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Where Can I Find/Buy Literature Guides?


Gil
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Maybe I just don't know where to look, so I'm asking here.

Is there a company that makes and sells study guides for tons of regular young-adult books? Who are they?

This seems like a concept that should exist.

Edited by Gil
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Rainbow Resources has various ones. I’ve hear good reviews from the ones published by Garlic Press and Progeny Press (also available at homeschoolbuyerscoop.com). Veritas and Memoria Press also have them, but I am not familiar with them. Also do a google search for these primarily free ones Glencoe Literature Library, bibliomania, pinkmonkey, and Penguin lit guides. 

When reading a specific book, I’ve often google “book title literature guide” and on occasions have found some great ones.

Hope some of these help 🙂

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Sorry, I wasn't clear.  I'm wondering if there are secular literature guides for regular modern young adult books not just for "classic" books

It seems like this kind of website should exist already, but more often than not, when I search [TITLE] "Discussion Questions" or "Lit guide" then I get web articles or reddit...

I've searched through TeachingBooks and TeachersPayTeachers and haven't found anything either.

It may be that the site doesn't exist.

 

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A quick aside: a lot of lit. guides tend to be comprehension questions (fill-in-the-blank "What did Bill say to Ted?" type of questions), which were completely useless for our literary analysis / digging deeper needs.

What exactly are you looking for out of a lit. guide: Vocabulary? Comprehension questions? Discussion/thinking questions? Extension activities? Author/times background info? Teaching info on literary elements or topics of literature? Writing assignments? Most guides stop at the first 2 elements I listed. Few guides have all of those elements.

______________________

In answer to your question:

No, I don't know of a publisher or a website that specializes in guides for YA or contemporary works. For those types of works, I always have to do an online search, with a specific book title + "literature guide" or "study guide" or "discussion guide". I then wade through the various search results to see if there are any materials that filled my needs. Yes, it is time-consuming. And no, there isn't always something useful for every book I look for. But sometimes I hit a little-known jackpot, so it's worth taking the time to search. Also note: some publishers provide free lesson plans or discussion guides to go with esp. popular YA books, so that is also a route to check out.

If you have a list of 8-10 books you are specifically looking for, I would be happy to help search for resources for you. (I don't have time to help search for resources on more than that many books. 😉 )

Free, Online, Secular Resources
Teaching Books: Book Activity Guides and Lessons (contemporary K-12 titles; some YA titles -- very minimal helps for each book
Book Browse: YA books -- small handful of discussion questions for each of these titles

Teacher Vision 
(middle school/high school)
Glencoe Literary Library (middle school/high school)
Bibliomania (high school/college)
Penguin Group (high school/college)
Schmoop (high school/college)

Sparknotes (high school/college)
Cliff's Notes (high school/college)
Pink Monkey (high school/college)

For a Fee Secular Guides
Blackbird and Company -- gr. 5-8 guides-- mix of older classics and contemporary YA works; gr. 9-12 guides -- only a handful of titles at each level
Garlic Press: Discovering Literature guides -- regular guides (gr. 5-8); challenger level guides (gr. 8-12); very meaty and worthwhile, but only a handful of titles -- YA titles include The Graveyard Book and the Hunger Games trilogy

Questions for Discussion of Any Book:
SWB's handout for Academic Excellenc: gr. 5-8 -- lit discussion questions under  LA heading, 2/3rd down the page
50 Questions to Help Students Think About What They Think (reflection & collaboration; self-reflection; reasoning; analysis; connections; literary questions; science & social questions)
The 6 Tpes of Socratic Questions
Bloom's Taxonomy Questions
Twenty Five Question Stems Framed Around Bloom's Taxonomy
______________________

Completely off-topic from your original question, but might Figuratively Speaking and the links to go-along works of lit. in the past thread "Figuratively Speaking paired with short stories" be of help in your lit. studies?

All the BEST, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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