Literature?

[twoxcell]

What is everyone using for Literature for 5th-8th grade? Just looking at my options and trying to figure out if I want to continue with what we have been using.

[Kfamily]

We use/used a variety of resources. My younger dd will be in 5th next year but works above grade level in literature in particular. My older dd is now in high school.

 

Literary Terms:

Figuratively Speaking

Prose and Poetry

Literary terms notebook

 

Literature Guides/Support:

some free online guides (but I generally just pulled ideas from them and did not use them entirely)

TC lectures

documentaries

Book Notes I created to go along with our specific books (Sometimes I pull vocabulary specific to these books and include them in the Book Notes, but otherwise we don't use vocabulary workbooks.)

 

Literature Output:

narrations and essays

discussions

recitations of poetry

 

 

Literature:

 

5th:

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (Older dd read this and really enjoyed it and younger dd will be reading it soon.)

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Jester (Read-aloud for us and both girls loved it.)

The Good Master by Kate Seredy (Both girls loved it.)

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (Younger dd loved this. Older dd liked it.)

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald (We will be reading this in a couple of months.)

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (Both girls loved this.)

The Complete Fairy Tales by George MacDonald (Younger dd will be reading this in a couple of months.)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Both girls loved this.)

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Both girls loved this.)

Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (Read-aloud for us and both girls loved this.)

The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley (Younger dd half way through this and likes it.)

 

These are very girl-friendly books! :)

 

A boy might like Little Lord Fauntleroy Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry

 

These two books are on our list to read soon too and these are more boy-friendly.

 

6th:

The Trojan War by Oliva Coolidge or Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff (We have the first book and older dd loved it.)

Myths of the World by Padraic Colum (Older dd enjoyed this too.)

Tales From Shakespeare by C. & M. Lamb (Older dd enjoyed this and younger dd will be reading it next year.)

Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs (Read-aloud for us and everyone enjoyed this.)

The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Older dd liked this....some....mostly enjoyed some parts but not all.)

Treasure Island by Robert L. Stevenson (Older dd enjoyed this one.)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Both girls really liked this one and younger dd read some sequels.)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Both girls loved this.)

The House of Arden by Edith Nesbit (Younger dd loved this.)

A Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens (We were supposed to read this around the Christmas holidays this year, but sadly did not....hopefully next year.)

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Loved this one.)

The Man Who Changed China: The Story of Sun Yat-sen by Pearl S. Buck (Hope to get to this one soon.)

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (This is next on our read-aloud list.)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Older dd doesn't care for Twain...she'll be required to read Huck Finn at least next year....lol....and we'll see about younger dd)

Mark Twain and the River by Sterling North (This would be a good biography for this age.)

 

7th:

 

Nordic Gods and Heroes by Colum (Older dd liked this one.)

Evangeline and the Acadians by Robert Tallant (Younger dd reading this next week.)

Courtship of Miles Standish by Longfellow

Evangeline by Henry W. Longfellow (Younger dd reading this next week. She'll read this instead of Courtship of Miles Standish)

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (Older dd loved this and younger dd will read it next week.)

Poetry aligned with Anne of Green Gables (Same as above.)

Beowulf by Seamus Heaney (Need to read this.)

Age of Fable from Bulfinch's Mythology (Older dd reading this now.)

The Wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare

English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall (Older dd really likes this book.)

The Hobbit by J. R. R . Tolkien (Both loved this!!)

Call of the Wild by Jack London (Older dd hasn't read it yet and younger dd is sensitive about animals, so....)

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger L. Green (Older dd loved this too.)

Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling (Older dd liked this but feels you need a solid background in English history to really enjoy it.)

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (Older dd likes this one a lot and younger dd wants to read it with me.)

Smith of Wootton Major by J. R. R. Tolkien (Older dd liked and younger dd to read soon.)

Farmer Giles of Ham by J. R. R. Tolkien (Same as above.)

Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (and the rest of the series) (Older dd really liked this series....as much as Anne of Green Gables.)

The King's Swift Rider: A Novel on Robert the Bruce by Mollie Hunter (Younger dd liked this one.)

 

 

8th:

Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves: Book 1 of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene edited by Roy Maynard (Older dd liked this.)

Study the Renaissance poets such as Milton, Donne, Raleigh and Shakespeare.

Read Age of Chivalry and Legends of Charlemagne from Bulfinch's Mythology (Older dd loved this.)

Aeneid for Boys and Girls by Alfred Church (We have this one and older dd reading it now.)

or In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid by Penelope Lively

Henry V by Shakespeare (Not one of older dd's favorites.)

Everyman (A Morality Play) (Older dd liked it well enough.)

Utopia by Sir Thomas More (Dd found this interesting but hard to get into at first.)

Essays by Francis Bacon (Just starting these with older dd.)

English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall

Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (LOVED these!)

Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat (One of older dd's favorites and will be starting with younger dd next week.)

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (Older dd loved this one and Bleak House and though sure she would not....ending up loving Tale of Two Cities.)

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (Didn't get to this but saw the movie.)

Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff (Want to read this but have not.)

 

LOTR Extensions:

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (Older dd loved this but agrees it is a tough read.)

J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter (She's nearly done with this now and really likes it.)

 

 

Sorry, I just realized I left out poetry for many years....I'll add those in later.:)

[AK_Mom4]

5th grade we used Learning Language Arts Thru Literature with Hake Writing and Grammar

6th grade we are using Lightning Literature 7 with Easy Grammar

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited July 12, 2022 by SilverMoon

[UniversalLearningAcademy]

We're using Lightening Literature for 7th (along with WWS1 and Daily Grams). She also has assigned Literature for History.

[nmariec23]

We use/used a variety of resources. My younger dd will be in 5th next year but works above grade level in literature in particular. My older dd is now in high school.

 

Literary Terms:

Figuratively Speaking

Prose and Poetry

Literary terms notebook

 

Literature Guides/Support:

some free online guides (but I generally just pulled ideas from them and did not use them entirely)

TC lectures

documentaries

Book Notes I created to go along with our specific books (Sometimes I pull vocabulary specific to these books and include them in the Book Notes, but otherwise we don't use vocabulary workbooks.)

 

Literature Output:

narrations and essays

discussions

recitations of poetry

 

 

Literature:

 

5th:

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (Older dd read this and really enjoyed it and younger dd will be reading it soon.)

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Jester (Read-aloud for us and both girls loved it.)

The Good Master by Kate Seredy (Both girls loved it.)

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (Younger dd loved this. Older dd liked it.)

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald (We will be reading this in a couple of months.)

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (Both girls loved this.)

The Complete Fairy Tales by George MacDonald (Younger dd will be reading this in a couple of months.)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Both girls loved this.)

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Both girls loved this.)

Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (Read-aloud for us and both girls loved this.)

The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley (Younger dd half way through this and likes it.)

 

These are very girl-friendly books! :)

 

A boy might like Little Lord Fauntleroy Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

Call it Courage by Armstrong Sperry

 

These two books are on our list to read soon too and these are more boy-friendly.

 

6th:

The Trojan War by Oliva Coolidge or Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff (We have the first book and older dd loved it.)

Myths of the World by Padraic Colum (Older dd enjoyed this too.)

Tales From Shakespeare by C. & M. Lamb (Older dd enjoyed this and younger dd will be reading it next year.)

Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs (Read-aloud for us and everyone enjoyed this.)

The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Older dd liked this....some....mostly enjoyed some parts but not all.)

Treasure Island by Robert L. Stevenson (Older dd enjoyed this one.)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Both girls really liked this one and younger dd read some sequels.)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Both girls loved this.)

The House of Arden by Edith Nesbit (Younger dd loved this.)

A Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens (We were supposed to read this around the Christmas holidays this year, but sadly did not....hopefully next year.)

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Loved this one.)

The Man Who Changed China: The Story of Sun Yat-sen by Pearl S. Buck (Hope to get to this one soon.)

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (This is next on our read-aloud list.)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Older dd doesn't care for Twain...she'll be required to read Huck Finn at least next year....lol....and we'll see about younger dd)

Mark Twain and the River by Sterling North (This would be a good biography for this age.)

 

7th:

 

Nordic Gods and Heroes by Colum (Older dd liked this one.)

Evangeline and the Acadians by Robert Tallant (Younger dd reading this next week.)

Courtship of Miles Standish by Longfellow

Evangeline by Henry W. Longfellow (Younger dd reading this next week. She'll read this instead of Courtship of Miles Standish)

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (Older dd loved this and younger dd will read it next week.)

Poetry aligned with Anne of Green Gables (Same as above.)

Beowulf by Seamus Heaney (Need to read this.)

Age of Fable from Bulfinch's Mythology (Older dd reading this now.)

The Wanderings of Odysseus by Rosemary Sutcliff

A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare

English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall (Older dd really likes this book.)

The Hobbit by J. R. R . Tolkien (Both loved this!!)

Call of the Wild by Jack London (Older dd hasn't read it yet and younger dd is sensitive about animals, so....)

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger L. Green (Older dd loved this too.)

Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling (Older dd liked this but feels you need a solid background in English history to really enjoy it.)

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (Older dd likes this one a lot and younger dd wants to read it with me.)

Smith of Wootton Major by J. R. R. Tolkien (Older dd liked and younger dd to read soon.)

Farmer Giles of Ham by J. R. R. Tolkien (Same as above.)

Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery (and the rest of the series) (Older dd really liked this series....as much as Anne of Green Gables.)

The King's Swift Rider: A Novel on Robert the Bruce by Mollie Hunter (Younger dd liked this one.)

 

 

8th:

Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves: Book 1 of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene edited by Roy Maynard (Older dd liked this.)

Study the Renaissance poets such as Milton, Donne, Raleigh and Shakespeare.

Read Age of Chivalry and Legends of Charlemagne from Bulfinch's Mythology (Older dd loved this.)

Aeneid for Boys and Girls by Alfred Church (We have this one and older dd reading it now.)

or In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid by Penelope Lively

Henry V by Shakespeare (Not one of older dd's favorites.)

Everyman (A Morality Play) (Older dd liked it well enough.)

Utopia by Sir Thomas More (Dd found this interesting but hard to get into at first.)

Essays by Francis Bacon (Just starting these with older dd.)

English Literature for Boys and Girls by H. E. Marshall

Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (LOVED these!)

Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat (One of older dd's favorites and will be starting with younger dd next week.)

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (Older dd loved this one and Bleak House and though sure she would not....ending up loving Tale of Two Cities.)

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (Didn't get to this but saw the movie.)

Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff (Want to read this but have not.)

 

LOTR Extensions:

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (Older dd loved this but agrees it is a tough read.)

J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter (She's nearly done with this now and really likes it.)

 

 

 

Sorry, I just realized I left out poetry for many years....I'll add those in later.:)

I love book lists:) Thanks for sharing!

[nandmsmom]

My sixth grader is using Figuratively Speaking with lots of reading from good books I've picked out. We discuss them and he writes me a short report. Next week we're starting the literature guides from Memoria Press. He'll be reading Anne of Green Gables and my third grade daughter will be doing Farmer Boy. We haven't started them yet, but they look good.

[redsquirrel]

I am using the Kolbe Academy middle school lit program. It covers years 7-8. I have done a lot of messing around with it to make it work for us, which is typical for me. I think it would be great just as it, though.

 

I have added in some extra reading from the year 3 reading list in TWTM. I picked Kolbe in part because there is a lot of overlap between their program and the reading list in TWTM. Kolbe made their program much bigger than one would need so you can pick and choose the books that work for you. I like that.

 

I don't make my son do the writing assignments and I didn't buy the student pages. I think they are mostly vocabulary sheets and plot points. I do use the teacher's book, it has the questions. We just do it orally. It has been really fun discussing the books with him.

 

I am glad I took the leap and bought the program. It is pricy, but it covers two years and feels very flexible.

 

We also use Figuratively Speaking. We do one lesson a week. That is a quick exercise that seems to cover a lot of ground. I don't make him do the assignments like write his own poem etc. It just doesn't feel necessary.

 

WWS 1 and WWS 2(we are beta users) has some great literary analysis exercises. It provides great support and direct instruction about how to do it and write about it.

 

So, the Kolbe has been great for giving direction and structure to reading of literature, but WWS is giving direction and structure to writing about literature.

[twoxcell]

My rising fifth grader is going to primarily use Further Up and Further In from Cadron Creek. My older kids read down the Veritas Press literature lists WTM-style for fifth and sixth grades.

I guess I need to read TWTM again because I'm not sure what WTM style lit means. I read the elementary section a few years ago. Thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming. ;) I was looking at Memoria Press Lit and my ds got really excited when he saw the 6th grade set he wants to read the books they suggested for that grade.