Holes tells the story of Stanley Yelnats, a boy with chronic bad luck thanks to a curse placed on his great-great-grandfather, who is sent to juvenile detention centre for a crime he did not commit.

One day, while forced to dig holes in a desert which was once a glittering lake, Stanley finds something he hadn't bargained for...

Why this text?

Studying this text allows children to develop an awareness and appreciation of North American literary styles and gain an appreciation for North American history, and how immigration and race relations impacted the lives of North Americans.

Themes

• The power of fate to determine events

• The benefits of friendship

• The destructive nature of cruelty

• The importance of history in everyday life

Set in a dystopian future in North America, children are selected to take part in the Hunger Games: a brutal fight to the death inflicted on the public as retribution for a failed rebellion against a totalitarian state.

Katniss Everdeen, protagonist and resident of District 12, volunteers as tribute when, to her horror, her younger sister Pru is selected at the Reaping. Along with Peeta Mellark, baker and fellow District 12 tribute, Katniss endures a series of epic battles and gruesome injuries.

Katniss goes on to form alliances and even makes friends with other tributes, but with only one winner, who will survive the Hunger Games?

Why this text?

Children will become familiar with the conventions of dystopian science fiction. They will be encouraged to debate and discuss about politics, exploring the idea of what is legal versus what is just.

Themes

• The inequality between rich and poor

• Suffering as entertainment

• The importance of appearances

'My Name is Book' is a non-fiction text chronicling the development of the written word. Children will learn how the written word has evolved over thousands of years, from the oral tradition of our ancestors to the eBooks that we have today. Throughout the book, children will not only learn how books have developed, but why, gaining a deep appreciation for the importance of books for the shared history and culture of the human species.

Why this text?

This text will allow children to understand the progression of the written word from our shared human history of oral tradition to the modern book as we know it, and how the written word has been moulded by the contributions of different cultures across time. They will also understand how the availability of the written word has contributed to changed in attitude and the spread of new ideas across time.

Furthermore, children will understand the importance of freedom of speech and why oppressive regimes have attempted to suppress knowledge throughout history.

Children will also develop an understanding of how John Agard plays with the genre of non-fiction autobiography by explaining the origin of the book through a fictionalised narrator.

Themes

• Cultural development and shared contributions

• Storytelling, identity, and perspective

• Creation vs. representation

• Life, death, and consciousness

• Virtue vs. sin

• Love, desire, and greed