The following collection of thematically related readings is available in Jane Eyre and Related Readings in McDougal Littell's Literature Connections series.

"The Rain Came" by Grace Ogot
Summary:A Kenyan chief learns that his own daughter must give up her life in order that a drought should end. The daughter, Oganda, accepts her fate and leaves the village, but she is rescued by a young man, Osinda. The young couple flee as the life-giving rain falls at last.

"I Am Crying from Thirst" by Alonzo Lopez
(from South Dakota Review, © 1969)
Summary: In this poem by a Native American, the speaker cries out to the sky to bring rain.

Excerpt from Waiting for Rain by Dan Butterworth
Summary: This excerpt is taken from a nonfiction account of the drought of 1986, when writer Dan Butterworth stayed on a North Carolina farm. In the excerpt Butterworth surveys the drought-stricken land with farmer Archie Clare.

"Crackling Day" by Peter Abrahams
Summary: A young black boy in South Africa challenges three white youths and, in so doing, challenges the political system of the whole country.

"Some Monday for Sure" by Nadine Gordimer
(from Selected Stories, © 1965)
Summary: This short story is set amid the political unrest of the 1960s in South Africa. Josias and his brother-in-law Willie take part in a protester's plan to steal explosives, an action which leads to a life of exile for them and for Josias's sister.

"I Am Not One of Those Who Left the Land" by Anna Akhmatova
(from Poems of Akhmatova )
Summary: In this poem, written shortly after civil war in Russia, the speaker is fiercely critical of those who flee their country in times of strife.

"Spring Sowing" by Liam O'Flaherty
(from The Stories of Liam O'Flaherty, © 1956)
Summary: In an Irish farming community, a newly-married couple, Mary and Martin Delaney, share for the first time together the yearly task of planting the potato seeds.