Teaching the Classics Booklist

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Some of the best things are born of necessity. While no one twisted Adam and Missy Andrews' arms to get them to create Teaching the Classics, a number of local home school parents (knowing the Andrews' academic backgrounds) did ask repeatedly to be shown how to teach their kids to appreciate and analyze literature. The Andrews eventually complied, distilling what parents need to know to lead Socratic-style discussions about great books into a relatively short lecture series and syllabus.

Teaching the Classics isn't a curriculum. There are no assignments, no lesson plans, and no workbooks, and you certainly can't hand anything to your kids and have them work on their own. Instead, it's a lifestyle tool, providing you and your children the necessary tools to understand literature, and by extension any ideas that make their way into your home, whether through the newspaper, movies, or talk radio. In his engaging DVD lectures, Adam Andrews shows the importance of reading quality fiction, and then equips you to do so.

Because it's not a curriculum, there's no required reading list, but there is an appendix in the teacher syllabus offering a book list of recommended titles for young children, elementary and middle school kids, and high school students. Each title is arranged alphabetically by author, with a brief description of the listed book. We carry about 90% of these titles (we're working on bringing all of them in), and they're listed below. Remember, these aren't required reading, but they do make an excellent place to start.

We're very impressed with Teaching the Classics, as well as the other products developed by Adam and Missy Andrews. Good books are important to us, but we see no point in reading them only for entertainment purposes. Literature needs to be engaged, and as Christians we have a responsibility to engage it in a particular way, a way the Andrews are willing and able to share with those of us who didn't major in English. The variety of titles in the list below shows how versatile their approach really is, though we encourage you to start with picture books no matter what age your kids are, as they offer a non-threatening venue for putting somewhat foreign concepts into practice.

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.

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Teaching the Classics Booklist

42 Items found Print

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6th grade (Ages 11-12),

Hardcover

	Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Sterling Classics by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen from Sterling Publishing Co. for 6th-10th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $14.95
	Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman from J.B. Lippincott Co. Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade 1955 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $15.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Beauty Sterling Classics by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Scott McKowen Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co. Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
	Black Beauty Illustrated Junior Library Series 3 by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg from Grosset & Dunlap Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
	Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Dinah Dryhurst from Breslich & Foss Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
	Book of Three Prydain Chronicles #1 by Lloyd Alexander Revised 1999 printing from Henry Holt and Company Fantasy for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	Caddie Woodlawn A Frontier Story by Carol Ryrie Brink, illustrated by Kate Seredy from Macmillan Realistic Family Fiction for 3rd-7th grade 1936 Newbery Medal winner in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink from Simon and Schuster Realistic Family Fiction for 3rd-7th grade 1936 Newbery Medal winner in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $19.99
	Canterbury Tales Selected, translated, adapted and illustrated by Barbara Cohen & Trina Schart Hyman from William Morrow & Company Medieval Literature for 3rd-6th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $17.50 (1 in stock)
	Cheaper By the Dozen by Frank Gilbreth & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey 1st edition 1st printing from HarperCollins Family Stories for 4th-9th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Cricket in Times Square by George Selden, illustrated by Garth Williams from Farrar, Straus and Giroux Animal Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade 1961 Newbery Honor Book in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $10.00 (1 in stock)
	Enchanted Castle Books of Wonder by E. Nesbit (illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky) from William Morrow & Company Fantasy for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg 35th Anniversary Edition from Atheneum Mystery/Suspense for 4th-7th grade 1968 Newbery Medal winner in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $9.00 (1 in stock)
	Heidi Sterling Classics by Johanna Spyri, illustrated by Scott McKowen from Sterling Publishing Co. Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell from Houghton Mifflin Realistic Fictio for 5th-8th grade 1961 Newbery Medal Winner in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $12.00 (2 in stock)
	Johnny Tremain Illustrated American Classics by Esther Forbes from Houghton Mifflin Historical Fiction/Adventure for 3rd-10th grade 1944 Newbery Medal winner in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $14.00 (1 in stock)
	Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories Illustrated Junior Library Series 4 by Washington Irving from Grosset & Dunlap Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-9th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter, illustrated by Warren Chappell from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Everyman's Library Children's Classics (Location: FIC-ELC) $15.95
	Little House - Hardcover Set by Laura Ingalls Wilder from HarperCollins for 3rd-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $139.11
	Little Women Sterling Classics by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Scott McKowen Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co. Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Judith Cheng Special from Simon and Schuster Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Dinah Dryhurst Reprint from Breslich & Foss Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $12.00 (1 in stock)
	Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by M.E. Gray Unabridged from Everyman's Library Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Everyman's Library Children's Classics (Location: FIC-ELC) $16.95
	Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Clara M. Burd from John C. Winston Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Little Women Reader's Digest World's Best Reading by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Hodges Soileau and Louis Jambor from Reader's Digest Realistic Romantic Fiction for 6th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Barbara Cooney from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Tasha Tudor Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Little Women Penguin Clothbound Classics by Louisa May Alcott, edited and introduced by Elaine Showalter, with notes by Siobhan Kilfeather and Vinca Showalter Unabridged from Penguin Classics Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Louisa May Alcott Little Women / Good Wives / Little Men by Louisa May Alcott from Octopus Books Limited Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien, illustrated by Edward S. Gazi from Atheneum Animal Fantasy for 4th-6th grade 1972 Newbery Medal winner in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O'Brien, illustrated by Zena Bernstein from Atheneum Animal Fantasy for 4th-6th grade 1972 Newbery Medal winner in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jule Feiffer from Random House Satirical Fantasy for 5th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	Princess and the Goblin Everyman Library by George MacDonald from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Fantasy for 5th-8th grade in Everyman's Library Children's Classics (Location: FIC-ELC) $18.00
	Secret Garden Puffin Classics by Frances Burnett from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Secret Garden Everyman Children's Classics by Frances Burnett, illustrated by Charles Robinson from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade in Everyman's Library Children's Classics (Location: FIC-ELC)
	Sounder by William H. Armstrong from HarperCollins Realistic Fiction for 3rd-8th grade 1970 Newbery Medal winner in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $6.00 (1 in stock)
	Tales from Shakespeare by Charles & Mary Lamb, illustrated by Elizabeth Shippen Elliott from Dilithium Press, Ltd. Shakespeare Stories for 3rd-8th grade in Myths, Fairy Tales & Folklore for Children (Location: FIC-MYT)
	Tales from Shakespeare Manhattan Young People's Library by Charles & Mary Lamb, illustrated by Louis Rhead from Gilbert H. McKibben Shakespeare Stories for 3rd-8th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $18.00 (1 in stock)
	Wind in the Willows Illustrated Junior Library Series 4 by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Dick Cuffari from Grosset & Dunlap Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	Wind in the Willows Illustrated Junior Library Series 3 by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Dick Cuffari from Grosset & Dunlap Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
	Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Anna Leplar from Parragon Publishing Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings from International Collectors Library Realistic Animal Stories for 6th-Adult in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)

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