Literature By Time Period

In the winter of 1856, a storm delays the lighthouse keeper's return to an island off the coast of Maine, and his daughter Abbie must keep the lights burning by herself.

A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich Homeschool subjects covered: American History, Oregon Trail, Westward Movement... After...

This is the fascinating biography of the Scottish hero of the 1924 Olympics whose story was portrayed in Chariots of Fire and who went on to become a missionary in China.

This Newbery Award winning story follows the lives of 2 families - the one is Jewish, and the other is the Danish family that hides them from the Nazis that have invaded their land. The two daughters of the families are best friends. Your young reader (grades 5-7) will see the horror of World War II through the eyes of these 2 young girls as they face deprivation, danger, and death. An excellent addition to any study of World War II.

This exciting story by Eloise Jarvis McGraw is a Newbery Award winner written for grades 6-9. Set in ancient Egypt, it is the story of a young orphan boy named Ranofer who has a promise as a goldsmith. He has been apprenticed to a local goldsmith, and despite the death of his parents, things look promising...until gold begins disappearing from the shop. Is Ranofer a suspect? The truth is shocking! Involving tomb robbers, the pharoah, and his own brother, this tale will thrill your student while teaching him a lot about the culture of ancient Egypt.

Nicola is a resourceful jester to the court of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a most unlikely friend to the queen. As fate takes Mary from France to Scotland and into confrontations with rebellious lords and devious advisors, Nicola remains deep in the queen's circle, and later struggles to save her friend.

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. 

This courageous Christian penned The Star Spangled Banner.  Francis Scott Key sowed seeds of aith to his family and friends all his life. The beauty of his words and the example of his Chritian life allow us to appreciate him today.

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 . . .

In 1940s Brooklyn, two boys who have grown up within a few blocks of each other, but in entirely different worlds, meet for the first time in a bizarre encounter -- a baseball game between two Jewish parochial schools that turns into a holy war. With dramatic force and simplicity that seizes the heart, "The Chosen" depicts the powerful bonds of love and pain that join father and son, the communions and quarrels of friendship, the true religionist's love of God, and the tumults by which the heart is made human.

Newbery Medal winner (1991). Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee might have lived a normal life if a trolley accident hadn't made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run-and not just run away, but run. And this is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.

Deeply shaken by the apprearance of a mysterious stranger in town and his impassioned pleas for the poor and downtrodden, the minister and five influential parishoners begin a year-long experience in Christianity. Each has resolved to conduct his life according to the precepts of Christ, applying His behavior to their own lives.  As each applies the maxim, "What would Jesus do?" to his personal life or business practices, the changes are astounding.