I'd love help deciding on the rest of this years Y3 Lit

[Kendall]

My two high schoolers are boys, 9th and 11th. I’m trying to plan the rest of the year's literature studies for them. We are doing Lit from 1600-1850. I plan to do Pride and Prejudice, but after (or before) that I have about 10 weeks time left undetermined.

We have done these this year:

Children’s version of Don Quixote
John Donne poetry
Pilgrims Progress
Paradise Lost
Some of Pascal’s Pensees (Christianity for Modern Pagans)
Autobiography of Ben Franklin
A Modest Proposal and Book 1 of Gulliver’s Travels
A Tale of Two Cities
A Children’s version of Last of the Mohicans (my 5th grader checked in out and I noticed the high schoolers read it, I didn’t assign it)

Melville/Hugo/Dumas will be considered for next year. We did 3 Shakespeare plays last year and 1 the year before.

I think I want to do Frankenstein and Scarlet Letter during these 10 weeks. Also maybe some poetry (maybe Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Tennyson) and short stuff (Emerson Self-Reliance, a Poe story?)

Question 1 – are there any books we should consider instead of Frankenstein and Scarlet Letter or in addition to them? I noticed that the Scarlet Letter was not in the WTM list. Do you think it is a must read?

Question 2 - Should I spend the remaining time(after the books are settled on) on poetry/short works or should I also try to do some non fiction historical documents/essays and if so what do you see as the best options? This year they have already read an Edwards sermon, The Declaration of Independence, something by Jonathan Winthrop.

Thanks in advance!
Kendall

[Kareni]

My teen covered that time period as a 9th grader. In addition to Frankenstein, she also enjoyed Dracula and the stories of Poe. She loved the Scarlet Pimpernel and its sequels though they were written after this time period but are set within it.

Regards,
Kareni

[Karen in CO]

I would not miss Frankenstein during this period or Poe. How about Last of The Mohicans if you are looking to add more. I would add Paine "The Right of Man" it is great for discussion.

The Scarlett Letter is in the WTM list (Rhetorical Stage, under History and reading). Since it is for boys, I would make sure to not load the choices too heavily with girl books - I could not get my ds to finish a Jane Austin or Bronte work.

I kept the historical essays in history mostly.

[Kendall]

Thanks for responding. I thought Scarlett Letter must be there, somehow I missed seeing it. Thanks for mentioning the Paine work. It was on my too large list of things to choose from. My boys are looking forward to reading P & P, time will tell whether they like it, but I think you are right about watching the quantity. That's why I wasn't really planning on Bronte. They read the Scarlet Pimpernel several years ago, but we haven't read any of the sequals. I intended to do the historical essays in history but they just haven't had time so that is why I was thinking of giving them a little lit time for them. Thanks for the confirmation about Frankenstein and Poe. Any thoughts on whether The Scarlet Letter is must do? I'm not looking forward to it, but there have been many lit choices I haven't been too excited about that I ended up liking.

[Karen in CO]

to read Frankenstein, a Tell-tale heart and the Scarlet Letter then see what parallels the boys draw between the themes. There is a couple of themes that they share in common about sin and punishment and guilt and humanity. Even if you don't draw out those themes, I think that it would be an interesting set of books to read in sequence.

We read Frankenstein with British Literature and a focus on the definition of human. It is interesting to me how you interpret books differently based on the context of what else you are reading at the time.

Oh and to answer your question - the Scarlet Letter isn't "essential" but it isn't that bad - not nearly as bad as P & P ;)
Frankenstein and Poe are essential, but I think it probably depends on who you ask.

[Kendall]

Thanks! Great idea, we'll do it.