There’s so, so, so many ways to connect multiple texts. They’re ALL connected, really, when you stop and think about it, which is one of the things that makes literature literally a form of magic and a living organism. ##### Here’s one example: We were [talking in an American Lit class one time about “Harlem” by Langston Hughes](https://drive.google.com/file/d/15X5QfCaWMQ9Cc5Vy0g0Y67TIns5ZWqty/view?usp=share_link), and there were several text-to-text connections that came up in the conversation, but one thing that really stuck with me was the question the poem ends with. It reminded me of the end of a short story I had read *many* years ago, so I started searching for it. Turns out, it was “[Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird](https://drive.google.com/file/d/13o7S_o-Pfc9TiGYjeqvRsL9coyBkTdGe/view?usp=share_link)” by Toni Cade Bambara. The way it ends has never quite left the back of my mind. Random stuff reminds me of it every few months or years. Connections... endings, questions, implications... a call to action that’s implicit, not explicit—maybe—yet... Fierceness... A message, only half-concealed, left behind by a traveler who passed this way before you... As my co-teacher in that Am Lit conversation would say, these are the kinds of connections that make us feel less alone. Watch and listen for elements that link different stories and ideas and parts of *your* life together, as you read! One possible extension of the “text-to-text” concept, and an [[independent reading|assignment you could give yourself for reading]], would be to [[find companion texts for a story]] of your choice.