This sophomore-year English course invites students to explore a diverse selection of world literature organized into thematic units. While critically reading fiction, poetry, drama, and expository nonfiction, students learn essential reading comprehension strategies and engage in literary analysis and evaluation of both classic and contemporary works. Interwoven in the lessons across two semesters are activities that encourage students to strengthen their listening and speaking skills and produce clear, coherent writing. Throughout the course, students read a range of classic and contemporary literary texts including Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. In addition to reading a wide range of literary texts, students read and analyze complex informational and argumentative texts including Sonia Sotomayor’s "A Latina Judge's Voice," Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince, and the contemporary informational text Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science.