Prairie Dawn Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 The Golden Goblet The Bronze Bow Otto of the Silver Hand Madeleine Takes Command The Chestry Oak The Fables of Aesop A Single Shard The King's Fifth The Switherby Pilgrims: Tale of the Australian Bush Children of the Storm We have been using Nograss America the Beautiful this year, and I'm looking into From Adam to Us for next year. I'm unfamiliar with all of these books. I'll be using them as read-alouds for a 6th grader on down (8-11 yo primarily). A couple of the ATB literature selections fell a bit flat with us (Brady, Amos Fortune) or we didn't finish because they were finding it too difficult to follow (Across Five Aprils) - I know ATB is recommended for 5th-8th grade, so some of that may just be the younger ages of my children. If you're familiar with any of these books, are there any not to miss, or any you found a bit 'meh' or harder for younger listeners? I'd love some feedback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie Dawn Posted March 11, 2017 Author Share Posted March 11, 2017 As an update, I did find on the Notgrass website the From Adam to Us Answer Key pdf, which has 5 pages of Notes to Parents on the Literature (starting on page 59). It gives a brief synopsis of each book, and lists the elements that may be a concern to parents, including page numbers. I hope this is helpful to anyone else who may be looking into the literature package. I'm still open to reviews of any of the books as far as how enjoyable they are, but this did help a lot with getting an idea of content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmstranger Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 The Golden Goblet The Bronze Bow Otto of the Silver Hand Madeleine Takes Command The Chestry Oak The Fables of Aesop A Single Shard The King's Fifth The Switherby Pilgrims: Tale of the Australian Bush Children of the Storm How old are your children? I've read a few of those books and we enjoyed them, but my kids are currently 9 and 13. The Golden Goblet was really good. Kids were 7 and 11 at the time and the 7yo didn't love it. It is difficult in the beginning, but in the end, my older son really liked it. The Bronze Bow we did as a read aloud. It was good. Both kid enjoyed it (same ages as above). A Single Shard...loved, loved, loved. I think that was 8 and 12 years old for my kids and they both (and me!) loved it. The King's Fifth was this year. Younger kiddo didn't love it. Older kid took a while to gain interest, but ended up enjoying it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie Dawn Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 How old are your children? I've read a few of those books and we enjoyed them, but my kids are currently 9 and 13. The Golden Goblet was really good. Kids were 7 and 11 at the time and the 7yo didn't love it. It is difficult in the beginning, but in the end, my older son really liked it. The Bronze Bow we did as a read aloud. It was good. Both kid enjoyed it (same ages as above). A Single Shard...loved, loved, loved. I think that was 8 and 12 years old for my kids and they both (and me!) loved it. The King's Fifth was this year. Younger kiddo didn't love it. Older kid took a while to gain interest, but ended up enjoying it. Thanks, this was helpful! My children listening will be 8, 10, and 11. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 The Golden Goblet The Bronze Bow Otto of the Silver Hand Madeleine Takes Command The Chestry Oak The Fables of Aesop A Single Shard The King's Fifth The Switherby Pilgrims: Tale of the Australian Bush Children of the Storm We have been using Nograss America the Beautiful this year, and I'm looking into From Adam to Us for next year. I'm unfamiliar with all of these books. I'll be using them as read-alouds for a 6th grader on down (8-11 yo primarily). A couple of the ATB literature selections fell a bit flat with us (Brady, Amos Fortune) or we didn't finish because they were finding it too difficult to follow (Across Five Aprils) - I know ATB is recommended for 5th-8th grade, so some of that may just be the younger ages of my children. If you're familiar with any of these books, are there any not to miss, or any you found a bit 'meh' or harder for younger listeners? I'd love some feedback! Do not miss The Chestry Oak. My son loved it, and I loved it. We didn't read it at the same time. If I had been reading it aloud, I would've had to hand it off because I blubbered through the last third of it (but it was a good kind of crying). It's a really fantastic book. A Single Shard is great, but it's on the young side for an older student in the target age range. We really liked The Bronze Bow. I think there are a couple of minor things that could be disturbing to a really young student, but you could probably work around it. It's definitely handled in a children's book kind of way (as in, it's not gory). We did half the curriculum this year and didn't necessarily do the books in order, so I can't comment on the rest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 The Golden Goblet The Bronze Bow Otto of the Silver Hand Madeleine Takes Command The Chestry Oak The Fables of Aesop A Single Shard The King's Fifth The Switherby Pilgrims: Tale of the Australian Bush Children of the Storm We have been using Nograss America the Beautiful this year, and I'm looking into From Adam to Us for next year. I'm unfamiliar with all of these books. I'll be using them as read-alouds for a 6th grader on down (8-11 yo primarily). A couple of the ATB literature selections fell a bit flat with us (Brady, Amos Fortune) or we didn't finish because they were finding it too difficult to follow (Across Five Aprils) - I know ATB is recommended for 5th-8th grade, so some of that may just be the younger ages of my children. If you're familiar with any of these books, are there any not to miss, or any you found a bit 'meh' or harder for younger listeners? I'd love some feedback! The Bronze Bow is a favorite. Otto of the Silver Hand and The Silver Shard we read a while ago but I remember enjoying them. The Golden Goblet depicts the Egyptian way of life well, but the story is bit spooky. It deals quite a bit with death as I recall. If you have younger kids, just make sure it won't be too scary for them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) The Bronze Bow The King's Fifth These are usually done as 7th-9th grade Lit. books, and are a bit more mature in thematic content. Also, the writing style is slower-meant-for-older students, so just be prepared for the possibility that they don't go over that well and let it be okay to switch to something more age-interesting to your children, or drop and save for a few years down the line. A Single Shard This one is right at your DC's age-range for peak interest. My DSs thought it was dull compared to her other book, Kite Fighters, but that's their take. I thought it was a fine book. The Golden Goblet Agree with previous poster -- it's not the easiest book to read aloud due to different pacing and sentence structure/vocabulary. And it's a bit slow to get into it, but is quite exciting for the last quarter of the book. Things to note: the book open's with the protagonist's father having just died, and he is taken on by his older step-brother who is extremely physically/verbally abusive, and turns out to be a tomb-robber. The climax involves a very spooky scene where the boy has to follow his step-brother and his henchmen into the tomb to verify that they are robbing the tomb. Otto of the Silver Hand The writing level is right at a grade 4-6 level. Just an FYI if you have a sensitive child -- it's unexpectedly kind of shocking as the boy protagonist has his hand cut off by a political rival adult right near the beginning of the story. That is why he has a silver hand. Edited March 12, 2017 by Lori D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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