This module is designed to be taught in 10th grade ELA at the beginning of the school year. Students will read, "The Children of Willesden Lane," the historical account of piano prodigy Lisa Jura's escape from Vienna and her life in London during World War II. Students will analyze how the author develops the central idea that resilience can help us survive and thrive during times of great hardship, including how this idea emerges, and is shaped and refined by specific details and events in the text.
After studying the book, students will be able to attend a live performance by the author (the main character's actual daughter), to bring the music of the story to life. In the spring, students will revisit the historical context of the book in their history classes as they engage in an in depth study of the second World War.
