Mrs. Cortez Contact Info

   
 

 Mrs. Peggy Cortez

832 766 2172 (cell)

 PeggyCortez@yahoo.com

IEW Contact Information

For General Inquiries and Homeschool Teachers:

Call toll free: 800.856.5815
(local 918.894.5802)
Email:info@excellenceinwriting.com
Fax: 603.925.51238799 N. 387 Rd., Locust Grove, OK 74352
Webmaster Email: webmaster@excellenceinwriting.com

Teachers and Administrators of a 5-day Public or Private School:

Phone: 800.856.5815 Option 4 (for schools only)
Email: schools@excellenceinwriting.com
Click here for the Schools page

International Customers Contact us at 918.894.5802
International Customers: Click here to see if we have a distributor in your country.

Need an answer to your writing questions?

Join the Loop: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/loop/
Do you want to stay informed? Sign up here to receive relevant and timely e-updates about IEW events and products.

 

A Practical Application for All Nine of the IEW Units

Click here to download this page as a PDF
      SOURCE: IEW_Jill_TWSS_help

Ideas on how all 9 units integrate into writing assignments in all your other subjects.

With some of the questions lately about how to tackle various writing assignments, I thought it would be of benefit for me to give you a birds eye view of IEW and how it integrates into your schoolwork overall. The nice thing about IEW is that instead of presenting nine-zillion writing styles, you get 7 Units suitable to handle ANY prompt that is given to you. The trick is learning to realize which Unit your prompt requires. Below is a little quick key for writing.

Units 1 and 2
I said you have 7 units for writing because these first two don't really count as a structural model. Rather, they are the gateway into the IEW methods. Unit 1 shows students how to create an outline from a single paragraph and Unit 2 shows them how to take that outline and re-create a paragraph. These Units are there to get the kids started and are easy to learn thus helping even the most writing-phobic student to achieve. But don't be tempted to stay there, the best is yet to come!
In the same way, the stylistic techniques are also set to the side, much like the spice shelf of a chef's kitchen. The chef needs to eventually learn what all the things are and how to use them, but you don't need to know how to use them all to make a pretty wonderful chili. Also, since not everyone likes to use every spice on the shelf, once you have tasted them all and understand them, you might not use them all in your own writing. But you know how if some "recipe" (such as a picky college professor?) calls for a special one.
The rest of the Units (3-9) can be taught in any order, so don't feel like you have to progress thru them numerically. The rest of the units are split into two sections for ease of use: fiction and non-fiction. I'll describe the non-fiction first.

NON FICTION UNITS (even numbered units)
Unit 4: Reports from a Single Source
This is great for any quick report when you are working from a single source (such as a textbook chapter, encyclopedia article, magazine article, etc). It is perfect for answering the question, "what does this chapter/article say about _____." Use it instead of end of chapter quizzes or to fill an empty afternoon. :) Just be sure to give the assignment in number of paragraphs. "Write me 1 (or 2, or 3, etc) paragraphs on what you find interesting or important in this document." Beginning students will collect a jumble of facts and string them into a paragraph. Older, more mature students should be able to choose topics on which to write.
It is in this unit that the concept of topic sentence is introduced along with the Topic/clincher rule.

Unit 6: Reports from Multiple Sources
This unit builds on Unit 4 by increasing the complexity of the report. Instead of "what does that ONE reference have to say about ____," you're asking "what is the general consensus about ___________." All grade levels need to learn how to take several references, choose topics, and write a report using details from a variety of sources. These can be anywhere from short 5 paragraph report to a multi-page research paper.
You can assign research reports as part of science or history. "Write a ___ paragraph report on China, planet Mars, history of flight, etc." They don't give EVERYTHING they can find about the subject, just the number of topics necessary to create the number of paragraphs you assigned. They simply pick the portions that are interesting or important to them located in the sources available.
You don't have to teach footnotes right off the bat. Teach bibliography first and slowly work your way into requiring foot notes.
You can also use this Unit when notebooking as you can write a variety of paragraphs on related subjects from various sources. For instance, if you read a book like Johnny Tremain and wanted to do a study on the Rev War, you could create a notebook and do paragraphs on silver smithing, Paul Revere, printing, Ben Franklin, various British generals, muskets and how they work, a map of Boston in 1776, etc. (notebooking works with Unit 4 too).
Lastly, this unit is a good one to introduce introduction/conclusion methods.

Unit 8: Formal Essay
This is the crown of "non-fiction" as you take what you have learned and add your own opinion to the piece. The prompts tend to include phrases such as
-what is your opinion
-what is important
-which is better
-what is the reasoning behind
-what is the central premise
-compare this and that
-contrast this and that
-persuade me what you think about....
Again, it can be any number of paragraphs from 5-hundreds. The famous "Thesis" statement that everyone is looking for is simply the point of your paper in one single sentence and usually is located either at the beginning or the end of your introduction. The rest of the paper is the proof of what you are trying to say, and your conclusion can be a restatement of your thesis statement underscoring your most powerful argument.
"The Elegant Essay" goes into depth on essay writing, the High School Essay Intensive will give you a one-day seminar touching on the basics of doing essays, especially timed and personal ones.
The formal essay is a way for the evaluator to see what information is in the writer's brain. When writing a formal essay, you might need to do some study to get some information in there before you can actually write something. :)

FICTION UNITS (odd numbered units)
Unit 3: Narrative Stories
This unit teaches the basics of telling a story. You take a very simple fable or tale and reduce it to its basics: beginning, middle and end. The beginning is the Characters/setting, middle is the plot or problem, and end is the climax/resolution/moral.
Unlike the Non-fiction units, the outline for narrative is more free-form with the notes being answers to questions (who is in the story, what do they say, think, etc). Then the construction of the story tends to use the outline rather loosely adding in or leaving out and rearranging at will. There is no perfect delineations between what goes in what paragraph leaving much to the style of the writer. Some people love this free-form flow, others hate its flexibility complaining, "But what is the RIGHT way!" Once either the teacher or the student (or both!) are willing to get past this desire for strict order, this unit can become quite fun. :)
The beauty of this model comes in standardized tests where your students are given a prompt that is supposed to help prompt a story (Imagine you are in your back yard and you find an object. Write a story about that object--Ugh). With this model, your student can scan thru the many stories they know and twist it to match any prompt. Example: Imagine I imagined that I found a stick. What stories do I know that have sticks? Lets say I chose the 3 Little Pigs (I thought about the stick house that the second pig built). Maybe I could make a story about three little mice building their houses against the cat. One built out of bird feathers (leftover from a previous victim), another out of leaves, the third out of sticks. It didn't work. The cat knocked the stick house down too and ate them all, hence the loose stick I found in the yard. Good kitty! :)

Unit 5: Writing from Pictures
I believe this unit was created in response to the Canadian standardized test prompt where school children were given three pictures from which to write a story. It is a great model for taking any picture and writing on it. You simply ask for each picture, "What is the central fact," i.e. What is happening in the picture! After you write that, you simply expand on that concept by asking the famous questions: who, what, why, when, where, and how.
If you have three pictures, you do the central fact and details on each picture, one paragraph per picture. If you need to write 3 paragraphs on ONE picture, you simply do the thing on the one picture, then imagine what the next picture would look like and write on it, then what another consecutive picture might portray and write on that. You could also do one picture prior and one picture after, whatever you prefer.
This can be useful as a chapter test if you would like. Simply choose three pictures in the text book and have your students write a three paragraph report on those pictures. Tada!

Unit 7: Creative Writing
This unit is really more of a confluence of fiction and non-fiction writing. The key is taking information from the brain and organizing it on paper. It can be factual ("My Grandmother") or fictional ("My Pet Monster").
The "My Dog Model" described in the TWSS syllabus is the picture for creative writing. You choose three topics, come up with details, and then finish it off with a intro/conclusion. It is close to Formal Essay, which is why I put Units 7 and 8 together in the helps FILES. Creative writing tends to be what we do in grade school. It turns into essay in high school, but many would think that much reporting is still creative writing. :)
This model is great for the awful, "write about what you did on summer vacation" to "what did you learn in school today?"

Unit 9: Critique
The final result of the fictional models is the formal critique. These can be glorified book reports where the writer simply summarizes an author's basic story line and then critiques it: determining if it was good or not and why. The why part can get into detailed literary analysis where you examine character development, use of literary devices such as irony or foreshadowing, exploration of theme, etc. It is purely subjective, so goes into the fictional model.
Use this model for book reports, movie reviews (its one way to get something positive out of going to the movies!), or full blown literary analysis. Just be sure to assign it BEFORE the fact so they can take appropriate notes.
I hope this overview helps you see how you really don't need to be confined to writing lessons prepared by curriculum publishers. Learn the models and then pick any one of them to create an assignment to cement learning in your student's mind. If you go thru the SWI then SICC A, B, and C, you will have been taught all 9 units and have experience doing a variety of assignments in each one and be pretty well set for ANY kind of future writing.

Jill,
Moderator
Institute for Excellence in Writing


Click here to download this page as a PDF

Teaching Writing: Structure & Style Online Resources (useful Internet links for writers & teachers)

SOURCE: IEW -TWSS -Resources

Aesop’s Fables
Perfect for Unit I/II note taking and rewriting; has links to lesson plans & other Aesop miscellany. Also contains a complete collection of Anderson’s Fairy Tales (127) for reading and Unit III summarizing:
http://www.aesopfables.com

Audible Audio Books
Downloadable audio books and podcasts. Great for the road! Choose from 50,000 titles:
http://www.audible.com - Try Audible Now and Get 2 Free Audiobook Downloads with a 14 Day Trial. Choose from over 60,000 Titles.

Bartleby’s Great Books Online
Fiction, non-fiction, and reference source texts online. You can even download Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style and Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.
http://www.bartleby.com

BookWire
A huge web site where you can research book awards, read reviews, actually download hundreds (with links to thousands) of entire books—fiction, non-fiction, children’s, public domain, classics by Hans Christian Anderson, Mark Twain, R.L. Stevenson, etc. All free!
http://www.bookwire.com

Commas!
For a quick and easy to understand guide to using commas in American English, see the The Owl at Purdue, a writing guide for students:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02

Common Errors in English
A good source for keeping your students’ compositions error-free.
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

Institute for Excellence in Writing
Our most up-to-date seminar calendar as well as product descriptions, a order form, student samples, useful links, answers to common questions and our online store.
http://www.excellenceinwriting.com
For an explanation on what Unit 3 (Narrative Stories) is used for and some tips on teaching it, Click here

IEW Families email loop
Sign up for an email loop of parents and teachers discussing the products and applications of the Teaching Writing: Structure & Style syllabus . This is an independently run web loop and is not administered or moderated by IEW.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEWfamilies/

Librivox (Acoustical Liberation of Books in the Public Domain)
LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain.
http://librivox.org

Project Gutenberg
The major source of etext transcriptions on the web. Everything from Dante’s Inferno (in Italian or English) to “The Miller’s Daughter” by Emile Zola. All free:
http://www.promo.net/pg/

Society for the Preservation of English Language & Literature (SPELL)
A fun organization with a humorous and informative newsletter as well as a Scholarship-Essay Competition for High School Students. Richard Lederer (author of Anguished English) is VP and contributor.
http://www.spellorg.com/

Unit 5 Helps from Laura B. (Writing from Pictures)
Unit 5 Helps from Laura Bettis.pdf

IEW - Recommended Reading List

It is what you read when you don't have to that determines

what you will be when you can't help it.

~Oscar Wilde

DELIGHTFUL READS . . . 

Laddie and Hinds Feet in High Places

Heidi
Swiss Family Robinson
I am David, by Anne Holm
The Silver Sword
Robin Hood
Brer Rabbit - This one is nice for story charts because each chapter is a complete story.

Charlotte's Web
Lorna Doone
A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret Garden
Pollyanna
The Scarlett Pimpernel
Little House series

NOT "DELIGHTFUL" LITERATURE:
 Tale of Two Cities; Les Miserables; Pride and Prejudice; To Kill a Mockingbird. ..

Poetry

Pudewa, Andrew, ed. Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization

(available at www.excellenceinwriting.com/PMC)

Bennett, William J., ed. The Book of Virtues—A Treasury of Great Moral Stories

Bennett, William J., ed. The Moral Compass—Stories for a Life’s Journey

Berquist, Laura M. The Harp and Laurel Wreath

Blishen, Edward, ed. Oxford Book of Poetry for Children

Bloom, Harold, ed. Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages

Carman, Bliss, ed. The Oxford Book of American Verse

Copeland, Lewis and Lawrence W. Lamm, eds. The World’s Great Speeches

The Editorial Board of the University Society,eds. The Home University Bookshelf Vol. V

Famous Stories and Verse

Felleman, Hazel, ed. The Best-Loved Poems of the American People

Ferris, Helen, ed. Favorite Poems Old and New

Hohn, Max T., ed. Stories in Verse

Lear, Edward A Book of Nonsense; A Treasury of the World’s Best-Loved Poems

Books for Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day

Compiled by Maria Gerber

Books that intelligent, quick-thinking children enjoy reading are relevant to them:

− Identification with a virtuous, charismatic protagonist

− Interest in adventure, risk, conflict, battles, danger

− Fascination & at the same time revulsion: disgusting foods, slimy bugs, poisonous

creatures

− Spatial reasoning: architecture, maps, clues, math

− Physical humor, unpredictable actions, absurdity, exaggeration

− Inspirational heroes who overcome animals, monsters, villains, nature

− A game with both potential gain and loss

− Weaponry, tools, and machines

______________________________________________________________________

Most of the books listed on the next few pages are considered classics; they have endured for various—some considerable—lengths of time. Morally sound, relevant books facilitate

children’s virtuous character development; the Good and Great Books help young readers to understand themselves and other persons’ needs, so that they are more likely to make their forts on solid rock, not sand.

Grades Preschool–2

Andersen, Hans Christian  The Ugly Duckling,   The Emperor’s New Clothes,   The Steadfast Tin Soldier

Bendick, Jeanne Archimedes and the Door of Science

Bishop & Wiese The Five Chinese Brothers

Burton, Virginia Lee Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Carle, Eric The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Flack, Marjorie Angus and the Ducks

Gag, Wanda Millions of Cats

Galdone, Paul The Elves and the Shoemaker, retold

Grahame, Kenneth The Wind in the Willows

Grimm Brothers numerous fairy tales

Guthrie, Woody This Land Is Your Land

Harris, Joel Chandler Favorite Uncle Remus

Joosse, Barbara M. Mama, Do You Love Me?

Keats, Ezra Jack The Snowy Day

Kipling, Rudyard Rikki Tikki Tavi

Lang, Andrew The Blue Fairy Book; The Red Fairy Book, etc.

Leaf, Munro The Story of Ferdinand

Lear, Edward A Book of Nonsense

Lester, Julius John Henry; Sam & the Tigers

Martin, Bill Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Milne, A.A. Winnie the Pooh Series

Moses, Will Johnny Appleseed: the Story of a Legend

Numeroff, Laura Joffe If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Piper, Watty The Little Engine that Could

Rey, Hans A. Curious George Series

Sendak, Maurice Where the Wild Things Are

Sharmat, Marjorie Weinman Nate the Great Series

Slobodkina, Esphyr Caps for Sale

Viorst, Judith Alexander & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Resources for Parents & Teachers

Berquist, Laura The Harp and Laurel Wreath

Gatto, John Weapons of Mass Instruction

Kalpakgian, Mitchell The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature

Kilpatrick, William, et al. Books that Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child

Moral Values through Stories  (Project Gutenberg free downloadable e-books www.gutenberg.org)

Pudewa, Andrew Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization

(available at www.excellenceinwriting.com/PMC)

Pudewa, Andrew Teaching Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day DVD  (available at www.excellenceinwriting.com/TB-D)

Van DeMille, Oliver A Thomas Jefferson Education

Level A grades 3–5

Bennett, William J., ed. The Book of Virtues—A Treasury of Great Moral Stories

Brandt, Keith Daniel Boone: Frontier Adventures

Catling, Patrick Skene The Chocolate Touch

Cousins, Margaret The Story of Thomas Alva Edison

Dalgliesh, Alice The Bears on Hemlock Mountain

D’Aulaire, Edgar Parin & Ingri Book of Greek Myths; Christopher Columbus; Leif the Lucky;George Washington

Dickens, Charles A Christmas Carol

Dixon, Franklin W. The Hardy Boys Series

Edmonds, Walter The Matchlock Gun

Gauch, Patricia Lee Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys

Greene, Carol Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Musical Genius

Hawthorne, Nathaniel Tanglewood Tales aka The Wonder Book

Holling, H.C. Paddle-to-the-Sea; Tree in the Trail

Hurwitz, Johanna The Adventures of Ali Baba Bernstein

Irving, Washington Rip van Winkle

Kroll, Steven Lewis & Clark: Explorers of the American West

Lawson, Robert Ben and Me

Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia Series

McCloskey, Robert Homer Price

Monsell, Helen Albee Robert E. Lee: Young Confederates

Nesbit, Edith Five Children and It

Rockwell, Thomas How to Eat Fried Worms

Roddy, Lee Robert E. Lee

Seuss, Dr. Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins

Standiford, Natalie Balto, the Bravest Dog Ever

Stevenson, Robert Louis Kidnapped

Stratton-Porter, Gene Laddie: A True Blue Story

Twain, Mark The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

White, E.B. Stuart Little

Wyss, Johann David Swiss Family Robinson

Yates, Elizabeth Amos Fortune, Free Man

Resources for Parents & Elementary Teachers

Berquist, Laura The Harp and Laurel Wreath

Gatto, John Weapons of Mass Instruction

Kalpakgian, Mitchell The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature

Kilpatrick, William, et al. Books that Build Character: A Guide to Teaching Your Child Moral Values through Stories   (Project Gutenberg free downloadable e-books www.gutenberg.org)

Pudewa, Andrew Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization  

 (available at www.excellenceinwriting.com/PMC)

Pudewa, Andrew Teaching Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day DVD    (available at www.excellenceinwriting.com/TB-D)

Van DeMille, Oliver A Thomas Jefferson Education

Level B grades 6–8

Armstrong, Jennifer Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance

Armstrong, William Sounder

Bennett, William The Book of Virtues

Burroughs, Edgar Rice Tarzan Series

Colum, Padraic The Children’s Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy

Forbes, Esther Johnny Tremain

Freedman, Russell Lincoln: A Photobiography

Holling, H.C. Minn of the Mississippi

Kieth, Harold Rifles for Watie

Latham, Jean Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

London, Jack The Call of the Wild; White Fang

MacCauley, David Castle; City, Pyramid; The Way Things Work

McSwigan, Marie Snow Treasure

Perry, Armstrong Call It Courage

Pyle, Howard The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood; The Story of King Arthur & His Knights

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan The Yearling

Reilly, Robert T. Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal

Serraillier, Ian Escape from Warsaw

Speare, Elizabeth The Bronze Bow

Stanley, Diane Michelangelo

Steinbeck, John The Red Pony

Stratton-Porter, Gene Laddie: A True Blue Story

Tarkington, Booth Penrod

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit

Twain, Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Verne, Jules The Mysterious Island; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Whitesel, Cheryl Aylward Blue Fingers: A Ninja’s Tale

Wojciechowska, Maia Shadow of a Bull

Resources for Parents & Middle School Teachers

Berquist, Laura The Harp and Laurel Wreath

Gatto, John Weapons of Mass Instruction

Kalpakgian, Mitchell The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature

Kilpatrick, William, et al. Books that Build Character: a Guide to Teaching Your Child

Moral Values through Stories

Blishen, Edward, ed. Oxford Book of Poetry for Children

(Project Gutenberg free downloadable e-books www.gutenberg.org)

Pudewa, Andrew Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization

(available at www.excellenceinwriting.com/PMC)

Pudewa, Andrew Teaching Boys & Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day DVD     (available at www.excellenceinwriting.com/TB-D)

Van DeMille, Oliver A Thomas Jefferson Education

Level C grades 9–12

Ambrose, Steven Band of Brothers

Belloc, Hilaire Joan of Arc

Bullfinch Mythology

Cather, Willa Death Comes for the Archbishop

Colum, Padraic Jason and the Golden Fleece

Connell, Richard “The Most Dangerous Game”

Dickens, Charles Oliver Twist; David Copperfield

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Dumas, Alexandre The Count of Monte Cristo; The Man in the Iron Mask

Eliot, T.S. Murder in the Cathedral

Farrow, John Damian the Leper

Harte, Bret “The Luck of Roaring Camp”

Krakauer, John Into Thin Air

Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird

Lewis, C.S. Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength;

Mere Christianity; The Four Loves; The Screwtape Letters

London, Jack The Sea Wolf; “To Build a Fire”

Lorenz, Konrad King Solomon’s Ring

Melville, Herman Billy Budd, Sailor

O.Henry “The Ransom of Red Chief”

Poe, Edgar Allen “The Telltale Heart;” other short stories

Roper, William The Life of Sir Thomas More

Schaefer, Jack Shane

Shaara, Michael Killer Angels

Shakespeare Taming of the Shrew; Merchant of Venice; Macbeth; Julius Caesar

Shelley, Mary Frankenstein

Sides, Hampton Ghost Soldiers

Sienkiewicz, Henryk Quo Vadis?

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Steinbeck, John The Grapes of Wrath; The Pearl

Stevenson, Robert Louis The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Sutcliff, Rosemary Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad; The Wanderings of

Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey

Tolkien, J.R.R. Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Twain, Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Verne, Jules Journey to the Center of the Earth

Washington, Booker T. Up from Slavery

Waugh, Evelyn Edmund Campion

Wells, H.G. The Invisible Man; The Time Machine; The War of the Worlds

Resources for Parents & High School Teachers

Berquist, Laura The Harp and Laurel Wreath

Gatto, John Weapons of Mass Instruction

Parker, ed. Thomas K. The American Short Story

Project Gutenberg free downloadable e-books www.gutenberg.org

Pudewa, Andrew Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization

Van DeMille, Oliver A Thomas Jefferson Education

Reading Lists Excerpted from Teaching the Classics, by Adam and Missy Andrews,

available at www.excellenceinwriting.com/TCS

Here are some of the books we love. This list is by no means exhaustive, of course. We are firmly convinced, in fact, that there is no such thing as an exhaustive list of good books! You will find great pleasure, if you haven’t already, in building a reading list of your own, and to that end we redirect your attention to the booklist resources listed.... If you are new to book gathering and would benefit from knowing where to start, here are some suggestions.

Stories for Young Children

Aardema, Verna Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears

Ackerman, Karen Song and Dance Man

Azarian, Mary Snowflake Bentley

Bemelmans, Ludwig Madeline

Brett, Jan The Mitten

Brown, Marcia Stone Soup

Brown, Margaret Wise Goodnight Moon; The Little Fir Family; The Runaway Bunny

Cohen, Barbara and Trina Schart Hyman The Canterbury Tales, retold

Cooney, Barbara Miss Rumphius

Dr. Seuss Horton Hears a Who

Duvoisin, Roger Petunia

Eastman, Philip D. Are You My Mother?

Falconer, Ian Olivia

Fox, Mem Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge

Freeman, Don Dandelion

Gramatky, Hardie Little Toot

Hall, Donald and Barbara Cooney The Ox-Cart Man

Hoban, Russell and Lillian A Bargain for Frances; Bedtime for Frances; Bread and Jam for Frances

Hoberman, Mary Ann A House is a House for me

Hyman, Trina Schart Saint George and the Dragon

Krauss, Ruth The Carrot Seed

Lionni, Leo The Biggest House in the World

MacLachlan, Patricia All the Places to Love

McCloskey, Robert Blueberries for Sal; Make Way for Ducklings

Ness, Evaline Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine

Pfister, Marcus The Rainbow Fish

Polacco, Patricia Thunder Cake

Potter, Beatrix The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Priceman, Marjorie How to Make an Apple and See the World

Rylant, Cynthia Henry and Mudge

Steig, William Amon and Boris; Brave Irene

Steward, Sarah and David Small The Gardener

Tiller, Ruth Cinnamon, Mint & Mothballs: A Visit to Grandmother’s House

Turkle, Brinton Thy Friend, Obadiah

Van Allsburg, Chris The Polar Express

Waber, Bernard You Look Ridiculous Said the Rhinoceros to the Hippopotamus

Ward, Lynd The Biggest Bear

Yolen, Jane All Those Secrets of The World; Owl Moon

Ziefert, Harriet A New Coat for Anna

Zolotow, Charlotte Big Sister and Little Sister; Something is Going to Happen

Juvenile Fiction

Alcott, Louisa May Little Women

Alexander, Lloyd The Book of Three

Atwater, Richard and Florence Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Babbitt, Natalie Tuck Everlasting

Banks, Lynne Reid The Indian in the Cupboard

Bibee, John The Magic Bicycle

Brink, Carol Ryrie Caddie Woodlawn

Burgess, Alan The Small Woman

Burnett, Frances Hodgson The Secret Garden

Burnford, Sheila The Incredible Story

Cleary, Beverly Henry and Ribsy

Dagliesh, Alice The Courage of Sarah Noble

Dahl, Roald Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

De Angeli, Marguerite A Door in the Wall

Edmonds, Walter The Matchlock Gun

Estes, Eleanor The Moffats

Field, Rachel Calico Bush

Fitzgerald, John D. The Great Brain

Fritz, Jean The Cabin Faced West

Gannett, Ruth S. My Father’s Dragon

Gates, Doris Blue Willow

George, Jean Craighead My Side of the Mountain

Gilbreth, Frank and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey Cheaper by the Dozen

Gipson, Fred Old Yeller

Gray, Elizabeth Janet Adam of the Road

Henry, Marguerite Misty of Chincoteague

Hunt, Irene Across Five Aprils

Juster, Norton The Phantom Tollbooth

Keene, Carolyn Nancy Drew Series

Kipling, Rudyard The Jungle Book

Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Lamb, Charles and Mary Tales from Shakespeare

Lawson, Robert Rabbit Hill

Leaf, Munro Wee Gillis

Lenski, Lois Strawberry Girl

Lindgren, Astrid Pippi Longstocking

MacDonald, George The Princess and the Goblin

MacLachlan, Patricia Sarah, Plain, and Tall

Meigs, Cornelia Invincible Louisa

Merrill, Jean The Pushcart War

Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables

Morey, Walt Gentle Ben

Mowat, Farley Owls in the Family

Neimark, Anne E. Touch of Light: The Story of Louis Braille

Nesbit, Edith The Enchanted Castle

O’Brien, Robert Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

O’Dell, Scott Island of the Blue Dolphins

Pyle, Howard Otto of the Silver Hand

Rackham, Arthur and C.S. Evens Cinderella

Rawls, Wilson Where the Red Fern Grows

Robinson, Barbara The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Selden, George The Cricket in Times Square

Sewall, Marcia Pilgrims of Plymouth

Spyri, Johanna Heidi

Sterling, Dorothy Freedom Train

Taylor, Mildred Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Warner, Gertrude C. The Boxcar Children

White, E.B. Charlotte’s Web; The Trumpet of the Swan

Wiggin, Kate Douglas Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Wilder, Laura Ingalls Little House on the Prairie

High School Fiction

Adams, Richard Watership Down

Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice

____________, Beowulf

Bradbury, Ray The Martian Chronicles

Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre

Cather, Willa My Antonia

Chaucer, Geoffrey The Canterbury Tales

Conrad, Joseph The Heart of Darkness

Cooper, James Fenimore The Last of the Mohicans

Costain, Thomas The Silver Chalice

Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage

D’Orczy, Baroness The Scarlet Pimpernel

Dante, The Divine Comedy

Defoe, Daniel The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Dickens, Charles Great Expectations

Dillard, Annie A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Dumas, Alexandre The Three Musketeers

Forester, C.S. Lieutenant Hornblower

Hemingway, Ernest The Old Man and The Sea

Henty, G.A. The Cat of Bubastes

Herriot, James All Creatures Great and Small

Heyerdahl, Thor Kon-Tiki

Hilton, James Good-bye Mr. Chips

Hugo, Victor Les Miserables

Irving, Washington The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Jacques, Brian Redwall

Kipling, Rudyard Captains Courageous

Lewis, C.S. The Great Divorce; Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That

Hideous Strength

Maclean, Alistair The Guns of Navarone

Marshall, Catherine Christy

Milton, John Paradise Lost

Porter, Gene Stratton A Girl of the Limberlost

Potok, Chaim The Chosen

Pyle, Howard Men of Iron

Reeves, James The Exploits of Don Quixote

Richter, Conrad The Light in the Forest

Shakespeare, William The Riverside Shakespeare

Stevenson, Robert Louis Treasure Island

Ten Boom, Corrie The Hiding Place

Tolkien, J.R.R., trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Tolstoy, Leo Anna Karenina

Ullman, James Ramsey Banner in the Sky

Verne, Jules Around the World in 80 Days

Vernon, Louise Ink On His Fingers

Virgil The Aeneid

Wiseman, Cardinal Nicholas Patrick Fabiola or The Church of the Catacombs

An ongoing list of literature & related resources for parents & teachers

© 2010 Institute for Excellence in Writing.

This resource is available at www.excellenceinwriting.com/free-downloads

Cross-posted at our Immaculate Heart of Mary website