Which 20 books help prepare for reading the Great Books?

[Lori D.]

It's fun seeing this thread come around a third time! :)

[jenniferlee]

Yes, I'm so glad it did since I never saw it before! Lots of great stuff here.

thanks everyone

[momma aimee]

I HEART Book list threads

[RobinL in Canada]

I just wanted to say thanks!! I mentioned to my dh that I wanted to add this to our home library and he found a sets in pretty good condition after weeks digging thru old damp used bookstores. Oddly enough all the sets he found are missing book 2. The list given and the Lori d link are for the 1940's editions. The 1960s version is not the same selections at all. Even sans book 2 they are great! Thanks again!

 

 

I think the Young Folk's Shelf contains mostly excerpts of longer works--is that right? (if it is indeed the one also known as Collier's Junior Classics). One set I have really enjoyed using when my boys were younger is My Book House, 12 vols ed. by Olive Beaupre Miller. Includes some wonderful retellings of unusual selections for children, such as The Divine Comedy and Don Quixote, along with many myths, legends, fairy tales, biographies, etc.

[RobinL in Canada]

This is a great thread! It makes you realize how incredibly rich we are in our cultural heritage.

 

I would like to add one set of books that I've always loved called My Book House, a 12 volume set edited by Olive Beaupre Miller and printed from 1919 to 1970. the first volume has nursery rhymes and mother goose and the last has biographies of famous people. In between, you'll read a children's version (though with great style) of Shakespeare's plays, Dante's Divine Comedy, Beowulf, Greek and Roman myths and legends, Robin Hood, King Arthur, the Egyptian Cinderella sources, sailing stories, etc. etc.

 

If a child read this set between say four years old and 8th grade he would have a junior liberal education and be ready for the more advanced versions in high school.

 

You could find it in used book stores ten years ago for from 20 to 250 dollars, but I haven't looked for it since then.

 

There are two disadvanteges: one, it doesn't have the little volumes that young children can easily hold in their hands, so they can't read it by themselves before they're five or six years old, and two, Miller didn't like grisly stories so there's no Grimm, so far as I can remember.

 

Read on!!

 

I just posted here about this and now I see you recommended this too! It is truly an excellent series, one I will be keeping for my children's children :001_smile:

[TrixieB]

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster would be a good non-fiction read to consider in preparation for reading the great books.

 

Regards,

Kareni

I just bought this at the Goodwill today. Thanks for recommending it! :)

[Kareni]

I just bought this at the Goodwill today. Thanks for recommending it! :)

 

You're welcome. And the price was certainly right!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mommyfaithe]

Hey Jennifer, it includes:

 

1. Fairy Tales and Fables-(Aesop, Brothers Grimm, Germany, Ireland, Russia, India, etc.)

2. Stories of Wonder and Magic - (Dickens, Milne, Sandburg, Pyle, H.C. Anderson, Padriac Column)

3. Myths and Legends - Greek, Roman, Norse, American Indian, Jataka Tales

4. Hero Tales - The Odyssey, The Song of Roland, Beowulf, King Arthur, Robin Hood

5. Stories That Never Grow Old - Carroll, Ruskin, Lamb, Poe, Swift, Irving, Dickens

6. Stories about Boys and Girls - Louisa May Alcott, Kate Douglas Wiggen, Booth Tarkington, Twain

7. The Animal Book - John Muir, Anna Sewell, Jack London, Rudyard Kipling

8. Stories from History - Howard Pyle, Hendrik Willem Van Loon, Andrew Lang, Sandburg, Stephen Vincent Benet

9. Sport and Adventure - Jack London, A. Conan Doyle, Charles A. Lindbergh, Richard E. Byrd

10. Poetry/Reading Guides Index - Nursery Rhymes, Riddles, Dickinson, Rossetti, Stevenson, Shakespeare, Frost, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Emerson, Wadsworth, Lear, Carroll, Longfellow, Sir Walter Scott, John Keats, Chesterton, Whitman, de la Mare, Shelley and on and on and on:D

 

Hope this helps. If Noah doesn't mind old books, I think it's a treasure.

Oh my goodness!! I have this set on my shelf and have read them to my kids for years!! Who knew??:D

[Mommyfaithe]

I HEART Book list threads

 

:iagree: me tooooooo!!:D

[Jennifer]

Bumping for the 4th time! a great thread

[freerange]

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster would be a good non-fiction read to consider in preparation for reading the great books.

 

 

Regards,

 

Kareni

There's now a "for kids" version that talks about books such as the Narnia series, The Jungle Book, Percy Jackson, Huckleberry Finn, The Secret Garden, etc. The concepts he discusses are much more accessible when he relates them to books you are familiar with.

[stripe]

In case anyone's interested in old anthologies, we had a lively thread about it a while back

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/350540-anthologies-the-childrens-hour-vs-young-folks-library-vs/

[Lori D.]

On 6/1/2013 at 5:23 AM, stripe said:

In case anyone's interested in old anthologies, we had a lively thread about it a while back

http://forums.welltr...lks-library-vs/

Aarrggh! Stripe! No! Don't resurrect that one! I ended up HAVING to buy books as a result of that thread! And my boys are all grown up! (Like a bug to the zapper, those threads draw me in.... ZZZzzztt!) :tongue_smilie:

Edited February 19, 2021 by Lori D.

[Kareni]

There's now a "for kids" version that talks about books such as the Narnia series, The Jungle Book, Percy Jackson, Huckleberry Finn, The Secret Garden, etc. The concepts he discusses are much more accessible when he relates them to books you are familiar with.

 

I had heard of the newer book; thanks for mentioning it here. Here's a link to the book for others who might be interested.

 

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: For Kids by Thomas C. Foster

 

Regards,

Kareni

[loftmama]

Just found this thread. Great for making a list of summer books.

[stripe]

Aarrggh! Stripe! No! Don't resurrect that one! I ended up HAVING to buy books as a result of that thread! And my boys are all grown up! (Like a bug to the zapper, those threads draw me in.... ZZZzzztt!) :tongue_smilie:

I know it! You know what's amazing? Every time I browse through my series, I find a story I had been looking for. Today it was Ogden Nash's Custard the Dragon! I can't believe how much is packed in there. I just sent a set of the Collier's books alias the Junior Classics to a bibliophile living overseas who's looking for books to read to his kids and grandkids.

[Lori D.]

On 6/1/2013 at 11:05 AM, stripe said:

I know it! You know what's amazing? Every time I browse through my series, I find a story I had been looking for. Today it was Ogden Nash's Custard the Dragon! I can't believe how much is packed in there. I just sent a set of the Collier's books alias the Junior Classics to a bibliophile living overseas who's looking for books to read to his kids and grandkids.

I asked for that Golden Windows series for Christmas from DH, and along about April I finally started having a little time to enjoy these. I read a few pages each morning with breakfast, and recently just stumbled across the first chapter of The Wind in the Willows. Ahh, lovely!

Edited February 19, 2021 by Lori D.

[Lori D.]

Resurrecting for a FIFTH time the book thread that should not die (LOL!), mostly to confess that I now own the following anthologies, each a multi-volume set:

- Young Folk's Shelf of Books
- Through Golden Windows
- My Book House
- and most of The Children's Hour (working on filling in the 3 missing volumes from my set) -- ETA long since completed, now! 😄 

And I am beginning to cave and think I might just need a set of Journey Through Bookland...  :drool:  :001_tt1:

All of these are amazing. I stumbled over a very humorous Charles Dicken fairytale "The Magic Fishbone". I had NO idea he had written such a charming and fun children's story! Also just discovered the tales about Marko the Serbian champion of freedom -- and ended up doing some history reading about this period of uneasy truces and fighting between Eastern European peoples and Islamic peoples....

What other works are people finding helpful for preparing to read The Great Books??

Edited February 19, 2021 by Lori D.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I had a mostly complete set of The Bookhouse that I put in the boxes of books I was purging for the move. Then I put them aside to try to find the missing volumes. Then I saw someone mention them in their signature as being on their nightstand and I put them back on the shelf the weekend before the packers came.

 

So they will be there for me in California along with the Bookshelf for Boys and Girls set I had as a kid.

[8filltheheart]

I love Young Folk's Shelf of Books, but, yes, you need Journeys through Bookland.  ;)   

 

After spending lots of time with these, My Bookhouse is my least favorite.   Bookshelf for Boys and Girls is sort of between My Bookhouse and Young Folk's Shelf.   I don't own Children's Hour or Through Golden Windows.   Maybe they are more like Journeys through Bookland?   You can view all of JtB online.   But of the ones I own, it is my favorite.   Though, I do love many of the stories in the Jr Classics set.   The main difference is that the Jr Classics set seems to be fairly level across all of the books whereas JtB definitely shifts in level of difficulty. 

[SilverMoon]

We have Children's Hour, My Bookhouse, and a few Bookshelf for Boys and Girls. Journeys through Bookland is in the mail (along with parts of The Book of Life). Book addiction, yes. But! My oldest has already read 90% of those 20 most influential books, and I'm pretty sure he read kiddie versions of the missing ones. And my littlest readers already have affinities for big, fat volumes. My Bookhouse is often read on the bleachers while waiting for siblings to finish swim practice.

[NancyNellen]

We are really enjoying Young Folks Shelf of Books - The Junior Classics immensely. Also, My Book House has been a big hit. My personal favorite, though, has been A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales by Hawthorne. They are so delightfully written!

[Genevieve]

Could someone explain to me the attraction towards these sets of books? Aren't they the same as reading the original full versions? Is it lack of time - better to read the best snippets of literature than whole works? Or convenience? I purchased the My Book House as my first set and we were not engaged. I'm hesistant to buy any more sets but wanted an enlightened view.

[Lori D.]

On 2/27/2014 at 10:06 AM, Genevieve said:

Could someone explain to me the attraction towards these sets of books? Aren't they the same as reading the original full versions? Is it lack of time - better to read the best snippets of literature than whole works? Or convenience? I purchased the My Book House as my first set and we were not engaged.

Just flipped through the table of contents in a number of the volumes of My Book House; the vast majority of vol. 1-8 are full/complete works: fairytales, fables, short stories and poems. The excerpts and adbridged retellings are largely in vol. 9-11. Perhaps those were the volumes you started with? Or you have only older students? If so, then I can see why there was not an attraction.

I think there is a place for these types of anthologies for some people: personally I would use the early volumes of My Book House in the pre-K through elementary for the nursery rhymes, poems, fairy tales, etc. I would use the later volumes with grades 5-8 (depending on the student's reading and academic level) as introductions to the classics that they would then go on to read the full/complete works in high school.

I also think that excerpted chapters from classics can be a great way to "whet the appetite" of a late elementary/middle school student into reading the full work. I like to think of the anthology volumes that are mostly chapter excerpts as an "appetizer plate". ;) If that does not fit with your family's reading and educational style, then skip the excerpts and go straight for the full works. Instead of purchasing the anthology sets, you might just go over the table of contents on line and make your own reading list of classics, using what's in the anthologies as an idea list.

One thing I love about these anthology set is that, in addition to the traditional ancient and medieval classics, they also include retellings of "minor classics", which make a wonderful addition to a Great Book study. We would not have the time to  read the full translations of The Epic of Kings (Ancient Persia, collection of tales) or the Kalevala (old Finnish epic) -- but we do have time to include the excerpts or abridged retelling versions in these anthologies. And honestly, I probably wouldn't have even KNOWN about these minor classics otherwise.

And, while I could search out these "minor classics" to read online, it's very convenient to have them already excerpted and included in the anthology. There is a high convenience factor to me to having a 6-10 myths from each of a variety of cultures all in one volume, so I don't have to buy multiple books. Many of these renditions are also the versions recommended when doing a Great Book study -- the versions by authors such as Hawthorne, Colum, Bulfinch, and Baldwin.

Finally, part of the attraction of these collections is that I just love vintage books, esp. with illustrations, and that have collections of children's stories, fairytales, and classics (or retellings of classics). Reading was very magical to me as a child, and I grew up with several wonderful "sets" of books in our home -- and sets of books just increased the "magic" for me. 🙂

But none of those reasons that are so compelling to me may fit for your family. So don't feel you MUST buy or use these vintage anthologies. Use what works for YOUR family! That may be all full/complete translations and editions, and e-books. Awesome! The point is to read and engage with The Great Books. Use what helps your family best do that. 🙂

Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited May 4, 2019 by Lori D.

[Hunter]

Bumping.

 

WARNING!! OLD THREAD!!

[Dina in Oklahoma]

Bumping.

 

WARNING!! OLD THREAD!!

 

But it's GREAT Hunter! THANKS! :hurray:

[Hunter]

I really like this list. It makes a lot of sense to me, while I'm at the place I'm at right now. I got "Book by Book" from the library today and this list was described as:

 

"The great patterning works...that later authors regularly build on, allude to, work against."

 

Then the author says, "Know these well, and nearly all the world literature will be an open book to you."

 

The list is 17 books long; the fairy tales of Grimm and Anderson are 2 books. If not using Bullfinch's, then the list will probably be at at least 18 books. If you are going to add 2 pr 3 books to this list, what would they be?

 

Aesop is at the top of my list. And I think Pilgrim's Progress.

 

Do you have favorite editions for any of these titles? Would you always use unabridged versions if you were doing this list with K-8?

 

According to Michael Dirda (book critic at The Washington Post), these are the works which have most influenced "the diction and imagery of English prose":

 

The Bible (Old and New Testament)

Bullfinch's Mythology (or other account of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology)

Homer, Iliad and Odyssey

Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

Dante, Inferno

Arabian Nights

Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur

Shakespeare's major plays, especially Hamlet; Henry IV, Part One; King Lear; A Midsummer Night's Dream; and, The Tempest

Cervantes, Don Quixote

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen

Any substantial collection of the world's major folktales

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

[8filltheheart]

I really like this list. It makes a lot of sense to me, while I'm at the place I'm at right now. I got "Book by Book" from the library today and this list was described as:

 

"The great patterning works...that later authors regularly build on, allude to, work against."

 

Then the author says, "Know these well, and nearly all the world literature will be an open book to you."

 

The list is 17 books long; the fairy tales of Grimm and Anderson are 2 books. If not using Bullfinch's, then the list will probably be at at least 18 books. If you are going to add 2 pr 3 books to this list, what would they be?

 

Aesop is at the top of my list. And I think Pilgrim's Progress.

 

Do you have favorite editions for any of these titles? Would you always use unabridged versions if you were doing this list with K-8?

 

nmoira, on 13 Sept 2009 - 09:44 AM, said:

 

The Bible (Old and New Testament)

Bullfinch's Mythology (or other account of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology)

Homer, Iliad and Odyssey

Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans

Dante, Inferno

Arabian Nights

Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur

Shakespeare's major plays, especially Hamlet; Henry IV, Part One; King Lear; A Midsummer Night's Dream; and, The Tempest

Cervantes, Don Quixote

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen

Any substantial collection of the world's major folktales

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

I would not use the majority of that list with k8. I don't understand the objective you are trying to achieve. These books are all over the place in terms of language and difficulty, not to mention appropriateness of content. I am not sure why some of them would be considered so wonderful in terms of selecting them in general, let alone focusing on those 18. Sherlock Holmes?? Why would you focus on books via abridged content for young kids when you can let the thrive in books that are appropriate for them and then let them read the other titles when they are older. It is sort of like reading a kid version of Moby Dick and thinking that the story is about a whale.

 

Many of the works you have listed require a mature background understanding and vocabulary to understand what is actually being presented.

 

There are so many wonderful works that are age appropriate that can build the language and cultural skills kids need to tackle the more complicated works that I don't know why you would reject them.

[Hunter]

Well, There are many experts that would disagree with you. Grimms is a very traditional 1st grade book. Adaptions of Robinson Crusoe abound in one syllable and other easy versions, as it was a common second grade book. The Bible and Aesop–I don't need to defend. Plutarch was a must read for boys and AO still uses it, starting in grade 4. There is a boy's edition, because it was a standard for boys. There is a boy's version of Le Morte d'Arthur because again it was a standard for boys. Both of those Boy's versions are the original texts, but sanitized and shortened a bit. Shakespeare–again, I have nothing to say. Norse mythology and Greek mythology are Waldorf 3rd and 5/6th(?) grade, and AO uses the Bullfinch for elementary/middle even though I don't think I will. Many of the other titles are all used in the original What Your Grader Needs to Know series that I am using. I was planning on using almost all these titles before seeing this list, because they are what I have been using, sometimes for decades, and listed in my curricula.

 

I think my son listened to Pilgrim's Progress 30 times before he was 13. I remember being told a visiting pastor told other church members he didn't believe my son at 12 was listening to a "college" book, when he overheard us all joking about what my son was doing while I was at church. That's why I was thinking of adding it to the list. I've read multiple biographies of children not only reading, but playing Pilgrim's Progress. But kids used to play Caesar–in Latin–back then too.

 

I've never taught Don Quixote, but we watched a movie of it in 8th grade Spanish class.

 

Dante's Inferno is the only book I haven't seen specifically listed in a K-8 curriculum. I have never read the text, and am reading a summary of it now.

 

This is the first list that matches what I have already been doing, for better and for worse. I've been wondering why it took me so long to find a list like this. I guess I know why now, as I read your shock. :)

 

Really, is this that odd by modern standards?

[8filltheheart]

To limit literature to those selections for k8, IMHO, yes. I did Divine Comedy last yr with my dd when she was in 8th grade, but she enjoys reading complex literature and is advanced. It is rather gruesome in parts.

 

The fairy tales, scripture, and myths all definitely have their place for children's lit, but, no, I don't really see the others as being top on my list for k4 anyway. Alice in Wonderland is not my favorite piece of children's lit and yet it is the only thing you have listed other than fairy tales which is specifically a child's story. If I had to save only one piece of children's lit, Alice would not be at the top of my list.

 

My kids also read way more than what you have listed. For younger children, I love fables and fairy tales, but I also love well-written children's stories. HCA has a tender spot in my heart and we read his stories all the time, but I love stories like The Secret Garden, Chronicles of Narnia, or Princess and the Goblin.

 

Many of the titles you have listed I would never put in front of children's classics like those. Of course I really detest Children's Illustrated Classics, so knowing that there are adaptations doesn't really impact my literature selections for younger kids.

[Hunter]

"The great patterning works...that later authors regularly build on, allude to, work against." Then the author says, "Know these well, and nearly all the world literature will be an open book to you." – Book by Book by Michael Dirda.

 

Do you believe that The Secret Garden and Narnia are patterning works? Or do you think K-8 is too early for patterning works? Or that the idea of patterning works is ridiculous in itself? I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with.

 

And no one said other books wouldn't be read! Maybe they wouldn't be scheduled as a PRIORITY for "school" until the patterning works were at least read from a BIT, though. I'm all for children and students of any age reading, reading, reading and even some twaddle.

 

I just want to point out again, I didn't originally post or create this list. Nmoira posted it, and then I did some research and liked it because it included the books my curricula list as the most important. Michael Dirda isn't a fly by night author. He's the one who made the list. And I think based off of a lot of research. This thread is about preparing for reading the Great Books. 20 Books to do that. And I didn't start THIS thread :) I was just liking what was posted here quite awhile ago.

 

 

[8filltheheart]

I think you took what was posted, books which most influenced diction and imagery of English prose, and elevated it to mean something that doesn't. Reading children's adaptations means that the influence of diction is totally destroyed. That leaves you with imagery. Adaptations reduce complex themes like the conflict of man against gods to stories of a Trojan horse. Knowing the story of the Trojan horse is great for understanding the allusion in other works, but without understanding the nature of the battle of man vs man vs self vs gods.....it is simply not that which influences diction and imagery.

[Hunter]

I think you took what was posted, books which most influenced diction and imagery of English prose, and elevated it to mean something that doesn't. Reading children's adaptations means that the influence of diction is totally destroyed. That leaves you with imagery. Adaptations reduce complex themes like the conflict of man against gods to stories of a Trojan horse. Knowing the story of the Trojan horse is great for understanding the allusion in other works, but without understanding the nature of the battle of man vs man vs self vs gods.....it is simply not that which influences diction and imagery.

I don't have the book handy right now, but I think the book focused on the quotes I posted, not the one that nmoira posted. I went to the library specifically to find the context of the list. I in no way elevated what is in Book by Book. I will try and post the context of the phrase that nmoira quoted, tomorrow.

 

I ASKED about adaptions because of the same concerns you have. But Lambs and Nesbit Shakespeare are STAPLES at this forum and others. But maybe people don't use them to prepare for Great Books reading, but for some other purpose? What?

 

This thread is about 20 books to prepare for the Great Books. It's not about child development. It's not about entertainment or mental health. It's not about the REST of the curriculum. It's just the 20 best books to prepare for the Great Books.

 

I don't know what I have done wrong. I just wanted to START with this list that was already posted and actually come up with a list of 20 books, with links or ISBN #s, that would best prepare for a 9th grade Great Books curriculum.

[8filltheheart]

I don't have the book handy right now, but I think the book focused on the quotes I posted, not the one that nmoira posted. I went to the library specifically to find the context of the list. I in no way elevated what is in Book by Book. I will try and post the context of the phrase that nmoira quoted, tomorrow.

 

I ASKED about adaptions because of the same concerns you have. But Lambs and Nesbit Shakespeare are STAPLES at this forum and others. But maybe people don't use them to prepare for Great Books reading, but for some other purpose? What?

 

This thread is about 20 books to prepare for the Great Books. It's not about child development. It's not about entertainment or mental health. It's not about the REST of the curriculum. It's just the 20 best books to prepare for the Great Books.

I don't know what I have done wrong. I just wanted to START with this list that was already posted and actually come up with a list of 20 books, with links or ISBN #s, that would best prepare for a 9th grade Great Books curriculum.

I'm not sure why you are suggesting you did anything wrong? (Which by implication suggests that I am doing something other than simply engaging in conversation, which I am not.) You asked a question. All I did was answer with my opinion. You asked if people had favorites for those titles or would they only use unabridged versions of the titles for k8. All I did was point out that many of the titles were not accessible to young children w/o adaptations and that adaptations do not meet the criteria of why the original list was selected.

 

I am by no means suggesting that my POV is the only correct one. Initially I was trying to understand why you wanted to focus on those works. But, it seems like we are having completely different conversations.

 

Fwiw, I read my kids the Garfield version of a Shakespearean play prior to exposure to the actual play, but not in replacement of the original.

[Anacharsis]

The best books to help prepare for reading the Great Books are other Great Books. :) Generally the older the author, the more likely that other Great Books authors have read them and refer to them. So if you were to begin at the beginning, I would suggest starting with the Greeks and Hebrews... so maybe Hesiod and Homer's poems (The Theogony, The Works and Days, The Iliad, and The Odyssey) and The Septuagint. This progression from the beginning isn't strictly necessary, though. Sometimes it is more important to kindle enthusiasm. If someone is excited about one particular Great Book, and in that book there is a reference to Marcus Aurelius (for instance), it may encourage them to read Marcus Aurelius next in order to understand the first author better.

If you mean something to help decide which Great Books to read, you might try Charles W. Eliot's Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books (https://archive.org/details/harvardclassics39elio)

If you mean something that describes the point of reading Great Books, you might like The Great Conversation by Robert Hutchins.

[8filltheheart]

Hunter, a book you might like is http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Lifetime-Reading-Plan/dp/0062720732

 

I have never seen the The New....., but I own one that was published decades ago. This one has a see inside, so you should be able to see what it offers.

[Hunter]

You asked if people had favorites for those titles or would they only use unabridged versions of the titles for k8. All I did was point out that many of the titles were not accessible to young children w/o adaptations and that adaptations do not meet the criteria of why the original list was selected.

 

Okay, I get it now! :-) I honestly did not understand what your point was. I can be a little thick headed at times. Sorry. I think adaption SOMETIMES do fit into the list, if you read the book, rather than just nmoira's quote. I'm not sure when though.

Hunter, a book you might like is http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Lifetime-Reading-Plan/dp/0062720732

I have never seen the The New....., but I own one that was published decades ago. This one has a see inside, so you should be able to see what it offers.

I think I have the new version at home. I'm not there right now. I need to take another look at that book, when I go home. Thanks!

[Hunter]

Here is the text surrounding nmoira's quote.

 

"For such famous works you can hardly go wrong with any modern editions, though for the Bible the Authorized, or King James, Version is the one that has most influenced the diction and imagery of English prose."

[Ethel Mertz]

Bumping ... because this should be bumped at least once a year.

[MiMi 4under3]

Bumping ... because this should be bumped at least once a year.

 

Thank you  :)

 

Very timely thread for dd13.

[Pod's mum]

E. Nesbitt and George MacDonald are two great writers that are fairly easy to read...but have rich wording and vocab. in my opinion.

 

I think that reading older writers helps to train a child's ear for unfamiliar, less modern phrasing.

My grandfather was born at the end of the 1800s. I loved listening to him speak. Beautiful, rich language heavily peppered with Kipling and many poetry quotes I did not know. I miss that rich dialogue/monologue.

Later meeting (on the page) the great grey-green, greasy banks of the of the Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, O my best beloved, was like coming home.

 

We are reading Alice in Wonderland right now. It's a hard read for me, yet my girls are really enjoying it. I didn't think they would get into it, and I would have to toss it. Nope, they beg for it every night.

I didn't meet this as a child, don't like it as an adult, yet both my girls read and enjoyed it.

 

I missed this thread each previous life, thanks for the resurrection.

 

[Pod's mum]

I just read through the reviews for How to Read Literature Like a Professor, and it is on my wish list.

Then I read through the reviews of How to Read Literature Like a Professor: For Kids and this wont be.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Literature-Like-Professor/dp/0062200852/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0QWFRQHYQ9J1P0Z47MVK

Reviews contain many red flags, and recommend avoiding some content for younger children and jumping straight to the adult version for children old enough to handle the adult content of the kids version.

Has anyone tried the kids' version and found it appropriate or useful?

 

[El...]

Thanks for bumping this! 

[idnib]

I think we now have a zombie smilie we can use for bumping threads that shouldn't die!

 

  :zombiechase:

 

 

[Kareni]

I just read through the reviews for How to Read Literature Like a Professor, and it is on my wish list.

Then I read through the reviews of How to Read Literature Like a Professor: For Kids and this wont be.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Literature-Like-Professor/dp/0062200852/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0QWFRQHYQ9J1P0Z47MVK

Reviews contain many red flags, and recommend avoiding some content for younger children and jumping straight to the adult version for children old enough to handle the adult content of the kids version.

Has anyone tried the kids' version and found it appropriate or useful?

 

I've seen some favorable mentions on the Logic Stage board.  For example, see here and here.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Pod's mum]

Kareni, you've just sent me on more threads of great programmes.

Thankfully a couple are ones that we are currently using, learning well with and enjoying.

So I'd better close now before I see green grass over there..

[Saddlemomma]

What I'm finding amazing is that in the two years DD and I have been doing TOG, we've already read most of these suggested books and DD is just in 6th grade this year.  The others plus more are scheduled throughout the rest of the Dialectic stage with the most difficult in the Rhetoric stage.  Each book comes with a literary analysis worksheet for each week it's read.

 

I'm going back to see what we've missed in the UG & D stages for Ancients and Y2 so that we can read those during the summer. 

 

The reason I mention this is because anyone can go to Bookshelf Central website and choose a specific year of TOG - Ancients, Middle Ages/Renaissance, Early Modern, & Modern -- choose the level they want -- Grammar, Upper Grammar, Dialectic, or Rhetoric --, then choose "Literature" under subjects and get a list of books to read for that particular year.  You don't need to purchase TOG, just utilize their lists as a resource. This would give you a good base of what to read to prepare for the great books. Some of the historical fiction for TOG is also listed in each year under Literature, so you may want to cut those out. Many of the great books themselves are located in the Rhetoric stage.

[Shannon in TN]

 

I think my son listened to Pilgrim's Progress 30 times before he was 13. I remember being told a visiting pastor told other church members he didn't believe my son at 12 was listening to a "college" book, when he overheard us all joking about what my son was doing while I was at church. That's why I was thinking of adding it to the list. I've read multiple biographies of children not only reading, but playing Pilgrim's Progress. But kids used to play Caesar–in Latin–back then too.

 

 

Pilgrim's Progress is a college book? Funny, our enrichment class had that as a read-aloud last year and then they adapted it for a movie. They were in 2nd-5th grade 😆

 

Thanks to whoever resurrected this thread!

[Chrysalis Academy]

I just read through the reviews for How to Read Literature Like a Professor, and it is on my wish list.

Then I read through the reviews of How to Read Literature Like a Professor: For Kids and this wont be.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Literature-Like-Professor/dp/0062200852/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0QWFRQHYQ9J1P0Z47MVK

Reviews contain many red flags, and recommend avoiding some content for younger children and jumping straight to the adult version for children old enough to handle the adult content of the kids version.

Has anyone tried the kids' version and found it appropriate or useful?

 

My 6th grader read it and it was both appropriate and useful in our family.  I wouldn't do it with an 8 year old, but by 6th grade my dd wasn't shocked by anything, nor was there anything she hadn't already heard of.  We're pretty open in talking about s@xuality at our house, though, no taboo subjects.  

 

I read both the adult version and the kid version, and for my 6th grader the kid version was appropriate.  The adult version had a couple of chapters about s@x that might have made her slightly uncomfortable - she was still in the "ewwww" stage then!

 

I think the Kid book is great for 6th+ and the adult book is great for high school.  YMMV.

[SilverMoon]

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Edited July 9, 2022 by SilverMoon