Literature By Time Period

Homer's epic poem, The Illiad, is one of the greatest adventure stories of all time. In it, the abduction of the legendary beauty, Helen of Troy, leads to a conflict in which even the gods and goddesses take sides and intervene. It is in the Trojan War that the most valiant heroes of the ancient world are pitted against one another. Here Hectore, Ajax, Achilles, and Odysseus meet their most formidable challenges and in some casas their tragic ends. 

Johnny Tremain is the Newbery Award winner by Esther Forbes. Set in Boston during the Revolutionary war, Johnny Tremain is the story of a brilliant orphan boy who was apprenticed to a silver smith. Though young, Johnny has a bright future before him as he is quickly recognized as the driving force behind the silver smith. With marriage to the master's daughter in view, and the eventual ownership of the shop, things are looking up for Johnny, until a jealous fellow apprentice plays a prank on Johnny that literally ruins his life. 

Marianne, heading west with fourteen other children on an Orphan Train, is sure her mother will show up at one of the stations along the way. When her mother left Marianne at the orphanage, hadn't she promised she'd come for her after making a new life in the West? Stop after stop goes by, and there's no sign of her mother in the crowds that come to look over the children. No one shows any interest in adopting shy, plain Marianne, either. But that's all right: She has to be free for her mother to claim her. Then the train pulls into its final stop, a town called Somewhere . . .