

Gr 7-10–Teens from Cologne risked their lives for their beliefs. Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates, Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis.Dutton. All these inspire a feeling that “it could never happen here,” but the following list includes both nonfiction and fiction entries that show just how close fascism cuts to home. For the teen audience, other recent movies that mirror some of the concerns of Orwell’s book include The Circle, Ready Player One, Blade Runner 2049, Snowpiercer and "The Hunger Games" franchise, which has a new installment set for November 2023. The list of books and movies that have taken inspiration from Orwell’s writings covers a wide range of settings and eras, from a Tom Cruise movie, Minority Report, to Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale in all its iterations in print, sequels, and streaming. The protagonist, Winston Smith, rebels against the regime and attempts to find freedom and love in a world where such things are forbidden. In the novel 1984, George Orwell depicts a future society in which an all-powerful government, led by the figurehead "Big Brother," controls every aspect of citizens' lives, including their thoughts and emotions. Our aim is to inspire educators to breathe fresh life into lessons around these works by giving students context to understand why these classics are still relevant today.īe sure to check out the 2022 “Refreshing the Canon” lists for more read-alikes of longtime summer reading picks.

Inspired by the most popular titles that emerged, SLJ editors and members of NCTE’s Build Your Stack® Committee have curated this year’s round of “Refreshing the Canon” selections.Īdditionally, we’ve put together multimodal lists of recommendations-including nonfiction, graphic novels, documentaries, and more-that educators can feature in classrooms and libraries alongside the exemplar texts.

Last month, SLJ asked librarians and educators to weigh in on which classics should remain on summer reading lists.
