Tricia asked me to share the "interesting writing assignments" I mentioned in my earlier post about the literature class I taught in conjunction with Gileskirk Modernity.

Here are a few examples:

* Poet Laureate Robert Southey wrote to Charlotte Brontë in 1837 that “literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it.” Read about Brontë’s working habits on pp. 463-465 of the Norton Critical Edition of Jane Eyre, then assess Southey’s comment in light of that information. This is a great opportunity to express your opinion!

* Read Elizabeth Rigby’s scathing review of Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Edition, pages 451-453). She asserts, “Altogether the auto-biography of Jane Eyre is pre-eminently an anti-Christian composition.” Do you agree or disagree with Rigby’s criticisms, and why? Be specific, with examples from the text of the novel.

* Write an alternate ending for Jane Eyre.
 
* Write an alternate ending for Great Expectations.
 
* Use the style of Ernest Hemingway to rewrite a scene from any other novel we’ve read this year.
 
* Read AND listen to William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1949/faulkner-speech.html
Writing assignment:  Faulkner ends his speech with these words: “The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.” Do you agree or disagree with Faulkner’s view of the role of the writer/poet?  Explain your position in a well-written essay.
 
* Rewrite a scene from Ernest Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River” or The Old Man and the Sea (or other Hemingway stories or novels you may have read on your own) in the style of William Faulkner. This will be more challenging than imitating Hemingway’s style, but you can do it! Use your imagination and be creative.
 
* Fitzgerald wanted The Great Gatsby to be “intricately patterned” and a “consciously artistic achievement.” As you read, pay close attention to the structure of the novel. Keep a chart documenting Jay Gatsby’s life as you learn bits and pieces about him. Assess how the structure (the unfolding of plot and character) works.
 
* Explain Eudora Welty’s view of the role of place in fiction and use it to assess the role of place in one of the novels or stories we have read for literature class this year. (Major source for Welty’s view is “Place in Fiction,” but you may also refer to material from other Welty writings if you like.)
 
* Explain Eudora Welty’s view of the role of time in fiction and use it to assess the role of time in one of the novels or stories we have read for literature class this year. (Major source for Welty’s view is “Some Notes on Time in Fiction,” but you may also refer to material from other Welty writings if you like.)

The assignments to write alternate endings for novels we read and to rewrite one author's work in the style of another author produced some fascinating results!

Mary Jo Tate

Lately I've been hearing the same question from a lot of parents: "My children have read every book in the house and every book in the library that I know anything about. Could you recommend some good books for them?"

I always recommend a few specific titles or series (Little House, Narnia, Landmarks, etc.), but the most helpful advice I can give is to acquire some of these wonderful books about books—my own favorite guides to choosing books for children.

How to Grow a Young Reader: Books from Every Age for Readers of Every Age by Kathryn Lindskoog and Ranelda Mack Hunsicker (updated & expanded edition, Harold Shaw, 1989). Intersperses heavily annotated book recommendations (over 1,800 titles, divided by genre and topic) and author biographies with thoughtful discussions on topics such as enemies of reading; strategies for family reading; genres such as fantasy, realistic fiction, biography, mystery, humor, poetry, and nonfiction; picture books; religious books; multimedia; and preserving family stories. Includes a substantial amount of literary history. Appendixes include recommended reading for parents and teachers; major awards in children’s literature; great quotations about books for children; and children’s literature resources. Separate indexes of authors and titles.

This treasure appears to be out of print, but a few copies are currently available on Amazon Marketplace. I highly recommend acquiring one while they last!

Books Children Love: A Guide to the Best Children’s Literature by Elizabeth Wilson (Crossway, 1987; revised 2002). Extensively annotated book list based on the educational philosophy of Charlotte Mason, with an introduction by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay. Divided into 25 subject areas, arranged alphabetically by author (except for biographies, arranged alphabetically by subject), with suggested grade levels. Literature is divided by age level into three chapters, each subdivided into fables, folk tales, and fairy tales; myths and legends; fantasies; and realistic stories, both modern and historical. Index of titles and authors.

Who Should We Then Read? by Jan Bloom (revised & expanded edition, Books Bloom, 2001). Biographical information and lists of books by over 140 authors; complete lists of books in series such as American Heritage Junior Library, Cornerstones of Freedom, Horizon Caravel, Landmark, Messner biographies, North Star, Signature, We Were There, etc.; and lists of Newbery and Carnegie Award-winners. Also includes tips for book hunting; information on the care and repair of books; a guide to resources about authors; information on history, biography, and fiction, with recommendations for some of the best authors in each area; reading-level suggestions for all ages divided by author and by topic. Spiral-bound for easy use as a reference; tuck it into your purse when book hunting. Available from Books Bloom.

What Should We Then Know? *about constructing, furnishing, maintaining, and enjoying a home library by Jan Bloom (Books Bloom, 2003). Not a book list, but a resource for how and why to build a home library. Includes discussions of the importance of books; the influence of a home library; living books (both fiction and nonfiction); resources for book lovers; booking on the Internet and eBay; tips for book hunting at library sales, flea markets, yard sales, etc.; pricing; storing and displaying books, including detailed instructions for building bookcases; organizing your home library; suggested authors and titles for beginning to build a home library; and a bibliography. Available from Books Bloom.

All through the Ages: History through Literature Guide by Christine Miller (second edition; Nothing New Press, 2001). A compilation of recommended books from 26 sources such as award winners, popular homeschool curricula, and respected book catalogs. The history portion is divided into 25 chronological sections, each with a detailed timeline. Each section is subdivided by 4 reading levels, which are further divided into an overview of the era, specific events, biography, historical fiction, literature, and culture. Individual titles are briefly described; and essays discuss topics such as astronomy and the ancients, difficulties in Egyptian chronology, and the rise of various ancient civilizations. Other sections of the book, also divided by reading level, include geography (divided into 26 regions), history of science and mathematics, history of the arts, great books of Western civilization and the Christian tradition (including History of the Great Discussion, History of Literature, History of Poetry, and History of Drama), bibliography, and index of titles and authors. A tremendous supplementary resource for any history curriculum.

 

Happy reading!

Mary Jo Tate

Reprinted from Homeschooling Today (May/June 2004). All rights reserved.

Someone left a comment asking for the title of my book about F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The original version was published in 1998 as F. Scott Fitzgerald A to Z and the revised and expanded edition was published this year as Critical Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald. 

Thanks for asking!

Mary Jo Tate

Preventing students from dropping out of school has been the focus of much attention in our local paper lately, from jargon-filled editorials by educators to full-page ads contrasting "Bling" (what you get when you graduate) and "No Bling" (what you settle for when you drop out).

I'm not even going to comment on the bling factor.

But here's a choice quote (the lead, in fact) from a front-page article about a recent dropout prevention forum in a neighboring county:

"If a kazoo-playing cookie maker and a teacher on a tabletop don't help solve the dropout problem in Monroe County, it's hard to say what else will."

Yeah . . . that should fix it!

Mary Jo Tate

P.S. - In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that the kazoo-playing cookie maker was Wally Amos of Famous Amos cookies. He's supposed to be a great motivational speaker. Even so . . .

Last year I taught a 9th-12th-grade literature class for our homeschool co-op. The selections were based primarily on the literature assignments in George Grant's Gileskirk curriculum for Modernity, but I made a few changes.

In the first semester, I added Jane Eyre because I thought it would be a disgrace to graduate from high school without reading it. I replaced Hard Times with Great Expectations, which is a much better Dickens novel. I also added Shelf Life, a wonderful book about books.

In the second semester, I added Hemingway and Faulkner because they are 2 of the 3 giants of 20th-century American literature (Fitzgerald is the other). I also added some Fitzgerald short stories. I added Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings because it's one of my favorite books, as well as some Welty stories and essays. 

I reduced the Flannery O'Connor assignment to only two stories (wish I'd had time for more), and reduced the Lord of the Rings assignment to just The Fellowship of the Ring, not because Tolkien isn't important and wonderful, but because most of my students had already read the entire trilogy voluntarily, and I wanted to make room to introduce them to new authors.

This was the first time I had read Sir Walter Scott (love The Antiquary!) or John Buchan (Greenmantle turned out to be a favorite with the class). 

Despite my best efforts, most of the students hated The Great Gatsby because they couldn't see past the depressing story to the beauty of Fitzgerald's writing. (Disclaimer: I've written a book on Fitzgerald, so this was particularly distressing to me.)  However, a couple of students really "got" Fitzgerald, which was a delight.

Several students fell in love with Eudora Welty's writing, and the O'Connor stories sparked the most discussion (even drawing in a couple of students who had not uttered a word in class throughout the rest of the school year).

I devised some interesting writing assignments for the class, but I'll post those another time.

Here's the reading list: 

First semester:

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Portable Romantic Poets, ed. Auden & Pearson

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Shelf Life by George and Karen Grant            

Second semester:

Greenmantle by John Buchan

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“May Day” by Fitzgerald (optional due to language)

“Winter Dreams” by Fitzgerald

“Big Two-Hearted River” by Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

Nobel Prize speech by William Faulkner

“Barn Burning” by Faulkner

“Spotted Horses” by Faulkner

“The Old People” by Faulkner

“A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty

One Writer’s Beginnings by Welty

Selections from The Eye of the Story by Welty

“Everything that Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor

“A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by O’Connor

The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton

This was a challenging class, since it covered both English and American literature from Jane Austen all the way to the late 20th century. That's not the way I'd ideally set it up, as a standalone literature class but I did it that way to conform to the Modernity time frame of Gileskirk.

Happy reading!

Mary Jo Tate