We’re about to start rolling with literature in our homeschool this year. This is my area, along with algebra/pre-algebra, to work with the boys on. This year I wanted to pick our literature selections based on a theme. I took some requests from them as to what they’d like to see, so we’re doing the mystery/horror/fantasy bent this year. I like doing themes, as we can talk about how we see connections between books and compare how one author might have used a device as compared to another. A few don’t fit this theme but are books in this age range I want to make sure they tackle. Some of these books may be a stretch for a 7th/8th grader, but I think the boys can handle it, based on what we’ve seen and how they’ve scored on standardized testing. I would rather them stretch with some assistance rather than be bored and grow very little in this area. So without further ado, here’s what’s on top thus far:
Various stories from Edgar Allan Poe – The link goes to a complete works hardback that was surprising inexpensive.- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Once and Future King by T.H. White
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
