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Telling StoriesText Overview

We will read a collection of fiction and non-fiction narratives. The titles, authors, and locations of these texts are indicated in the unit text list. Unit Readers are available through Open Up Resources.

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “9/11 Timeline: The Attacks on the World Trade Center,” The History Channel, The History Channel, 2011
    • “Character Arc” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Coyote Dances with a Star,” Joe Hayes, Joe Hayes, 2016
    • “Internal vs. External Features” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Introduction to Character” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Introduction to Storytelling” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Introduction to Structure” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “New Yorkers Remember 9/11, Fifteen Years Later,” The History Channel, The History Channel, 2016
    • “Obstacles” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • Reading of Chapter 4 from Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama, YouTube, 1995
    • “Story Spine” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Theme” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Too Young to Remember: How Kids Comprehend 9/11,” NBC News, NBC News, 2016
    • “Wants vs. Needs” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “What If” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “World and Character” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Your Unique Perspective” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
  • Unit Reader
    • “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner, Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1930
    • “Advice to Youth,” excerpt from Europe and Elsewhere, Mark Twain, Public Domain, 1882
    • “Corn-Pone Opinions,” excerpt from Europe and Elsewhere, Mark Twain, Public Domain, 1901
    • “Introduction,” “But Sometimes What We Call ‘Memory,’” “Coyotes and the Stro’ro’ka Dancers,” excerpts from Storyteller, Leslie Marmon Silko, Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2012
    • “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan, Threepenny Review, Reprinted by permission from Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency., 1990
    • “Points of Impact,” excerpt from Americana: Dispatches from the New Frontier, Hampton Sides, Anchor Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2004
    • “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” Mark Twain, Public Domain, 1867
    • “The Far and the Near,” Thomas Wolfe, Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1935
    • “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1948
    • “The War Prayer,” excerpt from Europe and Elsewhere, Mark Twain, Public Domain, 1923

Optional

  • Digital Access
    • “Act 1” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Act 2” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Act 3” from “Pixar in a Box: The Art of Storytelling,” Pixar Animation Studios, Khan Academy, 2017
    • “Arrow to the Sun,” Gerald McDermott, YouTube, 1973
    • Beyoncé: Life Is but a Dream, Beyoncé Knowles, Beyoncé Knowles
    • Biography of Amy Tan, Amy Tan Website, Amy Tan Website, 2019
    • Biography of Mark Twain, The Mark Twain House and Museum, The Mark Twain House and Museum
    • “First Response (Full Episode) — 9/11: One Day in America,” Dan Lindsay, T.J. Martin, and David Glover, National Geographic, 2022
    • “History with a Novelist’s Touch: Writing Narrative Nonfiction,” Hampton Sides and others, C-SPAN, 2015
    • “Memory and Delusion,” Shirley Jackson, The New Yorker, 2015
    • “Native American Coyote Mythology,” Traditional Myth, Native Languages of the Americas, 2016
    • “Remembering Tom Wolfe, American Writer with an ‘Anthropologist’s Delight’,” PBS NewsHour, Public Broadcasting Service, 2018
    • “Seven Documentaries Worth Watching about 9/11,” James M. Lindsay and Anna Shortridge, Council on Foreign Relations, 2021
    • “The Angels” from The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe, Macmillan, 1979
    • “The Birdman Drops In,” Hampton Sides, Outside, 2002
    • “Tom Wolfe: The 60 Minutes Interview with Morley Safer,” 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes, 1998
    • “Where Does Creativity Hide?,” Amy Tan, TED Talk, 2008
  • Tradebook
    • Excerpts from The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros, Vintage Books, 2009
  • Unit Reader
    • “Nobel Banquet Speech,” William Faulkner, The Nobel Foundation, 1950
    • “The Turning Point of My life,” excerpt from What is Man, Mark Twain, Public Domain
  • Multimedia
    • The Good Dinosaur, Peter Sohn, Pixar Animation Studios
    • Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation, Barak Goodman, PBS

Text Icons

The following text icons are used in the Text pages:

Unit Reader Unit Reader Texts

Digital Access Digital Access Texts

Tradebook Tradebook Texts

Multimedia Multimedia Texts

To find digital access texts on the Internet, complete the following steps:

  1. Locate the reference information for the text (text title, author, date of publication, and publisher) found on the Text page for a unit, section, or lesson.

  2. Highlight and copy the reference information.

  3. Paste the information into a search engine.

  4. The text will appear as one of the first search results.

  5. Verify the result by comparing the reference information on the website to the information on the Text page.