A Beka Literature Grades 7-12

A Beka Literature provides complete literature courses for middle and high school students, relying on a textbook approach in which kids read excerpts of great literature with a smattering of commentary, then answer exercise questions and take tests that gauge comprehension.

AOP Literature Grades 9-12

AOP Lifepacs: Literature offers two courses for high school that cover American and British literature. Students read selections of classic works in the workbooks (as well as acouple complete novels from separate texts) and answer questions. Exercises emphasize comprehension over analysis.

BJU Literature Grades 7-12

BJU Literature is far superior to other courses like it, offering plenty of accurate information about authors and introducing students to the fundamentals of literary analysis. Everything you need is in the textbooks (including exercises), though you can supplement with complete novels.

Cadon Creek Literature Guides Grades 3-12

Cadron Creek Literature Guides focus on one book (or one series) apiece per guide, and use a more folksy unit study approach that includes making period meals, sewing projects, and character development. Books covered include The Chronicles of Narnia and Anne of Green Gables.

Evan-Moor Literature & Poetry Grades K-6+

Multiple options from Evan-Moor help elementary and early middle school students understand the basics of analysis and comprehension. Literature Pockets are basically mini unit studies, while How to Report on Books and Read & Understand Poetry are more traditional literature supplements.

Five in a Row Grades K-12

For unit study fans, Five-in-a-Row uses classic children's literature to connect science, history, grammar, math, art, etc., with complete lesson plans. Creator Jane Claire Lambert's approach appeals to kinesthetic, auditory, and visual learners alike.

Memoria Press Literature Guides Grades 1-12

Memoria Press has recently released a number of very good guides, and the editors continue to add to the selection.The guides follow a pretty standard format in which students become acquainted with the bare essentials of analysis while focusing on comprehension and vocabulary-building.

Novel Thinking Guides Grades 3-6

If you're wanting a straightforward literature course that emphasizes analysis over mere comprehension, the Novel Thinking Guides could be just what you need. Not written from a Christian perspective, the guides are nonetheless unbiased, fun, and challenging, and based on great children's classics.

P&R Literature Grades 3-10

P&R Press has streamlined several great children's classics by trimming away outdated and confusing language, presenting them alongside comprehension guides that emphasize Christian virtue and the character-building elements of these famous stories.

Progeny Press Literature Guides Grades K-12

Progeny Press Guides offer a wider variety of titles both in print and CD-ROM formats. Exercises are weighted more toward comprehension than analysis, along with vocabulary drill and hands-on activities for younger kids. These are among the most popular items at Exodus Books.

Smarr Literature Guides Grades 9-12

The benefit of Smarr Literature Guides: students will learn how to delve into literature to really understand it, not just to remember the plot and characters. Also, Robert Watson covers books most other literature guide publishers seem never to have heard of, though his analysis is sometimes odd.

TCM Literature Units Grades 1-8

Utilizing the whole language approach, Teacher Created Materials Literature Units provide novel-based lessons that include vocabulary, geography, art, math, science, history, and many other elements, showing students how the content of the books they read relates to the world around them.

Teaching the CLassics Grades K-12

Adam and Missy Andrews offer a range of products, primarilyTeaching the Classics, which provides basic tools for understanding fiction and worldviews; Reading Roadmaps, which is a K-12 literature curriculum syllabus for use with Teaching the Classics; and a number of resources for studying specific classic novels.

Total Language Plus Guides Grades 3-12

We don't carry them currently, but the TLP Guides are a great choice, offering several uncommon titles and more in-depth analysis education. Kids learn a literary analysis side-by-side with grammar and composition, showing them how studying literature is important on a practical level.

Veritas Press Literature Guides Grades K-9

Veritas Press publishes several guides based on some of the more prominent children's and young adult classics. Each guide is consumable, with plenty of exercises for students to complete. Unlike other options, the Veritas Press Literature Guides focus on analysis as much as on comprehension.

Veritas Press Omnibus Grades 7-12

For high schoolers, the Veritas Press Omnibus series introduces great classic literature, theology, philosophy, etc., with commentary from Christian writers like Gene Veith and Peter Leithart. Students read source texts alongside the Omnibus text, and write papers about everything they read.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.