Jump to content

Menu

OK guys, help me refine a Modern Era reading list for a 6th grader


Recommended Posts

ETA:  This was a planning thread for the 2013-14 school year.  To see what we actually did for Modern History - check out post #48!

 

 

Ok, this is tricky.  We'll be working on the modern era, so a lot of the themes are heavy/difficult.  She's only a 6th grader, won't be 11 till November, so young in age.  Advanced in reading level.  We're doing history thematically, so I'm going to list the themes we are covering, and the books I'm thinking of for each theme.  Will you please let me know what you think? I'm trying to preview everything, but it seems like a lot of what I'm previewing I'm crossing off the list till later, and so I'm worried I won't have time to get to all these before she does!

 

Specifically, I'd love to hear if you think these are too old/too heavy for an advanced reader, but young 6th grader.  We're not socially conservative, but she's a little kid.  I want to stay away from really adult themes - prostitution, sexual exploitation, adult relationships.  I also want to stay away from really disturbing descriptions of war, killing, torture, and suffering. I'm not trying to whitewash, just keep it age-appropriate, KWIM?  So please give me comments on any of these, or suggest something I'm not thinking of - could be plays, short stories, poetry as well as novels.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Topics/Books

Topic List

1.Topic:  Becoming Americans:  Immigration,  Labor Unions, Class Struggle, Women’s Suffrage

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith

The Jungle – Upton Sinclair

              

2.Topic: The Arts before WWI

The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde          

 

3.Topic:  Inventions & Exploration

Around the World in 80 Days – Jules Verne

Kim – Rudyard Kipling

Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne 

 

4.Topic:  World War I

The Moffats – Eleanor Estes

 

5.Topic: Art & Culture Between the Wars

The Waste Land – T. S. Eliot        

The Maltese Falcon – Dashiel Hammet

Strong Poison – Dorothy L. Sayers

Witness for the Prosecution – Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie

 

6.The Great Depression

The Grapes of Wrath, Ch. 1 only - amazingly lyrical description of the dustbowl

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men – James Agee ?

Blue Willow – Doris Gates

Out of the Dust – Karen Hesse

Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain – Robert Burch

Paper Moon – Joe David Brown

 

7.       Topics:  The Quest for Equality:  Race Relations, Reconstruction-Civil Rights

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Mildred Taylor

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman – Ernest Gaines

Francie – Karen English

The Friendship – Mildred Taylor

Bud, Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis

Leon’s Story – Walter Tillage

 

8.Topic: World War II

A Separate Peace – John Knowles

Lily’s Crossing – Patricia Reilly Giff

The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World – EL Koningsberg

 

9.Topic: The Cold War

Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself – Judy Blume

Good Old Boy – Willie Morris

The Year of Miss Agnes – Kirkpatrick Hill

Bertie’s War – Barbara Blakely

Animal Farm – George Orwell 

Breaking Stalin’s Nose – Eugene Yelchin

Between Shades of Gray – Ruta Sepetys

 

10.Topics:  Civil Rights, Vietnam, the 1960’s

The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Alex Haley

Iggie’s House – Judy Blume

Coming of Age in Mississippi – Anne Moody

The Land I Lost - Huynh

 

11.   Asia, The Middle East & Africa

                The Good Earth – Pearl Buck

                Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze – Elizabeth Lewis Own

                The Cat Who Went to Heaven – Elizabeth Coatsworth

                Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Grace Lin

 

12.Topic: The End of the 20th Century – And Beyond

Holes – Louis Sachar

Lupita Manana – Patricia Beatty

Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card

The City of Ember – Jeanne DuPrau

Among the Hidden – Haddix

The Giver – Lois Lowry

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really? It's perfect the way it is?  Cool!

 

What about Our Town by Thornton Wilder or Main Street by Sinclair Lewis?

 

The ones I'm really wondering about are The Grapes of Wrath, A Separate Peace, and Let Us All Praise Famous Men.  But hopefully I'll have time to read all of those before we get to them.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You may get a better response on the gifted board. Of the books you've listed, the ones I wouldn't read with a child of 10/11 include:

 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith

The Jungle – Upton Sinclair

The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde

The Waste Land – T. S. Eliot

The Grapes of Wrath – Steinbeck

A Separate Peace – John Knowles

Animal Farm – George Orwell

The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Alex Haley

 

The books on the list that we have read at that age (and enjoyed):

 

Around the World in 80 Days – Jules Verne

Kim – Rudyard Kipling

Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne

Blue Willow – Doris Gates

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Mildred Taylor

The Friendship – Mildred Taylor

Bud, Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis

Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself – Judy Blume

The Good Earth – Pearl Buck

The Cat Who Went to Heaven – Elizabeth Coatsworth

The Giver – Lois Lowry

 

Books we've read (or attempted to read) and my children did not enjoy:

 

The Moffats – Eleanor Estes - All three of my girls have disliked this book

Out of the Dust – Karen Hesse - Two disliked this book, then I gave it away

 

The others on the list we haven't read. :)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi--looks like this needs some attention or a bump at least!

 

For before WW1, I am reading Tolstoy's essays on Non-violence and Civil Disobedience--so far nothing inappropriate for a youngster (though some is confusing because at the time the references must have been clear and are not now).  I highly recommend you look at it yourself and consider it for your dd.  

 

I would probably also choose Tolstoy short stories or a Shaw play over Wilde's.

 

Some of your choices I do not know at all, or have not read in a very long time.  I considered 1984 in light of current events and then realized it was far more full of adult themes (sex and violence both) than I want for ds--cannot recall about Animal Farm.

 

I have had issues with Kipling, my ds has not gotten into Jules Verne, I think The Wasteland is advanced for a 10yo, though maybe fine for your dd. and I am not sure about all the mysteries as representing culture between the wars...     ????

 

Did dd read the Rose year books in the Little House series?  We loved those (3rd grade), and they had a lot about race, suffrage and so on.  I am thinking to look for some of what Rose Wilder herself then wrote later as a journalist.

 

What are you trying to achieve with things like the Asia readings?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi--looks like this needs some attention or a bump at least!

 

For before WW1, I am reading Tolstoy's essays on Non-violence and Civil Disobedience--so far nothing inappropriate for a youngster (though some is confusing because at the time the references must have been clear and are not now).  I highly recommend you look at it yourself and consider it for your dd.  

 

Thank you, I will!

 

I would probably also choose Tolstoy short stories or a Shaw play over Wilde's.

 

Some of your choices I do not know at all, or have not read in a very long time.  I considered 1984 in light of current events and then realized it was far more full of adult themes (sex and violence both) than I want for ds--cannot recall about Animal Farm.

 

Yes, this was my reasoning for choosing Animal Farm - it introduces the discussion of totalitarianism without the difficult subject matter in 1984, Brave New World, etc.

 

I have had issues with Kipling, my ds has not gotten into Jules Verne, I think The Wasteland is advanced for a 10yo, though maybe fine for your dd. and I am not sure about all the mysteries as representing culture between the wars...     ????

 

Yes, this is why I am wondering about Kim.  I will have to pre-read it.

I think the girls will like Around the World and Journey to the Center.  We did 20,000 Leagues last year.  

The Waste Land - I love this poem so much.  I think I'll probably just read it aloud at this point.  I've been reading a bunch of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and the whole tone/atmosphere of those books just reminds me of The Waste Land and The Hollow Men.  I thought I might read them aloud and try and describe why I connect them with lit from that period - the whole sense of disillusionment and senselessness.  This is part of my dilemna, right? I'm trying to create a flavor for the period without actually reading the books that really describe the horrors of war, or that have so many adult themes and situations that they are inappropriate for her age.

 

Did dd read the Rose year books in the Little House series?  We loved those (3rd grade), and they had a lot about race, suffrage and so on.  I am thinking to look for some of what Rose Wilder herself then wrote later as a journalist.

 

No, I've not ever read those either, though we did the LIW books.  I'll have to check Rose Wilder out.

 

What are you trying to achieve with things like the Asia readings?

 

Good question.  This is just a piece of our history/lit study plans - I just listed the fiction/lit books I was thinking of including for each topic.  I also have nonfiction, primary sources, biographies, and a few more texty things for her to read in each topic.  I'll be having her do a brief survey of Asian & Middle Eastern history, so was just looking for a few fiction books to kind of "flesh out" this period.  I've not read any of these since reading The Good Earth as a kid her age.  I remember it made quite an impression on me, but I don't remember the details.  This is the least fleshed out part of my plan thus far.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...


Yes, this is why I am wondering about Kim.  I will have to pre-read it.


I think the girls will like Around the World and Journey to the Center.  We did 20,000 Leagues last year.  


The Waste Land - I love this poem so much.  I think I'll probably just read it aloud at this point.  I've been reading a bunch of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and the whole tone/atmosphere of those books just reminds me of The Waste Land and The Hollow Men.  I thought I might read them aloud and try and describe why I connect them with lit from that period - the whole sense of disillusionment and senselessness.  Kafka?  Yeats ("Things fall apart...")?  Shelly's Frankenstein--if not too scary?  Auden?   This is part of my dilemna, right? I'm trying to create a flavor for the period without actually reading the books that really describe the horrors of war, or that have so many adult themes and situations that they are inappropriate for her age.


 


How much are you going into vs. avoiding of the wars and so on?


 


 


Did dd read the Rose year books in the Little House series?  We loved those (3rd grade), and they had a lot about race, suffrage and so on.  I am thinking to look for some of what Rose Wilder herself then wrote later as a journalist.


 


No, I've not ever read those either, though we did the LIW books.  I'll have to check Rose Wilder out.  They are by the man she sort of adopted as a grandson when he was a boy, some negative reviews on Amazon saying they were not up to LIW standards almost stopped me from getting them, but ds  liked them better than the LIW ones.  (OTOH he has not liked Verne, so their taste may differ a lot).  Anyway, they are written to be suitable for kids, and yet also touch on much that was going on at the time, especially when Rose goes to visit her aunt, who is a suffragette, meets Eugene Debs and so on.  


 


What are you trying to achieve with things like the Asia readings?


 


Good question.  This is just a piece of our history/lit study plans - I just listed the fiction/lit books I was thinking of including for each topic.  I also have nonfiction, primary sources, biographies, and a few more texty things for her to read in each topic.  I'll be having her do a brief survey of Asian & Middle Eastern history, so was just looking for a few fiction books to kind of "flesh out" this period.  I've not read any of these since reading The Good Earth as a kid her age.  I remember it made quite an impression on me, but I don't remember the details.  This is the least fleshed out part of my plan thus far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

...

Yes, this is why I am wondering about Kim.  I will have to pre-read it.

I think the girls will like Around the World and Journey to the Center.  We did 20,000 Leagues last year.  

The Waste Land - I love this poem so much.  I think I'll probably just read it aloud at this point.  I've been reading a bunch of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and the whole tone/atmosphere of those books just reminds me of The Waste Land and The Hollow Men.  I thought I might read them aloud and try and describe why I connect them with lit from that period - the whole sense of disillusionment and senselessness.  Kafka?  Yeats ("Things fall apart...")?  Shelly's Frankenstein--if not too scary?  Auden?   This is part of my dilemna, right? I'm trying to create a flavor for the period without actually reading the books that really describe the horrors of war, or that have so many adult themes and situations that they are inappropriate for her age.

 

How much are you going into vs. avoiding of the wars and so on?

 

 

Did dd read the Rose year books in the Little House series?  We loved those (3rd grade), and they had a lot about race, suffrage and so on.  I am thinking to look for some of what Rose Wilder herself then wrote later as a journalist.

 

No, I've not ever read those either, though we did the LIW books.  I'll have to check Rose Wilder out.  They are by the man she sort of adopted as a grandson when he was a boy, some negative reviews on Amazon saying they were not up to LIW standards almost stopped me from getting them, but ds  liked them better than the LIW ones.  (OTOH he has not liked Verne, so their taste may differ a lot).  Anyway, they are written to be suitable for kids, and yet also touch on much that was going on at the time, especially when Rose goes to visit her aunt, who is a suffragette, meets Eugene Debs and so on.  

 

What are you trying to achieve with things like the Asia readings?

 

Good question.  This is just a piece of our history/lit study plans - I just listed the fiction/lit books I was thinking of including for each topic.  I also have nonfiction, primary sources, biographies, and a few more texty things for her to read in each topic.  I'll be having her do a brief survey of Asian & Middle Eastern history, so was just looking for a few fiction books to kind of "flesh out" this period.  I've not read any of these since reading The Good Earth as a kid her age.  I remember it made quite an impression on me, but I don't remember the details.  This is the least fleshed out part of my plan thus far.

 

We are definitely discussing the wars, and she will be reading texts, nonfiction accounts, etc.  I guess what I am trying to avoid is literature that makes it *so* vivid, bleak, and depressing - I was listening to All Quiet on the Western Front this morning, and that's too much.  

 

So she'll get "the facts" in a nonfiction context.  With the fiction of the post-WWI period, I guess  I'm trying to capture that feeling of disillusionment/bleakness without all the blood and guts.  And the Post-Modernist sensibility without all the adult situations.  Maybe this is not possible??  Yeats is a great idea -  Things Fall Apart is perfect.  And I was thinking about The Metamorphosis at one point,  guess I'll add  that to my pre-read list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really? It's perfect the way it is?  Cool!

 

What about Our Town by Thornton Wilder or Main Street by Sinclair Lewis?

 

The ones I'm really wondering about are The Grapes of Wrath, A Separate Peace, and Let Us All Praise Famous Men.  But hopefully I'll have time to read all of those before we get to them.

I'm not familiar with all of those titles.  Interestingly, A Separate Peace stood out to me as one I would wait on for a kid that age due to the heavy theme of teen suicide. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

.  And I was thinking about The Metamorphosis at one point,  guess I'll add  that to my pre-read list.

I think The Metamorphosis would be fine.  It is dark, dark, dark, but it is allegorical.  I would read it to my 4th and 6th graders.  YMMV.

 

If you read it aloud (as I do most of our heavy-themed selections), you can edit on the fly if you feel the need.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think The Metamorphosis would be fine.  It is dark, dark, dark, but it is allegorical.  I would read it to my 4th and 6th graders.  YMMV.

 

If you read it aloud (as I do most of our heavy-themed selections), you can edit on the fly if you feel the need.

I think you are right, and this is why I think Animal Farm works for this age group too, where others don't.

 

Yes, anything I think is on the edge I will read aloud, or we'll read together and discuss daily, I won't just send her off with stuff. Ideally I'll preread everything, I am just getting concerned about having time, hence getting the word from you guys helps me knock things off the list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Animal Farm is completely allegorical, so I think it would be okay for a kid this age.

 

You might check out the selections in Sonlight's history/literature for Core H.  I am doing this Core next year with my 5th and 7th graders, and it covers the historical period you are covering. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Importance of Being Earnest is wonderful and one of my favorite plays, but I think the humor would be missed by a child this age and is better enjoyed by someone a bit older.  Love it so much, though.  :D

 

I know, right?  My dd loves puns, and this kind of humor too, so I was thinking she might enjoy it, but it may be too soon.  Another one to re-read again, with her in mind . . . 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1.Topic:  Becoming Americans:  Immigration,  Labor Unions, Class Struggle, Women’s Suffrage


A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith (I love this book, but your DD might get more out of it on the next rotation)


All-of-a-Kind Family (about a Jewish family in New York at the turn of the century, but less heavy material)


The Jungle – Upton Sinclair


A Family Apart - Joan Lowery Nixon (I loved this book at about that age, about siblings sent west on the orphan train)


              


2.Topic: The Arts before WWI


The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde      


Goodbye, Mr. Chips - Hilton (not about the arts specifically, but about a British teacher who taught during WWI through 1930ish)    


 


3.Topic:  Inventions & Exploration


Around the World in 80 Days – Jules Verne


Kim – Rudyard Kipling


Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne (nice, but might be too much Verne with both. If I could only do one, I'd read Around the World in 80 Days.)


 


4.Topic:  World War I


The Moffats – Eleanor Estes


The Singing Tree (sequel to The Good Master) - Kate Seredy


Charlotte Sometimes (British boarding school girls during WWI)


 


5.Topic: Art & Culture Between the Wars


The Waste Land – T. S. Eliot        


The Maltese Falcon – Dashiel Hammet 


Strong Poison – Dorothy L. Sayers


Witness for the Prosecution – Agatha Christie


Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie


I'm not familiar with these, other than The Maltese Falcon. I'm not sure I'd read it to an 11 year old.


 


6.The Great Depression


The Grapes of Wrath, Ch. 1 only - amazingly lyrical description of the dustbowl


Let Us Now Praise Famous Men – James Agee ?


Blue Willow – Doris Gates


Out of the Dust – Karen Hesse


Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain – Robert Burch


Paper Moon – Joe David Brown


I'm not familiar with these, other than Grapes of Wrath, but I've heard especially good things about Blue Willow. I'd skip the Agee book this round. 


 


7.       Topics:  The Quest for Equality:  Race Relations, Reconstruction-Civil Rights


Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Mildred Taylor


The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman – Ernest Gaines


Francie – Karen English


The Friendship – Mildred Taylor


Bud, Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis


Leon’s Story – Walter Tillage


 


8.Topic: World War II


A Separate Peace – John Knowles


Lily’s Crossing – Patricia Reilly Giff


The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World – EL Koningsberg


Letters from Rifka


Number the Stars


 


9.Topic: The Cold War


Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself – Judy Blume (one of my all-time favorites)


Good Old Boy – Willie Morris


The Year of Miss Agnes – Kirkpatrick Hill


Bertie’s War – Barbara Blakely


Animal Farm – George Orwell 


Breaking Stalin’s Nose – Eugene Yelchin


Between Shades of Gray – Ruta Sepetys


 


10.Topics:  Civil Rights, Vietnam, the 1960’s


The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Alex Haley


Iggie’s House – Judy Blume


Coming of Age in Mississippi – Anne Moody


The Land I Lost - Huynh


 


11.   Asia, The Middle East & Africa


                The Good Earth – Pearl Buck (might be a little heavy)


                Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze – Elizabeth Lewis Own


                The Cat Who Went to Heaven – Elizabeth Coatsworth


                Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Grace Lin  :thumbup1:


                Journey to Jo'burg - Beverly Naidoo (It's fairly short, if you're pressed for time.)


 


12.Topic: The End of the 20th Century – And Beyond


Holes – Louis Sachar


Lupita Manana – Patricia Beatty


Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card (or you could watch the upcoming movie instead)


The City of Ember – Jeanne DuPrau (the sequel, The People of Sparks, is also good)


Among the Hidden – Haddix


The Giver – Lois Lowry


 


  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are definitely discussing the wars, and she will be reading texts, nonfiction accounts, etc.  I guess what I am trying to avoid is literature that makes it *so* vivid, bleak, and depressing - I was listening to All Quiet on the Western Front this morning, and that's too much.  

 

So she'll get "the facts" in a nonfiction context.  With the fiction of the post-WWI period, I guess  I'm trying to capture that feeling of disillusionment/bleakness without all the blood and guts.  And the Post-Modernist sensibility without all the adult situations.  Maybe this is not possible??  Yeats is a great idea -  Things Fall Apart is perfect.  And I was thinking about The Metamorphosis at one point,  guess I'll add  that to my pre-read list.

 

 

Moffats is surely appropriate for her age--I did not know it was about WW1 though???

 

What about: this  about American girls joining Red Cross to help wounded soldiers by L Frank Baum...too old for her or too graphic?

 

Flanders Fields poem?   Patterns by Amy Lowell?  (I think that is title and author--been a long time!)

 

My ds got a lot about WW1 and the times both before and after, from The Young Indiana Jones movies, but it was VERY graphic and full of violence.  Some excellent special feature materials, but again a lot of graphic scenes of war and carnage.

 

Navajo Code Breakers story for WW2?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Definitely agree on the Grapes of Wrath. Even an advanced reader won't have the perspective on humanity that it takes to read that book. But that first chapter suggestion is excellent, and I thank the poster who suggested it:-).

 

Flanders Fields, for sure. Also, if no one has mentioned it, I would add War Horse. Totally age appropriate, but helps to give the perspective of warfare without it being too personal, as it is told from the perspective of the horse.

 

You may want to include something on Titanic as well - if someone already mentioned this or it is on your list, I apologize... Haven't read through all of the responses... (Do they have a smilie for sheepish grin?). Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She's just recently read War Horse (because she reads everything she can about horses), The Westing Game (for a library book group) and when she did the WWS lesson on Titanic, she spent about two weeks reading everything the library had, and watching a bunch of docos about it.  So those are the perfect kind of things for her, right at her level & interest.  So thank you for the suggestions!

 

Yep, with Grapes of Wrath I've decided that she will read just Ch. 1 & Ch. 5, which describe the physical/ecological conditions of the dust bowl era, and then the sharecroppers getting thrown off the land.  Those two chapters kind of stand apart from the narrative about the Joad family, but they are so beautifully and amazingly written that I think they will be a better introduction to that time period than any nonfiction reading I could have her do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could use something from the Middle East - I've got Asia and Africa (thanks to Aurelia!) but nothing from the Middle East.  Again, I'd like to find something that gives her a flavor of what life in the 20th century has been like in that part of the world, without being specifically about war, bloodshed, etc.  No Kite Runners!!!!  I still have bad dreams about that book.  Any ideas?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could use something from the Middle East - I've got Asia and Africa (thanks to Aurelia!) but nothing from the Middle East.  Again, I'd like to find something that gives her a flavor of what life in the 20th century has been like in that part of the world, without being specifically about war, bloodshed, etc.  No Kite Runners!!!!  I still have bad dreams about that book.  Any ideas?

Has she read The Breadwinner, by Deborah Ellis? 

 

I haven't put DS12's modern literature list together yet, so your list is very helpful! I'll post ours as soon as it's settled. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Christopher Paul Curtis has several books that might fit your needs better than Bud, Not Buddy.  Elijah of Buxton is about the first child born free in the Buxton settlement.  The Mighty Miss Malone takes place during the Depression.  The Watson's Go To Birmingham - 1963...  We loved them all so I don't think you can go wrong in your selection. 

 

Samir and Yonatan by Daniella Carmi is one we read when studying the Middle East.

 

I second The Breadwinner Trilogy and a selection by Beverly Naidoo.
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Three overall books you might like to go with your Modern Era History readings:

- Our Century in Pictures for Young People (Jennings) -- photos & essays for lavor of each decade of U.S. 20th century

- Usborne History of the Twentieth Century (Hopkinson) -- 2-page spreads on a wide variety of types of topics

- Usborne Internet-Linked Intro to Modern Art (Dickins) -- how political/social movements weave together in art movements

 

Below are thoughts and comments (FWIW!) on your literature selections. For more movie ideas, check out the thread Movies for Early Modern/Modern?; in there, I also linked 2 more threads with ideas -- please note that a number of the suggestions are not for young pre-teens, so you'll have to ask or preview.  BEST of luck in narrowing down your list!  :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

1. The Jungle

Not a difficult read vocabulary and sentence-structure-wise, but VERY heavy and depressing subject-wise. I personally would wait until high school. I'd suggest the following as substitutes:

 

non-fiction:

- Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor (Freedman) -- non-fiction (we really enjoyed this one)

- Immigrant Kids (Freedman) -- non-fiction (fabulous photos; very enjoyable)

- Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York (Hopkinson) -- non-fiction; no personal experience

 

fiction:

- The Great Wheel (Lawson) -- (g.r 5-8) VERY enjoyable turn-of-the-century immigrant story

- The Hundred Dresses (Estes) -- (gr. 4-6) short story (setting may be more like 1930s); 2 natural-born American girls suddenly see what it's like to be an immigrant

- In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson -- (gr. 4-6) set in late 1940s; the Asian immigrant experience

- The Hope Chest (Schwabach) -- (gr. 5-8) women's suffrage setting; no personal experience

- Mama's Bank Account (Forbes) -- (gr. 6+) humorous autobiographical sketches of immigrant family's life

- The Earth Dragon Awakes (Yep) -- (gr. 7-9) 1906 San Francisco earthquake

- Dragonwings (Yep) -- (gr. 7-9) turn-of-the-century Chinese immigrants to the US

- "A Harlem Tragedy" (Henry) -- adult short story; dark humor look (with a twist ending) at domestic abuse in turn-of-the-century NY tenement living by O. Henry -- with my high school aged DSs, we had a great discussion on how the "dark humor" of this story allowed Henry to make social commentary on a very dicey and hidden topic of abuse -- you may want to wait on this one until your student can make these connections and leaps

 

movies:

- Newsies (1992) -- musical; exploited child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century NY go on strike

- The Great Race (1962) -- very fun cross-continent auto race, with women's suffrage images/discussion along the way

- Mary Poppins (1964) -- Mrs. Banks has "votes for women" song; also hints at subtly changing social roles

- The Immigrant (1917) -- silent B&W Charlie Chaplin comedy

Flambards (1979) -- BBC mini-series set in England just before/after WW1; social class upheavals/changes

 

 

2. Fun! :)

 

more book ideas:

- Christy (Marshall) -- 1912; young woman works as a teacher in the Smokey Mts.

- Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt) -- turn-of-century girl given choice of extended life

- Angel on the Square (Whelan) -- historical fiction; 1914 Russian empire beginning to crumble

A Day of Pleasure (Singer) -- autobiographical sketches pre-WW1 Warsaw Jewish ghetto; gr. 7/8+ but a strong 6th grader reader can do it

- Anne of Green Gables and sequels (Montgomery) -- turn of the century Novia Scotia

 

movies to give you a feel of pre-WW1 culture:

- The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) -- your DD may enjoy it more watching it than reading it

- Pygmalion (1938) -or the musical based on it --  My Fair Lady (1964) -- set in late 1800s/turn of century

- Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) -- musical; set in 1899/1900

- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) -- musical; life of George Cohen, from vaudville (1890s) to his famous WW1 song "Over There"

- A Night to Remember (1958) -- sinking of the Titanic in 1912

 

 

3. Take your pick! :)

The Verne stories are set in the second half of the 1800s, if that makes a difference. We also REALLY enjoyed The Usborne Book of Discovery (Everett, Reid & Fara) -- a non-fiction collection of 3 Usborne books: Inventors, Scientists and Explorers (the majority of which fall in the Modern timeframe).

 

Extra Idea:

The Endurance (2000) -- documentary; Shackleton and his crew's amazing 2-year survival shipwrecked at Antarctica in 1914-16 (or the book, Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Lansing)

 

 

4. In case you want some very gentle works to cover WW1:

 

books

- DK Eyewitness Book of World War 1 (Adams) -- non-fiction (gr. 5+)

- Where Poppies Grow (Granfield) -- picture book, but great for children even up into middle school

- In Flanders Fields (Granfield) -- picture book, but great for children even up into middle school

- Christmas in the Trenches (McCutcheon) -- picture book

 

movies

- Sergeant York (1941) -- movie biography of the WW1 decorated hero

 

And the influenza epidemic killed more people world-wide than did the Great War. Hero Over Here (Kudlinski) (gr. 4-6 historical fiction) only okay in writing, but gives a good sense of what it was like having to care for family members who were deathly sick.

 

 

5. Of these, Murder on the Orient Express would be my first pick for an 11yo.

The Wasteland is definitely one to wait on until late high school, or even until college. More ideas:

 

more book ideas

- Cheaper By the Dozen (Gilbraith) -- 1920s America big family; father on the cutting edge of innovation

- Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze -- (gr. 6-9) historical fiction; 1920s China

- "The Most Dangerous Game" (Connell) -- adventure short story with a twist; WW1 is referenced

 

movies/TV

- something by P.G. Wodehouse -- funny, well-written, and captures spirit of the 1920s; OR, watch episodes from PBS' Wooster & Jeeves

- watch PBS Mystery! episodes of Hercule Poirot for feel of 1920s/30s; OR read short stories  (Hercule Poirot's Casebook collection)

- Enchanted April (1991) -- charming, humorous film of 4 women whose lives are transformed by grace post WW1

- The Spirit of St Louis (1957) -- Lindbergh's famous flight

- Singin' in the Rain (1952) -- fun look as the movies went from silents to talkies in late 1920s

 

6. From your choices, I'd go with Out of the Dust.

JMO, I thought Blue Willow was a weak book. Not familiar with the Agee, Burch or Brown works. I've seen the Ryan O'Neil movie of Paper Moon, and has some bawdry and some brutal scenes -- don't know how close it sticks to the book -- preview the book first. More ideas:

 

books

- A Year Down Yonder (Peck) -- gr. 6-9

- All Creatures Great and Small (Herriot) -- 1930s rural English farmlands; 6th grader will need help with some of the medical terms and English accents/jargon

- My Family and Other Animals (Durrell) -- 1930s English family transplants to a small Greek island; grade 7/8+, but a strong 6th grade reader can do this one (there's a sweet 2005 film of this book, too)

 

movies

- Grapes of Wrath (1940) -- director John Ford changed the film ending to be more hopeful than the book ending

- Sea Biscuit (2003) -- racehorse that gave hope in the midst of the Depression

- My Man Godfrey (1936) -- Depression; really highlights the very rich vs. homeless

 

 

7. I vote for Roll of Thunder  :D

It's quite good! And, I didn't connect with Bud, Not Buddy. Not familiar with the others.

 

Movie ideas:

- To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

- Remember the Titans (2000) -- first black coach of a Southern college football team in 1970s

 

 

8. Not familiar with any of these.

 

More book ideas

- Number the Stars (Lenski) -- helping Jews escape to Sweden

- Escape From Warsaw (Serrailier)-- Polish children surviving without their parents during WW2

- Winged Watchman (Stockum) -- Danish families under Nazi WW2 occupation

- The Endless Steppe (Hautzig) -- Russians banished to Siberia during WW2

- Hiroshima (Yep) -- WW2 after math of Japanese atomic bomb victims come to US for treatment

- The Hiding Place (tenBoom) -- this autobiography has encouraged and challenged our family ever since we read it aloud along about 6th grade -- if you do it, make it a read aloud

 

Movie ideas

- Stalag 17 (1953) -- POW camp in Germany

- The Great Escape (1963) -- POW camp in Germany

- The Hiding Place (1975) -- movie of the above book

- Casablanca (1942) -- the situation in North Africa, just before the US enters WW2

 

After WW2 book ideas

- The Cay (Taylor) -- (gr. 4-6) shipwreck/survival story; the boy was sent away for his safety during WW2

- After The War (Matas) -- (gr. 7+) it's not the writing but the power of the events that make this one worthwhile -- losing the whole family in Europe to the War/Holocaust, and then traveling as a young teen on her own to the newly-founded Israel -- probably a book to wait on till high school

- Kon Tiki (Heyersdahl) -- (gr. 7/8+) non-fictional account of building a log raft, launching from South America and arriving on a S. Pacific island; a little dry in the writing, but such a fascinating idea -- AND the film Heyersdahl actually made while doing this is on Netflix!

 

 

9. If you do Animal Farm...

... be sure to first study communism and capitalism and understand who Trotsky and Lenin. Just an FYI: Year of Miss Agnes (gr. 4-6 level) is good, but does not give you any feel that it is happening in the Cold War -- it feels like it could be happening today. Not familiar with any of the others.

 

More book ideas

- Year of Impossible Goodbyes (Choi) -- (gr. 7/8+) escaping Communist N. Korea; autobiography -- intense, so, preview

- I Am David (Holm) -- (gr. 6/7+) boy escapes an Eastern bloc prison camp and struggles to reach his mother in a free nation

- God's Smuggler (Andrew) -- (gr. 8+) autobiography; Christian missionary who smuggled Bibles behind the Iron Curtain for decades; gr. 8+ -- may want to do this one aloud together

- The Pushcart War (Merrill) -- (gr. 5-8) funny, but also shows how hostilities escalate until you get a Cold War

- When the Wall Came Down (Schmemann) -- non-fiction account of the 1989 dismantling of the Berlin Wall

 

Movies (Cold War)

- The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966) -- funny look at US fears of USSR

- The Mouse That Roared (1959)

- I Am David (2003) -- lovely movie version of the book

- Manchurian Candidate (1962) -- American fear of USSR and brainwashing

- War Games (1983) -- teen hackers save the day when Cold War missile computer tries to launch

- The Hunt for Red October (1990)

 

Movies (1960s feel)

- Help! (1965) -- 1960s musical romp with the Beatles

- West Side Story (1961) -- musical drama; Romeo & Juliet of NY street gangs

 

 

10. No familiarity with the first 3 books.

The Land I Lost is fine -- BUT it is not about the Vietnam War --  it's autobiographical sketches of pre-War rural life farming and incidents with jungle animals, etc. Some non-fiction ideas that are gentle and not overwhelming or graphic:

Cornerstones of Freedom: Vietnam War (Benoit) -- non-fiction (gr. 5-7)

- Cornerstones of Freedom: The Story of the Saigon Airlift (Kent) -- non-fiction (gr. 5-7)

Cornerstones of Freedom: Story of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial (Wright) -- non-fiction (gr. 5-7)

 

More ideas for Civil Rights a biography on Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., or other key people/events. Maybe Warrior Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High (Beals) -- a very powerful autobiography -- intense, so preview.

 

 

11. Nice.

If you go with Young Fu (gr. 7-9 level) definitely first cover the historical times of 1920s China to help understand what's going on and why the characters make the choices they do. This 5-minute article by Frank Smitha on the Macro History & World Timeline website is a helpful "nutshell" of key events/movements/people from the turn of the century up through the 1927 Peasant Rebellion -- all of which is the backdrop to Young Fu.

 

More book ideas:

- Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq (Stamaty)

- Breadwinner, and the sequel, Pavanna's Journey (Ellis)

- Full Cupboard of Life (Smith) -- book 5 of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series set in modern-day Botswana Africa; charming (the first book is a bit rougher, and does give the main character's backstory -- she was physically abused by her husband while pregnant and as a result, the child died soon after birth; it's written non-graphically and only a few sentences, but it may be more than you want an 11yo to deal with; the later books are smoother and gentler

 

Movies

- Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005) -- follows an ordinary modern-day Mongolian nomad family

 

 

12. Not familiar with Lupita or Among the Hidden.

City of Ember is short and a gr. 4-6 level of reading, so I'd also go with the sequel, People of Sparks for more discussion. The Giver will provide a lot of discussion -- FYI: disturbing euthanasia of a baby. I wouldn't do Ender's Game with someone younger than your 11yo DD (I think I waited until my DSs were about 14yo, but I tend to be very conservative): the premise is that children are training to be star fighter pilots and part of their training involves some painful "games" in which they actually injure one another.

 

More sci-fi/fantasy ideas:

- Below the Root (Snyder) -- fantasy, but with a sci-fi backstory ultimately revealed

- Enchantress from the Stars (Engdahl) -- sci-fi AND fantasy

- A Wrinkle in Time, and, A Wind in the Door (L'Engle) -- sci-fi

- Watership Down (Adams) -- this is a good one while you're covering the various types of gov't in modern times; FYI if you have a sensitive reader: some of the rabbits die (the characters are talking rabbits)

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

:lurk5:

I'll be looking for this thread again next summer, when I have a rising-6th grader about to do Modern history.  I'm so excited for all these suggestions!  Could you put up or link to what you finally decide on?

 

(If you have your 5th grade reading list around, I'd appreciate that too!)

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yay, Lori D, thanks! I almost pm'd you to beg you to come take a look at this thread.

 

I'm working today, so I'll come back and look at this in more detail later. She's read quite a few of these, but there are a number of them I'm not familiar with, so I will definitely be checking them out. Your annotations are so helpful. I appreciate the nonfiction and movie ideas too - I do have NF & movies on my master list, but those you suggested are almost all new to me! So it's great, I will add them and that way she will have a choice of several NF from each Topic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:lurk5:

I'll be looking for this thread again next summer, when I have a rising-6th grader about to do Modern history.  I'm so excited for all these suggestions!  Could you put up or link to what you finally decide on?

 

(If you have your 5th grade reading list around, I'd appreciate that too!)

 

Thanks!

Anabel, here is the fiction she ended up reading in 5th grade: the first section is the stuff we did together, then the historical fiction, then her fun/indie reading.  I probably don't have everything on there that she's read in the last month, but this is mostly it:

 

Literature

1.       The Princess and Curdie – George MacDonald – RA

2.       Five Children and It – E Nesbit – RA

3.       The Phoenix & The Carpet – E Nesbit - RA

4.       The Story of the Amulet – E Nesbit - RA

5.       The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling - Audio

6.       Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne - RA

7.       Alice in Wonderland – RA & Canon Book Group discussion

8.       Through the Looking Glass– RA & Canon Book Group discussion

9.       Pinocchio - RA

10.   Rip Van Winkle & The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – RA

11.   The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle – RA

12.   The Sign of Four - Arthur Conan Doyle - RA

13.   The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle – RA

14.   Lamb’s Shakespeare:  King Lear, The Taming of the Shrew – RA

15.   Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain - RA

16.   Mark Twain short stories – The Million Pound Bank Note and The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County - Audio

17.   Little Women – Louisa May Alcott

 

Chronological Historical Fiction (RA/IR/Audio)

1.       I, Juan de Pareja - IR

2.       A Journy to the New World – Kathryn Lasky

3.       Calico Captive – Elizabeth George Speare – IR

4.       Ben and Me – Robert Lawson-IR

5.       Sarah Bishop – Scott O’Dell - IR

6.       Johnny Tremaine – Esther Forbes - Audio

7.       Winter of the Red Snow – Kristiana Gregory - IR

8.       Felicity’s Story Collection - IR

9.       The Lacemaker and the Princess – Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - IR

10.   Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles – Kathryn Lasky - IR

11.   Catherine: The Great Journey – Kristiana Gregory - IR

12.   Streams to the River, Streams to the Sea – Scott O’Dell – IR

13.   The Story of Napoleon – H. E. Marshall – IR

14.   Ludwig Van Beethoven – Mike Venezia

15.   Shaka, King of the Zulus – Diane Stanley

16.   Lyddie – Katherine Paterson - IR

17.   Kirsten’s Story Collection - IR

18.   The Ballad of Lucy Whipple - IR

19.   Shipwrecked – Blumbert -IR

20.   Addy’s Story Collection -IR

21.   Island of the Blue Dolphins- IR

22.   Across Five Aprils

23.   Caddie Woodlawn – IR

24.   Caddie Woodlawn’s Family – Carol Ryrie Brink - IR

25.   Little House in the Big Woods – Laura Ingalls Wilder – RA

26.   Little House in the Prairie - RA

27.   Farmer Boy - RA

28.   On the Banks of Plum Creek - RA

29.   By The Shores of Silver Lake- RA

30.   The Long Winter- RA

31.   Little Town on the Prairie

32.   These Happy Golden Years

33.   The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate – IR

34.   Mrs. Frisby & The Rats of NIMH

35.   Hitty, Her First Hundred Years – Rachel Field

36.   A Light in the Storm – Karen Hesse

37.   The Great Turkey Walk – Kathleen Karr

38.   Bud, Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis

 

Independent Reading

1.       When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead - IR

2.       11 Birthdays – Wendy Maas - IR

3.       A Mango-Shaped Space – Wendy Maas - IR

4.       Liar & Spy – Rebecca Stead - IR

5.       Half Magic – Edward Eager - Audio

6.       Ella Enchanted – Gale Carson Levine - IR

7.       Magic By the Lake – Edward Eager - RA

8.       A Wrinkle in Time – Madeline L’Engle - IR

9.       Knight’s Castle – Edward Eager - IR

10.   A Tale of Two Castles – Gail Carson Levine - IR

11.   Kit’s Story Collection – Valerie Tripp

12.   The Twenty-One Balloons – William Pene DuBois- RA

13.   Queen Zixi of Ix – L Frank Baum - IR

14.   Misty of Chincoteague – Marguerite Henry - IR

15.   Stormy, Misty’s Foal – Marguerite Henry - IR

16.   Sea Star, Orphan of Chincoteague – Marguerite Henry – IR

17.   Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth – EL Konigsberg – IR

18.   The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic – Jennifer Trafton – IR

19.   Savvy – Ingrid Law – IR

20.   Found – Margaret Peterson Haddix

21.   Sent – Margaret Peterson Haddix

22.   Sabotoged – Margaret Peterson Haddix

23.   Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lindgren

24.   Torn – Margaret Peterson Haddix

25.   King of the Wind – Margeurite Henry

26.   The Sisters Grimm – The Fairy Tale Detectives – Michael Buckley

27.   The Sisters Grimm – The Unusual Suspects – Michael Buckley

28.   13 Gifts – Wendy Mass

29.   Finally – Wendy Mass

30.   Trading Faces – Julia Jennifer Ray

31.   Scumble – Ingrid Law

32.   Beezus & Ramona – Ingrid Law

33.   Jeremy Fink – Wendy Mass

34.   The Candymakers – Wendy Mass

35.   Escape to Witch Mountain – Alexander Key

36.   A Family Apart – J L Nixon

37.   Gregor the Overlander – Suzanne Collins

38.   Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods

39.   Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane

40.   Gregor and the Marks of Secret

41.   Gregor & the Code of Claw

42.   The Westing Game

43.   Harriet the Spy

44.   Harriet Spies Again

45.   The Game – Diana Wynne Jones

46.   Beauty – Robin McKinley

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She's read quite a few of these, but there are a number of them I'm not familiar with...  I do have NF & movies on my master list, but those you suggested are almost all new to me!

 

 

I just edited my post to add a few more book and movie ideas. :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cool!  I am feeling very jazzed about this year! thanks everyone for their suggestions!!!

 

Do I dare post the whole plan so y'all can rip it to shreds?  Ok, here goes, feedback welcome:

 

6th Grade History & Literature

 

Core texts:       The Century for Young People – Jennings & Brewster

                        Young People’s History of the United States –Zinn

                        Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

                        History of the World - Fry

Supplements:  When Where Why and How It Happened – Reader’s Digest

 Usborne History of the Twentieth Century (Hopkinson

 Usborne Internet-Linked Intro to Modern Art (Dickins)

Primary Sources:  Great American Documents

Witness to America: An Illustrated Documentary History of the United States from the Revolution to Today – Stephen Ambrose & Douglas Brinkley

Timeline Book

Wall Map/Atlas

History Notebook

                       

For Each Topic (~3 weeks per topic)

1.      Read the assigned section in the core texts and make a list of important fact about the topic

2.      Mark important dates in your Timeline; Look up the time period in the History Timelines book and read about what else was happening in the world at that time

3.      Find the geographical areas referred to on the wall map and in an atlas, and/or fill in the relevant blackline map

4.      Read the Primary Sources.  Choose 1, and write an evaluation answering these questions:

a.       Content: What does this source say?

b.      Author: describe the author’s age, religion, profession, social position, politics, etc.

c.       Purpose: what is the purpose of this piece?  To inform? To persuade? To motivate? Is it propaganda, or are its conclusions supportable?

d.      What events led to this piece being written?

e.       What happened as a result

5.      Read the Assigned Nonfiction (if there are multiple options, see me to discuss narrowing the list down)

a.       Choose 1 source and write a summary or a two-level outline of 1-4 pp in the book (at least 7 main points)

b.      Answer any assigned essay questions

6.      Read the Assigned Fiction/Literature, discuss with Mom when finished, and then choose 1 of the books for a literary analysis (potential assignements are described at the end of this document).

7.      Special Assignment or Research report:  For each topic, either do the assigned special assignment, or choose one subject, event, or historical figure that interests you, do additional reading/research, and write a report as you have learned in WWS.  You may choose one or more of the following topos to structure your report:  Biographical Sketch, Chronological Narrative of a Past event, Chronological Narrative of a Scientific Discovery

 

 

 

 

Topic List

1.      Topic:  Becoming Americans:  Immigration,  Labor Unions, Class Struggle, Women’s Suffrage

Themes: The Quest for Equality, Social Class

Core Texts:

The Century 1: Seeds of Change 1901-1914

YPH Ch 13 – Class Struggle

Primary Sources:

Great American Documents p. 138-140: The 19th Amendment

Witness to America Ch. 19 – The Rise of the City

Assigned NF:

Biography of E Cady Stanton, Susan B Antony

Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom – Sue Macy

Shutting Out the Sky: Life and the Tenements of New York – Deborah Hopkinson

Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor (Freedman

Immigrant Kids (Freedman)

Assigned Fiction: 

All of a Kind Family – Sydney Taylor

Letters from Rifka – Karen Hesse

The Great Wheel - Lawson

 In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson  - the Asian immigrant experience

The Hope Chest (Schwabach) women's suffrage

-                       Mama's Bank Account (Forbes)

The Earth Dragon Awakes (Yep) -- (gr. 7-9) 1906 San Francisco earthquake

Dragonwings (Yep) -- (gr. 7-9) turn-of-the-century Chinese immigrants to the US

            Movies: 

Newsies (1992) -- musical; exploited child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century NY go on strike

The Great Race (1962) -- very fun cross-continent auto race, with women's suffrage images/discussion along the way

Mary Poppins (1964) -- Mrs. Banks has "votes for women" song; also hints at subtly changing social roles

The Immigrant (1917) -- silent B&W Charlie Chaplin comedy

Flambards (1979) -- BBC mini-series set in England just before/after WW1; social class upheavals/changes

            Writing Assignment (Choose 1):

·         Choose one immigrant group, research their experience, and write a report (i.e. Irish, Italians, Chinese, etc.)

·         Write a biographical sketch about one of the leaders of the Women’s suffrage movement

 

2.      Topic: The Arts before WWI

Theme: Cultural Change-Modernism

Core Texts:

KHE p. 378-381

HO Vol 2 Pt 4 Ch 7 p. 627 – Culture Shocks: Questioning Reason & Reality

Major Figures/Works – read bios, watch docos on following artists/topics

            Visual Arts: French Impressionists (Monet, Renoir, Degas), Rodin, Van Gogh

            Literature: Christina Rosetti, Scott, Verne, Dickens, Thackeray

Music: Schubert, Mendelssoh, Schumann, Chopin, Verdi, Brahms, Tchaikovsky. Stravinksy The Rite of Spring

Architecture: Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Skyscrapers

Assigned Nonfiction:

A Day of Pleasure (Singer) -- autobiographical sketches pre-WW1 Warsaw Jewish ghetto;

Assigned Fiction:

Angel on the Square (Whelan) -- historical fiction; 1914 Russian empire crumbling

Movies:

The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde    

            Meet me in St. Louis

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) -- musical; life of George Cohen, from vaudville (1890s) to his famous WW1 song "Over There"

Writing Assignment:

·         Choose one artist to research and write a biographical sketch or a chronological narrative about their life and/or their work

 

3.      Topic:  Inventions & Exploration

Themes: Technological Development, The Individual

Core Texts:

KHE p. 382-383

The Usborne Book of Discovery (Everett, Reid & Fara)

Primary Sources

Read GAD 123: Prototype for military sub

GAD 126: Ford Model T

Assigned NF:

            The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane

            Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart – Candace Fleming

The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure –Sandler

            Reaching the Summit:  Sir Edmund Hillary’s Story – Alexa Johnston

Assigned Fiction:

Around the World in 80 Days – Jules Verne (read aloud)

                        Around the World – Matt Phelan (Read after Around the World in 80 days)

Kim – Rudyard Kipling

Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne

Movies:  Edison: The Invention of the Movies

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Endurance (2000) -- documentary; Shackleton and his crew's amazing 2-year survival shipwrecked at Antarctica in 1914-16 

            Listen to Orson Welles production of The War of the Worlds

 

4.      Topic:  World War I

Themes:  Total War

Core Texts:

Read The Century Ch 2: Shell Shock 1914-1919

Read YPH Ch. 14 – WWI

Primary Sources:

GAD p 133: The Zimmerman Telegram

Witness CH. 25: The World War

Assigned NF:

The War to End All Wars – Russell Freedman

DK Eyewitness Book of World War 1 (Adams) -- non-fiction (gr. 5+)

Where Poppies Grow (Granfield) -- picture book, but great even up into middle school

In Flanders Fields (Granfield) -- picture book, but great even up into middle

Christmas in the Trenches (McCutcheon) -- picture book

Assigned Fiction:

                        The Good Master – Kate Saredy

The Singing Tree – Kate Saredy

                        Charlotte Sometimes – Penelope Farmer

            Movies:  The African Queen

                        The Ghost Army

 Sergeant York (1941) -- movie biography of the WW1 decorated hero

 

5.      Topic: Art & Culture Between the Wars

Themes:  Post-Modernism, The Lost Generation

Core Texts:

HO Vol 3 Pt 2 Ch 5 p. 119 - Terrible Uncertainty: Art and Belief After the War

The Century Ch. 3 – Boom to Bust 1920-1929

            Primary Sources:

                        GAD 141 – National Prohibition Act

                        Witness Ch 26 – From Normalcy to New Deal

            Assigned NF:

Bios/books on Artistic Major Figures & Movements:

                        Dada, Surrealism, Cubism – Picasso, Dali

                  Stravinsky & Schoenberg; Roaring Twenties/Jazz Age

Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition – Karen Blumenthal

            Assigned Fiction:

Things Fall Apart – Yeats

The Metamorphosis - Kafka

                        The Maltese Falcon – Dashiel Hammet

                        Strong Poison – Dorothy L. Sayers

Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie

Witness for the Prosecution – Agatha Christie

Cheaper By the Dozen (Gilbraith) -- 1920s America big family;

The Most Dangerous Game" (Connell) -- adventure short story with a twist; WW1 is referenced

Movies:

Some Like It Hot

 

6.      The Great Depression

Themes:  Cultural Change – Post-Modernism; The Quest for Equity; Social class; The Role of the State

Core Texts:

The Century 4 Stormy Weather 1929-1936

YPH 15 Hard Times 1919-1939

            Primary Sources:

                        GAD 147 – Wall Street Crash

                        GAD 150 – Social Security Act

            Assigned NF:

                        What’s The Economy For Ch. 10 p. 178-190

                        Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929 – Karen Blumental

                        Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl – Albert Marrin

            Assigned Fiction:

                        Let Us Now Praise Famous Men – James Agee (read together)

                        The Grapes of Wrath – Steinbeck – Ch. 1 & 5 only

Out of the Dust – Karen Hesse

Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain – Robert Burch

            Movies: The Grapes of Wrath

                        How Green Was My Valley

Sea Biscuit (2003) -- racehorse that gave hope in the midst of the Depression

My Man Godfrey (1936) -- Depression; really highlights the very rich vs. homeless

 

7.      Topics:  The Quest for Equality:  Race Relations, Reconstruction-Civil Rights

Assigned NF:

Biography of WEB Dubois

            Assigned Fiction:

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Mildred Taylor

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman – Ernest Gaines

Francie – Karen English

The Friendship – Mildred Taylor

Bud, Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis

                        Leon’s Story – Walter Tillage

Movies:

 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

                        Twelve Angry Men (1957)

 

Special Assignment:  Choose 1 book from this topic and one from the last, compare and contrast the experience of blacks and poor whites during the Depression

 

8.      Topic: World War II

Themes:  Total War, The Individual vs. the State, Technology

Core Texts:

The Century 5 – Over The Edge 1936-1941

The Century 6 Global Nightmare 1941-1945

YPH 16: WWII & The Cold War

            Primary Sources:

                        World War II: The Definitive Visual History (DK book)

GAD 156 – Einstein-Szilard Letter

                        GAD 160 – FDR’s address after Pearl Harbor

                        GAD 165 – Telegram re: Hiroshima

                        GAD 168 – Surrender of Japan

                        GAD 172 – Surrender of Japan

                        Witness Ch 27 – The Second World War

Assigned NF:

            Paired readings:

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow – Susan Bartoletti

Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During The Holocaust – Doreen Rappaport

                                    Number the Stars – Lois Lowry

                                    The Winged Watchman – Hilda Van Stockum

 

Paired Readings:

Remember Pearl Harbor: American and Japanese Survivors Tell Their Stories – Thomas B. Allen

Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American incarceration – Joanne Oppenheim

                                    Early Sunday Morning – Barry Denenberg

Hiroshima (Yep) -- WW2 after math of Japanese atomic bomb victims come to US for treatment

 

Assigned Fiction:

                        Lily’s Crossing – Patricia Reilly Giff

                        The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World – EL Koningsberg

 Escape From Warsaw (Serrailier)-- Polish children surviving without their parents during WW2

Winged Watchman (Stockum) -- Danish families under Nazi WW2 occupation

The Endless Steppe (Hautzig) -- Russians banished to Siberia during WW2

Movies:  Casablanca

            To Each His Own

            They Were Expendable

Stalag 17 (1953) -- POW camp in Germany

 The Great Escape (1963) -- POW camp in Germany

 

9.      Topic: The Cold War

Themes:  The Individual vs. the State

Core Text:

The Century 7 An Uneasy Peace 1946-1952

            Primary Sources:

                        GAD 177 UN Charter

                        GAD 181 Truman Doctrine

                        GAD 187 Marshall Plan

                        GAD 193 Censure of McCarthy

                        GAD 203 Kennedy’s Inaugural

                        GAD 209 Cuban Missile Crisis

                        Witness Ch 28 – Postwar & The Cold War

Assigned Fiction:

                        Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself – Judy Blume

                        Good Old Boy – Willie Morris

                        The Year of Miss Agnes – Kirkpatrick Hill

                        Bertie’s War – Barbara Blakely

The Pushcart War (Merrill)

            Literature Study

            Animal Farm – George Orwell (Read together)

                        Breaking Stalin’s Nose – Eugene Yelchin

                        Between Shades of Gray – Ruta Sepetys

            Movies:  Mr Smith Goes to Washington

  The Manchurian Candidate

  Dr. Strangelove

 The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966) -- funny look at US fears of USSR

The Mouse That Roared (1959)

I Am David (2003) -- lovely movie version of the book

War Games (1983) -- teen hackers save the day when Cold War missile computer tries to launch

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

 

 

10.  Topics:  Civil Rights, Vietnam, the 1960’s

Themes:  The Quest for Equity, The Individual vs. the State, Cultural Change

Core Text:

Century 8: Mass Markets 1953-1961

                        Century 9: Into the Streets 1961-1969

YPH 17 Black Revolt & Civil Rights

                        YPH 18 Vietnam        

Century 10: Years of Doubt 1969-1981

YPH 19 Culture, 1960s & 70s

YPH 20 Under Control?

            Primary Sources:

                        GAD 193 Exec Order desegregation

                        GAD 214 Warren Commission report – JFK’s assassination

                        GAD 218 – Moon Landing

                        GAD 221 – ABM Treaty

                        GAD 228 Paris Accords

                        GAD 235 Watergate

                        GAD 242 Camp David Accords

                        Witness Ch 28 Postwar & The Cold War

Witness Ch 29 The Individual Rights Revolution

Witness Ch 30 A Time to Heal

Assigned NF:

After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Non-Violent Resistance – Perry O’Brien

                        Why We Can’t Wait: Martin Luther King

The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Alex Haley (read together)

Life on the Color Line: The True Story of White Boy who discovered he was black – Gregory Howard Williams

10,000 days of thunder : a history of the Vietnam War / Philip Caputo

Cornerstones of Freedom: Vietnam War (Benoit) -- non-fiction (gr. 5-7)

-                       Cornerstones of Freedom: The Story of the Saigon Airlift (Kent) -- non-fiction (gr. 5-7)

-                       Cornerstones of Freedom: Story of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial (Wright) 

Assigned Fiction:

                        Iggie’s House – Judy Blume

Coming of Age in Mississippi – Anne Moody

            Movies

Remember the Titans (2000) -- first black coach of a Southern college football team in 1970s

 

11.  Asia, The Middle East & Africa

Themes: The Individual vs. the State; The Quest for Equity

Core Text (Asia/Middle East):

            HOTW 296-297

            HOTW 316-319

            HOTW 345-352

Core Text (Africa):

            HOTW 294-295

            HOTW 314-315

            HOTW 340-344

Assigned NF:

                        Mao’s Last Dancer – Chuxin Li          

The Land I Lost - Huynh

Assigned Fiction:

            Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze – Elizabeth Lewis Own

            The Cat Who Went to Heaven – Elizabeth Coatsworth

            Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Grace Lin

            Journey to Jo’burg – Beverley Naidoo

Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq (Stamaty)

Breadwinner, and the sequel, Pavanna's Journey (Ellis)

 Full Cupboard of Life (Smith) 

Movie:  Ohayo/Good Morning

The Seven Samauri

Shanghai Express

Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005) -- follows an modern-day Mongolian nomad family

 

12.  Topic: The End of the 20th Century – And Beyond

Themes:  Technology & the Environment, The Individual vs. the State

Core Text:

            Century 11: New Morning 1981-1989

                  YPH 21 Politics as Usual

                  YPH 22 Resistance

                  Century 12: Machine Dreams 1989-1999

YPH 23 End of the 20th Century

                  YPH 24            War on Terror

                  YPH 25 Iraq War

                  YPH 26 Rise Like Lions

      Primary Source:

                  GAD 248 Message Board, 9/11

                  Witness 31 The Reagan-Bush Era

                  Witness 32 Toward the New Millenium

Assigned NF:

When the Wall Came Down: The Berlin Wall and the Fall of Soviet Communism - Schmemann

Assigned Fiction:

Holes – Louis Sachar

Lupita Manana – Patricia Beatty

The City of Ember – Jeanne DuPrau (and sequels)

Among the Hidden – Haddix (and sequels)

The Giver – Lois Lowry (and sequels)

            Movie: Metropolis

 

 

 

 

 

Literary Analysis Assignments

When you finish a novel, let me know.  We’ll discuss it.  For each topic you will choose at least one book to write about, and you can choose any one of the following assignments (choose a different assignment for each topic/book, please). 

 

1.     Book summary:  summarize each day’s reading, then write an introduction, conclusion, analysis, and connecting words/phrases/paragraphs so you have a nice synopsis and analysis of the book.

2.     Write out a short screenplay for one of the scenes in the book.  Include set notations, acting instructions (like “He inquires pensively with a furrowed brow while looking stage right.â€).

3.     Pretend to be one of the characters and write a journal as that person experiencing the events of the book.

4.     Describe each of the main characters:

—What he/she looks like

—What his/her moral framework is in the book

—What he/she contributes to the plot

—Why you admire him/her or not

5.     Describe the setting and its importance to the story. (Time, place, mood)

6.     Examine the author's purpose in writing the book.  What was his or her motivation (sharing a personal experience, to send a message, to give information--combination of the three)?

7.     Write an alternate ending to this story.

8.     Fictionalize the story (if non-fiction) or, if it is fiction, write it as a newspaper article (as though it happened).

9.     Make a book jacket for this book—design a cover, then write a story summary on the front inside flap, then write an author bio blurb on the inside back flap and finally write some "pretend" reviews on the back of the cover. Don't forget the title, author and publisher on the spine of the book.

10.   Compare & Contrast two of your books that are similar in content or similar in time period—describing related events—like two books from the Great Depression period or the Civil Rights era, or biographies of two different people you’ve studied.

11.   Write a poem that summarizes the themes or that expresses the feelings of a character from the book.

12.   Write a letter to or from one of the characters in the book.

13.  Pretend you are the author of the book. Write a short article explaining why you wrote it, what your intentions were and what you hoped the reader would do after reading this story.

14.  Imagine you are the main character—tell what you thought of the other characters in the story and why.

15.  Write ten well-crafted questions that you would ask a reader of this book to test his comprehension.

16.   Identify four or five of the Literary Terms we have studied in Figuratively Speaking, and provide quotes from the book illustrating how the author used these writing elements.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Do I dare post the whole plan so y'all can rip it to shreds?  Ok, here goes, feedback welcome...

 

 

Looks great! My only thoughts:

 

1. Lots of material -- don't feel you have to do it all

It's okay to do just excerpts. ;) Or reschedule things to take more time for bunny trails of interest. Or drop topics/books that are not connecting -- you've lot a hefty list of things to choose from! :)

 

2. The second half of the year is full of heavy topics

Have it in the back of your mind to be flexible just in case this gets too heavy for your 11yo. -- to drop a few of the heavy topics / works as you go, and substitute a work or two of especial interest to your DD (mysteries, fantasies, historical fiction) and good young adult works for pre-teens/middle schoolers (see booklists at your library, the 1000 Good Books list, curriculum catalogs, etc.)...

 

3. The Metamorphoses

May be a bust for a younger student. We did it in late high school and DSs said it felt long, dry and dull, even though they were really into worldview and philosophy at the time and "got" the idea of existentialism that is part of the "point" of the story...

 

 

Take it at your DD's pace, have some great discussions, and have a great year! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

PS -- ETA:

I kept forgetting to say that SWB's Story of the World vol. IV is another great overall resource to have handy for next year. The chapters that explain events leading up to WW1 are esp. great -- we used those chapters the year we did 20th century world history in *high school* because SWB's connections and explanations were so clear! :) And your 11yo DD is right in the target age for that book. ;)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks great! My only thoughts:

 

1. Lots of material -- don't feel you have to do it all

It's okay to do just excerpts. ;) Or reschedule things to take more time for bunny trails of interest. Or drop topics/books that are not connecting -- you've lot a hefty list of things to choose from! :)

 

 

2. The second half of the year is full of heavy topics

Have it in the back of your mind to be flexible just in case this gets too heavy for your 11yo. -- to drop a few of the heavy topics / works as you go, and substitute a work or two of especial interest to your DD (mysteries, fantasies, historical fiction) and good young adult works for pre-teens/middle schoolers (see booklists at your library, the 1000 Good Books list, curriculum catalogs, etc.)...

 

 

3. The Metamorphoses

May be a bust for a younger student. We did it in late high school and DSs said it felt long, dry and dull, even though they were really into worldview and philosophy at the time and "got" the idea of existentialism that is part of the "point" of the story...

 

 

Take it at your DD's pace, have some great discussions, and have a great year! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

PS -- ETA:

I kept forgetting to say that SWB's Story of the World vol. IV is another great overall resource to have handy for next year. The chapters that explain events leading up to WW1 are esp. great -- we used those chapters the year we did 20th century world history in *high school* because SWB's connections and explanations were so clear! :) And your 11yo DD is right in the target age for that book. ;)

Thanks for the advice. I know it is a lot of material, and she won't be able to read it all. I like being able to give her choices - and if she starts a book and finds it really dull, she has an alternative to choose.

 

I'm definitely open to rabbit trails! And very cognizant of the heaviness of the material in this period. It's a tough period to cover with a young one, but really important. My plan is to focus on some of the social issues, movements etc. rather than focusing on the wars, but they can't be ignored, of course.

 

I will preread Metamorphosis and I'm not attached it it. I still have a few things to preread, but you guys helped me cut that list down! Best laid plans are open to change, IMO, but having a plan helps me keep on track.

 

We might dip into SOTW some, I'll look at the pre WW1 chapters you suggest. Actually what started this whole process - coming up with this alternative plan - was that we started with SOTW (did the first 15 or so chapters, in fact) and dd was not loving it. She was feeling like it was a lot of information, but having trouble making connections, it felt very disconnected. That's why I decided to go with the topic/theme approach, so that all the readings and all the discussions would be focused/directed and purposeful, rather than feeling so episodic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the advice. I know it is a lot of material, and she won't be able to read it all. I like being able to give her choices - and if she starts a book and finds it really dull, she has an alternative to choose.

 

I'm definitely open to rabbit trails! And very cognizant of the heaviness of the material in this period. It's a tough period to cover with a young one, but really important. My plan is to focus on some of the social issues, movements etc. rather than focusing on the wars, but they can't be ignored, of course.

 

I will preread Metamorphosis and I'm not attached it it. I still have a few things to preread, but you guys helped me cut that list down! Best laid plans are open to change, IMO, but having a plan helps me keep on track.

 

We might dip into SOTW some, I'll look at the pre WW1 chapters you suggest. Actually what started this whole process - coming up with this alternative plan - was that we started with SOTW (did the first 15 or so chapters, in fact) and dd was not loving it. She was feeling like it was a lot of information, but having trouble making connections, it felt very disconnected. That's why I decided to go with the topic/theme approach, so that all the readings and all the discussions would be focused/directed and purposeful, rather than feeling so episodic.

 

 

Yes, I agree about that aspect of SOTW!

 

As I recall now, we sort of did excerpts from those chapters that focused on events leading up to WW1 and where SWB was writing about all the intricate connections between the various European nations which allowed the one "trigger" event to draw everyone into war because of all their connections...

 

Anyways, I think you'll have lots of fun. And if you find you're both getting depressed or bogged down by too many intense/dark topics, below are some "go to" ideas to insert or substitute from time to time to lighten the tone. You've got some great resources lined up and a great perspective -- I think you'll have a super year! :) Warmest regards, Lori

 

Lighter Topic Ideas

- medical advances

- technological/scientific inventions and breakthroughs

- exploration/explorers of the past 150 years

- biographies of inventors, explorers, scientists

- sports, sporting events, and athletes

- artists and musicians

 

History Timeline: 20th Century (for ideas of discoveries, inventions, explorers, "firsts", etc. )

 

Quick Idea List by Decade (for lighter topics/events)

 

 

1900s

1901 - First Nobel Prizes Awarded

1901 - First Trans-Atlantic Radio Signal

1903 - First Flight at Kitty Hawk

1903 - First World Series

1904 - Trans-Siberian Railway Completed

1905 - Einstein Proposes His Theory of Relativity

1906 - San Francisco Earthquake

1907 - Picasso Introduces Cubism

1909 - Plastic Is Invented

1909 - Robert Peary Becomes the First to Reach the North Pole

 

1910s

1911 - Ernest Rutherford Discovers the Structure of an Atom

1911 - The Incan City of Machu Picchu Discovered

1911 - Roald Amundsen Reaches the South Pole

1912 - The Titanic Sinks

1913 - Henry Ford Creates Assembly Line

1914 - Panama Canal Officially Opened

 

1920s

1920 - First Commercial Radio Broadcast Aired

1922 - Insulin Discovered

1922 - Tomb of King Tut Discovered

1924 - First Olympic Winter Games

1927 - Babe Ruth Makes Home-Run Record

1927 - The First Talking Movie, The Jazz Singer

1927 - Lindbergh Flies Solo Across the Atlantic

1928 - Penicillin Discovered

 

1930s

1930 - Planet Pluto Discovered (lol -- and demoted to planetoid in 2006)

1931 - Empire State Building Completed

1932 - Amelia Earhart First Woman to Fly Solo Across the Atlantic

1936 - Hoover Dam Completed

1937 - Golden Gate Bridge Opened

1939 - Helicopter Invented

 

1940s

1940 - Stone Age Cave Paintings Found in France

1941 - Mount Rushmore Completed

1945 - First Computer Built

1947 - Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier

1947 - Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered

1947 - Polaroid Cameras Invented

1949 - First Non-Stop Flight Around the World

 

1950s

1950 - First Organ Transplant

1951 - Color TV Introduced

1952 - Polio Vaccine Created

1953 - DNA Discovered

1953 - Hillary and Norgay Climb Mt. Everest

1954 - Roger Bannister Breaks the Four-Minute Mile

1957 - Soviet Satellite Sputnik Launches Space Age

 

1960s

1960 - Lasers Invented

1961 - Soviets Launch First Man in Space

1965 - Japan's Bullet Train Opens

1967 - First Heart Transplant

1969 - Neil Armstrong Becomes the First Man on the Moon

 

1970s

1970 - Aswan High Dam Completed

1972 - Mark Spitz Wins Seven Gold Medals

1973 - Sears Tower Built

1976 - Nadia Comaneci Given Seven Perfect Tens

1979 - Mother Theresa Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

 

1980s

1980 - Mount St. Helens Erupts

1980 - Rubik's Cube Becomes Popular

1981 - Personal Computers (PC) Introduced by IBM

1983 - Sally Ride Becomes the First American Woman in Space

1985 - Wreck of the Titanic Found

 

1990s

1990 - Hubble Telescope Launched Into Space

1991 - Bronze Age Man Found Frozen in Glacier

1994 - Channel Tunnel Opens, Connecting Britain and France

1997 - Pathfinder Sends Back Images of Mars

1997 - Tallest Buildings in the World Built in Kuala Lumpur

1999 - The Euro the New European Currency

1999 - Fear of Y2K Bug

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

movies:

 

for being excellent as a movie, and for showing places and times and some important history:  

Gandhi  (Richard Attenborough's with Ben Kingsly as Gandhi)

 

 maybe: Woodstock the movie

2001, Space Odyssey

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Red Scarf Girl is very good for Asia.  It is set during the Cultural Revolution in China.  Depicts the trauma of the era without being graphic.  For a video pairing, I showed the China scenes of Red Violin (the whole movie deserves its R rating, so I don't recommend the whole things for this age).

 

Escape to West Berlin is a very good Cold War era book.

 

I might suggest a different Dorothy Sayers than Strong Poison.  Spoilers below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strong Poison is focused on the trial of Harriet Vane for the poisoning murder of her lover.  There is some courtroom drama and some sleuthing, but I don't think that it shows that much about the era, since there is such a focus on Peter having finally found a woman he falls in love with.  I would suggest Murder Must Advertise (ad agency, interwar drug culture and difference in technology - like typewriters, messenger boys and telephones without cell phones or email), The Nine Tailors (village life with a great scene towards the end of everyone moving into the church to escape a flood), Unnatural Death (influence of supernaturalism and the independence of women in a society that has lost a significant chunk of the male population to war), or Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (which does a good job of displaying the after effects of WWI on a generation with joblessness, physical injuries and PTSD).

I love Sayers and read through her Whimsey books about once every couple years.  I would just suggest starting with something other than Strong Poison.  (Of course, I started with Gaudy Night - almost the last book - and read them in random order as I could dig up copies.)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Red Scarf Girl is very good for Asia.  It is set during the Cultural Revolution in China.  Depicts the trauma of the era without being graphic.  For a video pairing, I showed the China scenes of Red Violin (the whole movie deserves its R rating, so I don't recommend the whole things for this age).

 

Escape to West Berlin is a very good Cold War era book.

 

I might suggest a different Dorothy Sayers than Strong Poison.  Spoilers below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strong Poison is focused on the trial of Harriet Vane for the poisoning murder of her lover.  There is some courtroom drama and some sleuthing, but I don't think that it shows that much about the era, since there is such a focus on Peter having finally found a woman he falls in love with.  I would suggest Murder Must Advertise (ad agency, interwar drug culture and difference in technology - like typewriters, messenger boys and telephones without cell phones or email), The Nine Tailors (village life with a great scene towards the end of everyone moving into the church to escape a flood), Unnatural Death (influence of supernaturalism and the independence of women in a society that has lost a significant chunk of the male population to war), or Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (which does a good job of displaying the after effects of WWI on a generation with joblessness, physical injuries and PTSD).

I love Sayers and read through her Whimsey books about once every couple years.  I would just suggest starting with something other than Strong Poison.  (Of course, I started with Gaudy Night - almost the last book - and read them in random order as I could dig up copies.)

 

Thanks for this advice! I don't know if I ever read Strong Poison, or just saw the PBS movie, but either way it's been years.  I just picked this one because it's the one in WTM, on the 8th grade Modern list, but it sounds like one of the others may serve us better.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Carrie's War might work for second world war.  It's about children evacuated to the countryside during the war - for many it was a life-changing event, for good or ill.  

 

There's another book about evacuation that is often taught at about that age in schools here, but which I find really distressing (child abuse/death theme), so I don't recommend it.  I mention it here just in case you come across it.

 

L

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another option for WWII is When the Siren Wailed by Noel Streatfeild. I got it to go with our Narnia study this year, and I haven't read the whole thing, but it's pretty good (as a caveat, I've been a fan of her books since I was a kid). It deals with children from London who are evacuated to the country.

 

If your DD is a fan of the Little House on the Prairie books, she might like some of the Rose series. New Dawn on Rocky Ridge, in particular, deals with life in a small Missouri town (Laura and Almanzo moved there when Rose was around 8) from 1900-1903. It talks about the telegraph, some of the fashions, popular songs, etc. It also has Laura going home to De Smet when Pa is dying and she spends some time reminiscing. It was kind of nice to know how life went for some of the other characters. It's not quite as well written as the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but it was a nice, easy read. I think I'll have Ariel read it when we get to that section of history.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

6th Grade History & Literature

 

Texts Used:      The Century for Young People – Jennings & Brewster

                        Young People’s History of the United States –Zinn

                        Story of the World Vol. 4

                        Human Odyssey Vol. 3

 

Primary Sources:  Great American Documents

Timeline Book

Wall Map/Atlas

History Notebook

                       

Topic List

I.                   Topic:  Becoming Americans:  Immigration,  Labor Unions, Class Struggle, Women’s Suffrage

Themes: The Quest for Equality, Social Class & Social Change

Core Texts:

The Century 1: Seeds of Change 1901-1914

YPH Ch 13 – Class Struggle

Primary Sources:

Great American Documents p. 138-140: The 19th Amendment

Witness to America Ch. 19 – The Rise of the City (read aloud)

Assigned NF:

You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? – Jean Fritz

Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom – Sue Macy

Shutting Out the Sky: Life and the Tenements of New York – Deborah Hopkinson

Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor (Freedman

Immigrant Kids (Freedman)

Assigned Fiction: 

All of a Kind Family – Sydney Taylor

Letters from Rifka – Karen Hesse

The Great Wheel - Lawson

The Hope Chest – Karen Schwabach women's suffrage

-                       Mama's Bank Account (Forbes)

The Earth Dragon Awakes (Yep) - 1906 San Francisco earthquake

Dragonwings (Yep) -- (gr. 7-9) turn-of-the-century Chinese immigrants to the US

Tales from Gold Mountain – Paul Yee

            Movies: 

Newsies (1992) -- musical; exploited child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century NY go on strike

The Great Race (1962) -- very fun cross-continent auto race, with women's suffrage images/discussion along the way

Mary Poppins (1964) -- Mrs. Banks has "votes for women" song; also hints at subtly changing social roles

The Immigrant (1917) -- silent B&W Charlie Chaplin comedy

            Writing Assignment (Choose 1):

·         Choose one immigrant group, research their experience, and write a report (i.e. Irish, Italians, Chinese, etc.)

·         Write a biographical sketch about one of the leaders of the Women’s suffrage movement (Lizzie Stanton)

 

II.                Topic: The Arts before WWI

Theme: Cultural Change-Modernism

Core Texts:

KHE p. 378-381

HO Vol 2 Pt 4 Ch 7 p. 627 – Culture Shocks: Questioning Reason & Reality

Major Figures/Works – read bios, watch docos on following artists/topics

            Visual Arts: French Impressionists

                        Van Gogh

                        Renoir by Renoir

            Literature: Christina Rosetti, Scott, Verne, Dickens, Thackeray

Music: Schubert, Mendelssoh, Schumann, Chopin, Verdi, Brahms, Tchaikovsky. Stravinksy The Rite of Spring

Architecture: Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Skyscrapers

Assigned Nonfiction:

A Day of Pleasure (Singer) -- autobiographical sketches pre-WW1 Warsaw Jewish ghetto;

Assigned Fiction:

The Star of Kazan – Eve Ibbotson

Angel on the Square (Whelan) -- historical fiction; 1914 Russian empire crumbling

Movies:

The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde        

            Meet me in St. Louis

Writing Assignment:

·         Choose one artist to research and write a biographical sketch or a chronological narrative about their life and/or their work (Mary Cassatt)

 

III.             Topic:  Inventions & Exploration

Themes: Technological Development, The Expanding World

Core Texts:

KHE p. 382-383

Assigned NF:

            Marie Curie’s Search for Radium – Birch & Birmingham

The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane – Russell Freedman

            Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart – Candace Fleming

The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure –Sandler

            Reaching the Summit:  Sir Edmund Hillary’s Story – Alexa Johnston

            Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly – Sue Macy

Assigned Fiction:

Around the World in 80 Days – Jules Verne (audio)

Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne

Movies:  Edison: The Invention of the Movies

The Endurance (2000) -- documentary; Shackleton and his crew's amazing 2-year survival shipwrecked at Antarctica in 1914-16 

 

IV.              Topic:  World War I & The Russian Revolution

Themes:  Total War, Social & Political Change

Core Texts:

Read The Century Ch 2: Shell Shock 1914-1919

Read YPH Ch. 14 – WWI

SOTW Ch 20, 21, 23

Primary Sources:

GAD p 133: The Zimmerman Telegram

Assigned NF:

DK Eyewitness Book of World War 1 (Adams) -- non-fiction (gr. 5+)

Where Poppies Grow (Granfield) -- picture book, but great even up into middle school

In Flanders Fields (Granfield) -- picture book, but great even up into middle

Assigned Fiction:

The Good Master – Kate Saredy

The Singing Tree – Kate Saredy (this one has WW1 in it)

            Movies:  The African Queen

 Sergeant York (1941) -- movie biography of the WW1 decorated hero

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) -- musical; life of George Cohen, from vaudville (1890s) to his famous WW1 song "Over There"

 

V.                 Topic: Art & Culture Between the Wars

Themes:  Post-Modernism, The Lost Generation

Core Texts:

The Century Ch. 3 – Boom to Bust 1920-1929

HO Vol 3 Pt 2 Ch 5 p. 119 - Terrible Uncertainty: Art and Belief After the War

            Primary Sources:

                        GAD 141 – National Prohibition Act

            Assigned NF:

The Stories of the Mona Lisa

            Picture This Century – An Introduction to Twentieth-Century Art – Felicity Woolf

            Pablo Picasso – Ernest Raboff

            Meet Matisse

            Assigned Fiction:

The Second Coming (1919) – William Butler Yeats

By the Waters of Babylon (1939) – Stephen Vincent Benet

Cheaper By the Dozen (Gilbraith) -- 1920s America big family

Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie

                        Charlotte Sometimes – Penelope Farmer

Listening for Lions - Whelan

            Movies:

                        Thoroughly Modern Millie

The Maltese Falcon

Some Like It Hot

 

VI.              The Great Depression

Themes:   Social class; The Role of the State; The Quest for Equity

Core Texts:

The Century 4 Stormy Weather 1929-1936

YPH 15 Hard Times 1919-1939

Primary Sources:

                        GAD 147 – Wall Street Crash

                        GAD 150 – Social Security Act

            Assigned NF:

                        What’s The Economy For Ch. 10 p. 178-190

The Great Depression: 1921-1937 – Jane Bingham

                        Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl – Albert Marrin

            Assigned Fiction:

                        Poetry of Langston Hughes (Let American Be America Again, I, Too, Am America)

The Grapes of Wrath – Steinbeck – Ch. 1 & 5 only (listen to audio)

                        Esperanza Rising – Pam Munoz Ryan (5.3)

Blue Willow – Doris Gates(6.5)

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Mildred Taylor (5.7)

Bud, Not Buddy – Christopher Paul Curtis(5.0)

            Movies:

Seabiscuit (2003) -- racehorse that gave hope in the midst of the Depression

Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

 

VII.           Topic 7: World War II

 

1.      How did the end of WWI and the events of the 20s and 30s lead to the conditions that allowed WW2 to happen? Read, Take Notes, and Discuss

·         SOTW 23.1 – The Peace of Versailles

·         SOTW 26.1 – Black Tuesday and the New Deal

 

2.      Why did totalitarian & fascist governments arise in so many countries?  Why was Hitler able to take power in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, and Stalin in Russia?

·         SOTW 23.2 – The Rise of Joseph Stalin

·         SOTW 24.2 – Fascism in Italy

·         SOTW 26.2 – Hitler’s Rise to Power

·         SOTW 27.2 – Rebuilding the Fatherland

·         Essay:  Compare and contrast the rise of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin

·         The Impossible Journey – Gloria Whelan – Read, Discuss, Write

 

3.      Why did citizens of the 3rd Reich collaborate in the mistreatment and murder of their Jewish neighbors? How was it possible for something like the Holocaust to happen?  How did people resist the Nazis?

·         SOTW 28.2 – The Holocaust

·         Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow – Susan Bartoletti (7.8)

·         Number the Stars – Lois Lowry – read & discuss

·         Watch Casablanca

·         Discussion: Why did Germans support Hitler and the Nazis? How did other European nations react to conquest by the Nazis (France, Scandinavian countries, etc.)? Who resisted, and how?

 

4.      What separate wars were going on prior to December of 1941? Who were the main antagonists in these wars? Why did the Japanese decide to attack Pearl Harbor?  Read, take notes, and discuss

·         SOTW 28.1 – The Three-War World

 

5.      Why did the US treat its Japanese citizens the way it did? How was it justified at the time? What do we think about this today? Could something like this happen again?

·         Farewell to Manzanar: A True story of Japanese American experience during and after the WWII internment (6.7)

·         Essay: How did the US justify incarcerating Japanese citizens? Could anything like this happen again? Why or why not?

 

6.      What was America’s contribution to the victory in WWII? Russia’s?  The role of resistance in Asia and Europe?

·         SOTW 29.1 The War the Stretched Across the World

·         The Skeptic’s Guide to American History, Lecture 19 – WWII Misconceptions & Myths

·         YPH 16 pt. 1 – WW2

·         Burying the Sun (sequel to The Impossible Journey) – Read, Discuss, Write

·         Essay: Choose a common misconception about WWII and discuss it.

 

7.      Why did the US drop the atomic bomb on Japan?  Do you think this decision was justified? Why or why not? 

·         SOTW 29.2 – The Atom Bomb

 

Reference Resources

            World War II: The Definitive Visual History (DK book)

World War II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities - Richard Panchyk (8.3)

Remember Pearl Harbor: American and Japanese Survivors Tell Their Stories – Thomas B. Allen

Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American incarceration – Joanne Oppenheim (7.4)

World War II in the Pacific

 

Historical Fiction:

The Sky is Falling – Kit Pearson (5.2)

            The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World – EL Koningsberg (5.7)

            The Story of the Trapp Family Singers – Maria Augusta Trapp

 

VIII.        Topic 8: The Cold War

 

1.      What is Communism? Who was Joseph Stalin? What was life like in the USSR before, during, and immediately after WWII?

·         10,000 Days of Thunder p. 12-15: Communism

·         Animal Farm & Related Readings p.100-113: The Rise & Fall of the Soviet Union

·         Animal Farm – George Orwell.  Read, Discuss and Write

·         On Animal Farm- Christopher Hitchens

·         Why I Write – George Orwell

 

2.      How and why did the Cold War begin? What was Stalin’s primary concern at the end of WWII?  What was the American’s primary concern at the end of WWII?  How did these concerns put the US and USSR on a collision course?

·         The Century Ch. 7: An Uneasy Peace 1946-1952

·         HO 3.1: The Cold War Begins: Rebuilding among deepening divisions

·         GAD 187 Marshall Plan

 

3.      Why did the cold war not turn “hot†in Europe?

·         YPH 16 pt 2 – The Cold War

·         The Skeptics Guide to American History Lecture 20 – Was the Cold War Inevitable?

 

4.      When and why did the Cold War come closest to becoming WWIII?  What happened to avert this?

·         HO 3.2: A World Divided and On the Brink

·         The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

·         Dr. Strangelove (1964)

·         The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966)

·         War Games (1983)

 

5.      Why did the cold war turn hot in Asia and the Third World?

·         HO 3.6 – Hot Spots in the Cold War

·         10,000 Days of Thunder: A History of the Vietnam War – Philip Caputo

·         YPH 18 Vietnam  (Read Together)

·         Skeptics Guide Lecture 21: The Real Blunders of the Vietnam War

 

6.      How did the Cold War end? Did someone “winâ€?  Why or why not?

·         HO 3.7: The Wall Comes Tumbling Down: The End of the Cold War

·         When the Wall Came Down: The Berlin Wall and the Fall of Soviet Communism – Schmemann

·         The Hunt for Red October (1990)

 

Reference Resources

Cornerstones of Freedom: Vietnam War (Benoit) -- non-fiction (gr. 5-7)

Cornerstones of Freedom: The Story of the Saigon Airlift (Kent) -- non-fiction (gr. 5-7)

Cornerstones of Freedom: Story of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial (Wright) 

 

Historical Fiction

            Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself – Judy Blume

            The Pushcart War – Jean Merrill

 

IX.              Topic 9:  Civil Rights

Themes:  The Quest for Equity, Cultural Change

1.      What cultural and political changes in American society led to the Civil Rights Movement? What world events made it possible?

            YPH 17 Black Revolt & Civil Rights (Read Together)

After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Non-Violent Resistance – Perry O’Brien

 

2.      What were the approaches of different groups to acquiring civil rights? MLK, The Black Panthers, The Nation of Islam.  Which were most effective? Why?

      Rosa Parks: My Story – Rosa Parks

                        Why We Can’t Wait: Martin Luther King

Essay:  Biographical Sketch of Rosa Parks or MLK

 

3.       How did life change for blacks in America as a result of the Civil Rights movement? Did it change everywhere? Did the movement achieve its goals?

                        GAD 193 Exec Order desegregation

                        Cornerstones of Freedom: Brown vs. Board of Education – Peter Benoit

The Lions of Little Rock – Kristin Levine

Remember the Titans (2000) -- first black coach of a Southern college football team in 1970s

 

4.      What is it like to be a minority today? What are other groups in American society who face discrimination today? What racist attitudes remain strong in American culture?

                        Iggie’s House – Judy Blume

                        Ellen Foster – Kaye Gibbons

 

X.                  American Culture in the last half of the 20th Century

Themes:  Cultural Change, The Individual and the State

 

HO 3.3: Looking up and away: Scientific Advances in the Postwar Years

Century 8: Mass Markets 1953-1961

Century 9: Into the Streets 1961-1969

Century 10: Years of Doubt 1969-1981

Century 11:

Century 12:

YPH 19: Women’s Liberation, Student Rights, Indian Uprisings (60s & 70s)

YPH 20: Under Control?

YPH 21: Politics as Usual – Carter, the 80s, Desert Storm

YPH 22: Resistance – 1990s. Protests, anti nuke, social issues, war and antiwar

YPH 23 End of the 20th Century – Clinton (Read Together)

 

Primary Sources:

            GAD 214 Warren Commission report – JFK’s assassination

            GAD 218 – Moon Landing

            GAD 221 – ABM Treaty

            GAD 228 Paris Accords

      GAD 235 Watergate

            GAD 242 Camp David Accords

 

Essay Topics:  Choose 1

1.      Discuss the changing role of women in American society in your grandmother’s and mother’s lifetimes.  How was it different to be a young woman growing up in the 50s & 60s vs. 80s & 90s?

2.      What is the “post-Watergate cohortâ€? How and why did the events of the 60s and 70s change young American’s feelings about their government?

3.      How and why has the gap between rich and poor in America grown since the 1980s?  Discuss policies of Republicans (Reagan/Bush/Bush) and Democrats (Clinton/Obama) and how they characterized and addressed the issues of economic inequality in this country.

 

XI.              Asia in the 20th Century

Themes: The Quest for Equity; Anticolonialism & Nationalism

Core Text:

            SOTW 22.2, 25, 30.1, 32.2, 33, 39.1, 41.1

Assigned NF:

Dancing to Freedom: The True Story of Mao’s Last Dancer – Li Cunxin

The Land I Lost - Huynh

Assigned Fiction:

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze – Elizabeth Lewis Own – didn’t finish

Movie:  Ohayo/Good Morning

The Seven Samauri

Shanghai Express

Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005) -- follows an modern-day Mongolian nomad family

            Essay Topic:  Chronological Narrative of 20th Century Asian History

 

XII.           Africa in the 20th Century

Themes: The Quest for Equity; Anticolonialism & Nationalism

Core Text:

            SOTW 32.1, 34.2, 42.2           

Assigned Nonfiction:

            Bio of Nelson Mandela

Assigned Fiction:

Journey to Jo’burg – Beverley Naidoo

A Long Walk to Water – Linda Sue Park

           

XIII.         The Muslim World/The Middle East in the 20th Century

Themes: The Quest for Equity; Anticolonialism & Nationalism

Core Text:

            HO 3.5: Conflict in the Middle east

            SOTW 24.1, 30.2, 31.1, 37.2, 39.2, 42.1

Essay Topic:  Chronological Narrative of historical events in the Middle East in the 20th Century

 

XIV.        Topic: The Wars at the End of the 20th Century

Themes:  Terrorism; Nation-building; Empire in a Post-Colonial World

Core Text:

      HO 3.8 – Terrorism: The New Threat

      YPH 24             War on Terror (Read Together)

      GAD 248 Message Board, 9/11

      YPH 25 Iraq War (Read Together), the modern anti-war movement

Assigned NF:

Black Gold: The Story of Oil in Our Lives – Albert Marrin

Heroes of the Environment – Harriet Roehmer

 

XV.           The World Today and Tomorrow

            HO 3.9: An Electronically Charged Information Revolution

            HO 3.10: Ongoing Democratic Revolutions

      YPH 26 Rise Like Lions (Read Together)

Assigned Fiction:

The Giver – Lois Lowry – Garlic Press Lit Guide (and sequels)

The Lottery – Shirley Jackson (read together)

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (read together)

The City of Ember – Jeanne DuPrau (and sequels)

Among the Hidden – Haddix (and sequels)

 

 

 

Literary Analysis Assignments

When you finish a novel, let me know.  We’ll discuss it.  For each topic you will choose at least one book to write about, and you can choose any one of the following assignments (choose a different assignment for each topic/book, please). 

 

1.     Book summary:  summarize each day’s reading, then write an introduction, conclusion, analysis, and connecting words/phrases/paragraphs so you have a nice synopsis and analysis of the book.

2.     Write out a short screenplay for one of the scenes in the book.  Include set notations, acting instructions (like “He inquires pensively with a furrowed brow while looking stage right.â€).

3.     Pretend to be one of the characters and write a journal as that person experiencing the events of the book.

4.     Describe each of the main characters:

—What he/she looks like

—What his/her moral framework is in the book

—What he/she contributes to the plot

—Why you admire him/her or not

5.     Describe the setting and its importance to the story. (Time, place, mood)

6.     Examine the author's purpose in writing the book.  What was his or her motivation (sharing a personal experience, to send a message, to give information--combination of the three)?

7.     Write an alternate ending to this story.

8.     Fictionalize the story (if non-fiction) or, if it is fiction, write it as a newspaper article (as though it happened).

9.     Make a book jacket for this book—design a cover, then write a story summary on the front inside flap, then write an author bio blurb on the inside back flap and finally write some "pretend" reviews on the back of the cover. Don't forget the title, author and publisher on the spine of the book.

10.   Compare & Contrast two of your books that are similar in content or similar in time period—describing related events—like two books from the Great Depression period or the Civil Rights era, or biographies of two different people you’ve studied.

11.   Write a poem that summarizes the themes or that expresses the feelings of a character from the book.

12.   Write a letter to or from one of the characters in the book.

13.  Pretend you are the author of the book. Write a short article explaining why you wrote it, what your intentions were and what you hoped the reader would do after reading this story.

14.  Imagine you are the main character—tell what you thought of the other characters in the story and why.

15.  Write ten well-crafted questions that you would ask a reader of this book to test his comprehension.

16.   Identify one or two of the Literary Terms we have studied in Figuratively Speaking, and provide quotes from the book illustrating how the author used these literary elements in the book 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...