Have you ever done an "authors" study?

[Laura in OH]

My dd is a rising senior (yikes!) and I'm looking for something a little different for literature. We've done American lit, world lit, and lit by geographical setting. Now I'm thinking of taking 4 or 5 authors and studying their works in-depth. Have you ever done this? What was your approach? Which authors would you choose?

 

TIA!

:001_smile:

[laughing lioness]

I'm personally read authors, rather than books. I'm back to indulging my love for Chiam Potok.

Imho he would be a fantastic author to study. He does textbooks, non fiction, fiction, children's lit and plays.

 

Are there authors you had in mind? A theme? A time period?

Dekker might be another interesting author though he gets weirder adn weirder, Bradbury (oohh, he'd be GREAT!), Orson Scott Card, or C.S. Lewis (of course!), or SWB:). Oh my. This is fantastic idea! I might do this myself :001_smile:

 

How bout a simple book report per book and a longer report on the underlying themes in the authors body of work which would include a bio.

[Angel]

We are wrapping up an in-depth Jane Austen study this year with dd and four of her friends. It has been an incredible experience. We've studied the 6 main books and read one of her shorter works. They been required to keep favorite quotes and do a blog project for each book. We've also went to see a production of Pride and Prejudice on stage, drank lots of tea, done a few Regency crafts, and the girls are making their own Regency gowns so we can attend a Regency ball.

 

I have a resource list, if you are interested.

 

Here's the blog address if you want to check it out.

 

http://theaustensisterstogether.blogspot.com/

 

ETA: Oops, didn't read it close enough. You wanted a few different authors. Sorry about that!

Edited May 5, 2011 by Angel

[Lori D.]

My dd is a rising senior (yikes!) and I'm looking for something a little different for literature. We've done American lit, world lit, and lit by geographical setting. Now I'm thinking of taking 4 or 5 authors and studying their works in-depth. Have you ever done this? What was your approach? Which authors would you choose?

 

TIA!

:001_smile:

 

We have not done this before, but it would be a great way to enjoy the senior year! Which authors would your DD enjoy? How about you? That's where I would start. Or, consider selecting authors based on a theme: check out this past thread, on putting together some Pre-Victorian "Regency" works -- loads of great resources for studying Jane Austen's works, plus a few other authors. In this past post, is the description of a study of Gothic works, put together by the writer of the post. And in that same past thread, I listed the works we put together to create a "genre" study, that we called "Worldviews in Classic Sci-Fi Literature.

 

I would have loved to have created a Fantasy by Christian Authors literature study, including works by Tolkien, Lewis, Chesterton, and George MacDonald or Charles Williams. Since you have a DD, what about focusing on some female authors? Does DD particularly enjoy fantasy or sci-fi works? A year of short stories from around the world? Shakespeare or Charles Dickens have each written enough you could spend a semester studying one and then the other... What strikes YOUR fancy? :)

 

 

And finally, here's a helpful past thread on general ideas for If You Make Your Own Literature Course -- how to organize, ideas of where to find resources, etc. BEST of luck as you create your own literary adventure for next year -- tell us what you decide on and how it goes! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Hunter]

I liked Write Like Hemingway and a collection of his short stories so much, that I had no desire to go on and study authors with different writing styles. They all seemd so...flowery...and long winded :-0 I got bored with the idea of Great Books and Authors and started a long study of the Bible as literature, which I am still doing.

 

I've also become very interested in the idea of picture books as mentor texts. Sometimes I do pay a lot of attention to the authors and artists of picture books. I'm finding a series of pictures in a series of books to be a good way to intensively study a style. We seldom get so many examples in a series in anything other than picture books.

 

If you google, you will find books and websites devoted to picture books for older students and as mentor texts.

[Laura in OH]

We are wrapping up an in-depth Jane Austen ...

 

Here's the blog address if you want to check it out.

 

http://theaustensisterstogether.blogspot.com/

 

 

I think having the kids blog about what they're studying is a great idea andI'm going to steal (borrow?) that from you!

 

Thanks. :001_smile:

[Laura in OH]

We have not done this before, but it would be a great way to enjoy the senior year! ...

 

Lori D, as usual you've not only provided some great advice, you've also provided me the encouragement I need to pursue this idea! Thanks for all of the links. :001_smile:

[Laura in OH]

I'm personally read authors, rather than books. I'm back to indulging my love for Chiam Potok.

Imho he would be a fantastic author to study. He does textbooks, non fiction, fiction, children's lit and plays. ...

 

Potok! I completely forgot about him -- I loved The Chosen (as did my DD)!

I'm not sure yet, but I think I'd like to dig deeper into the works of authors we've already read (like Lewis, Shakespeare, Twain, Dumas, ... Potok!); I've no particular time period in mind. However, I'm open to any ideas. :001_smile:

[Hebrews3:13]

if anyone would have suggestions on resources for looking at the history/culture of that time. Also, how hard would it be to find a map of England during that time. My DD has expressed an interest in both and looking at what was going on in the world during that time. She said she wants to make a map of England during that time so that she can picture where these places are in relation to each other.

 

I did check the other mentioned threads and saved some books, but still am looking for a few more resources for her.

 

Thank you for any help,

Laurie