puss in Boots," "Sleeping Beauty," and "Cinderella." Cinderella is a famous folk tale, a story that...
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Common Lit: Chief Powhatan's Address to Captain John Smith (1609)
The Powhatan are Native American people from Virginia who share an Algonquian language. In 1607, the Jamestown settlement in the Virginia colony became the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. At the initial arrival of the...
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Common Lit: "About Treacher Collins Syndrome" by Common Lit Staff
This informational text gives a brief overview of the causes and effects of Treacher Collins syndrome, the same condition that Auggie, the protagonist of Wonder by R.J. Palacio, has.As you read this text, try to imagine the different...
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Common Lit: Can You Still Have Hope When Life Seems Hopeless?
The Myanmar (also known as Berma) military has been accused of human rights violations with their increasingly violent persecution of Rohingya Muslims, an ethnic and religious minority in the nation. The violence in Myanmar has displaced...
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Common Lit: Amigo Brothers by Piri Thomas
Piri Thomas (1928-2011) was a writer and poet, best known for his memoir Down These Mean Streets. Thomas was born to a Puerto Rican mother and Cuban father. During his childhood, Thomas lived in East Harlem, which became known as...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 5-10) to pair with "Wonder" by R. J. Palacio. Wonder is the story of Auggie, a 10-year-old boy who has Treacher Collins Syndrome, a condition that causes numerous physical deformities and...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "When I Was a Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 6-8) to pair with the nonfiction book "When I Was a Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago. Esmeralda Santiago, also known as Negi, describes her childhood growing up in Puerto Rico and her eventual...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
Selected (12) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. A young Scout watches her father, prominent lawyer Atticus Finch, defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman in the...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe
Selected (12) reading passages (grades 6-11) to pair with "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. In this classic novel, Okonkwo, a wealthy and respected member of the Umuofia clan, resists the forces of change brought to Africa by...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 8-12) to pair with "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. In the years following World War I, a group of disillusioned expatriates travel from Paris to Spain to watch bullfighting and participate...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "World Without Fish" by Mark Kurlansky
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 6-10) to pair with "World Without Fish" by Mark Kurlansky. Mark Kurlansky discusses how humans treat the oceans and the fish that live in them, and what the world will likely look like if fish...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Wave" by Todd Strasser
Selected (4) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with "The Wave" by Todd Strasser. A high school teacher conducts a social experiment to teach his students about the atrocities of the Holocaust. However, the wave starts to spin out of...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare
Selected (6) reading passages (grades 7-10) to pair with the drama "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. The overlapping story of several couples and the inevitably complicated road to love encompasses a play within a play,...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams
Selected (6) reading passages (grades 8-12) to pair with "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams. After losing her family estate to creditors, Blanche DuBois moves in with her younger sister, Stella, and her working class...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 10-12) to pair with "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. After being forced to wear a scarlet "A" and live on the outskirts of the colonial Puritan settlement, Hester Prynne struggles to...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Sahara Special" by Esme Raji Codell
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 5-8) to pair with "Sahara Special" by Esme Raji Codell. Sahara Special is the story of Sahara Jones's 5th grade school year and the struggles she overcomes to make friends and reach her potential as...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 6-10) to pair with "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry tells the story of the Logan family combating racial tension and segregation in Mississippi during...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 9-11) to pair with "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro. After decades of striving to be the perfect butler, Stevens embarks on a drive through postwar England that prompts him to reflect on...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
Selected (8) reading passages (grades 9-11) to pair with "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennet clashes with the proud Mr. Darcy, but soon questions her rush to judgement - in this classic commentary on love, propriety,...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 7-9) to pair with the autobiography "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi. "Persepolis" is an autobiographical graphic novel depicting Marjane Satrapi's experience during the Islamic revolution of 1979....
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Othello" by William Shakespeare
Selected (7) reading passages (grades 10-12) to pair with the drama "Othello" by William Shakespeare. Othello, a revered general of the Venetian army, has his newlywed wife meet him in Cyprus where he's stationed. But while there his...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton
Selected (9) reading passages (grades 7-11) to pair with the coming-of-age novel "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton. Ponyboy Curtis, a member of the Greaser gang, learns the value of family and friendship through his conflict with a rival...
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Common Lit: Book Pairings: "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
Selected (6) reading passages (grades 8-12) to pair with the novella "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. This novella tells the story of Santiago, an old fisherman who struggles to reel in a giant marlin far off the coast of...