Authors from Our Reading Lists: Jack London

Jack London 1876-1916

The Call of the Wild (1903)

London’s most famous story is of the dog Buck, who sheds the virtues of civilized life and reverts to a wild state and thus survives in the Canadian wilderness during the Klondike gold rush.

White Fang (1906)

“White Fang,” a companion story to “The Call of the Wild,” depicts the domestication of a wolf and has been described as “an allegory of humanity’s progression from nature to civilization.”

The Sea-Wolf (1904)

About “The Sea-Wolf,” Ambrose Bierce wrote, “The great thing — and it is among the greatest of things — is that tremendous creation, Wolf Larsen... The hewing out and setting up of such a figure is enough for a man to do in one lifetime.”

And don't forget short stories.

To Build a Fire

by Jack London

A man and his dog fight for survival during a bitterly cold Arctic trek.

Authors from Our Reading List: the Bronte Sisters

The Brontë Sisters (1818-1855)

Jane Eyre - Who could fail to identify with Charlotte’s brave little orphan who refuses to be crushed by her bullying cousins, her sadistic head-master, or even the domineering man she loves. ‘Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?’ she demands of Rochester. ‘I am a free human being, with an independent will’, she tells him and how we cheer as she goes on to prove it, refusing to be his mistress rather than his wife and rejecting the passionless St John Rivers. Jane Eyre doesn’t win first place because it has its silly moments (as in the gypsy-woman episode) but mainly because it was an unnecessary and cowardly cop-out to give Jane a newly discovered family and fortune before she returns to Rochester.

Wuthering Heights - What can you say about the world’s greatest love-story, beloved of millions of teenagers and the silver screen? Except that it most definitely is not a love story. A tale of thwarted passions, obsession and revenge indeed – but not of genuine love. Heathcliff and Cathy are two sides of the same coin: ‘I am Heathcliff!’ says Cathy, ‘he’s more myself than I am’. When they cannot have what they want, their mutual response is to destroy each other. There is love in the book, but it’s not the ravings of Heathcliff and Cathy: it’s the blossoming affection between Heathcliff’s innocent victims Hareton and Catherine. There’s no denying the sheer power of Wuthering Heights, nor the cleverness of its structure, but as every film director has discovered, the death of Cathy less than half way through the book, though necessary to the plot, leaves the reader feeling short-changed.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne is the also-ran of the Brontë family yet The Tenant shares all the virtues of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights – powerful writing, gripping storyline, dramatic tension and passionate authorial involvement – whilst remaining firmly rooted in reality (no Rochester fooling his guests by disguising himself as a gypsy-woman or Heathcliff digging up his lover’s corpse). It’s the only Brontë novel not to feature orphans and/or dysfunctional families and it’s steeped with quiet humour. But its heroine, Helen Huntingdon, is a woman who flouts every convention by leaving her husband to save their child whom he is corrupting, earning her own independent living and eventually herself proposing marriage to the man she loves. Forget Jane Eyre – this really is Victorian feminism at its most radical!

To walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/shows/to-walk-invisible-the-bronte-sisters/

Autopsy on Our Short Stories (Getting Ready for Our Essays)

1. Setting: Where and when is the story set? Setting represents both the physical location but also the time (i.e. past, present, future) and the social and cultural conditions in which the characters exist.
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2. Character: A person or animal or really anything personified. There can be one main character or many, and often there are secondary characters, but not always.
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3. Plot: The events that happen in a story are called the plot. In a plot you typically find an introduction, rising action, a climax, the falling action, and a resolution. Plot is often represented as an arc.
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4. Conflict: Every story must have a conflict, i.e. a challenge or problem around which the story is based. Without conflict, the story will have no purpose or trajectory.
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5. Theme: Idea, belief, moral, lesson or insight. It’s the central argument that the author is trying to make the reader understand. The theme is the “why” of the story.

Literary Analysis Essay

'Dr. Heidegger's Experiment' by Nathaniel Hawthorn
http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/mirror_eldritch/dhe.html

 'The Masque of the Red Death,' by Edgar Allan Poe

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/the-masque-of-the-red-death-edgar-allen-poe/3702277.html

Edutopia Rubric Literary Analysis
https://backend.edutopia.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/stw/edutopia-stw-yesprep-rubric-literary-analysis.pdf

Earliest American Literature

Iroquois Literature

http://www.indigenouspeople.net/iroquois.htm

Iroquois

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois 

Rikki Tikki Tavi-Kipling, of course

Rikki Tikki Tavi
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/kipling/rudyard/jungle/chapter9.html

Rudyard Kipling
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rudyard-kipling

Compare and Contrast Essay

 

Comparison and Contrast Essay

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson275/compcon_rubric.pdf

Transitional Words and Phrases

https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Transitions.ht

Venn Diagrams to Plan Essays and More

https://www.thoughtco.com/creating-a-venn-diagram-1857015

The Masque of the Red Death--Poe

'The Masque of the Red Death,' by Edgar Allan Poe

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/the-masque-of-the-red-death-edgar-allen-poe/3702277.html

The Beautiful Yet Dark Mind Of Edgar Allan Poe (43 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6IiusT-Seo 

The Beautiful Yet Dark Mind Of Edgar Allan Poe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6IiusT-Seo 

Edgar Allan Poe Biography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLZ76Lnw8Lg

WHO WAS EDGAR ALLAN POE?

https://www.poemuseum.org/who-was-edgar-allan-poe

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Dr. Heidegger

Dr. Heidegger's Experiment

http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/mirror_eldritch/dhe.html

Dr. Heidegger's Experiment -- Short Story Film -- Nathaniel Hawthorne (20 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8PvymfN2x0 

 Nathaniel Hawthorne's Dr. Heidegger's Experiment audio 20 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-pUin6in0M 

Nathaniel Hawthorne Background

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvptFxMPrFQ

Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804-1864

Jack London--A Great Story. Just for Grade 8.

The Banks of the Sacramento

http://london.sonoma.edu/writings/DutchCourage/banks.html

Jack London Biography, Significance, and Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlzFwFq2Tc0

Jack London aboard the Snark.

Hyphenated?

How to Use Hyphens | Grammar Lessons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0WptlLlhfU

Dividing Words at End of Line
http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000129.htm

Basic Punctuation: Periods, Commas, Semicolons, Colons, Apostrophes, Quotation Marks, Parentheses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE_WqqUeMo8

https://edchat.net/resources/punctuation-mark-cartoon-characters-uk-version.171/

The History of the English Language--in a nutshell

A Brief History of the English Language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNizPIZjV2M

Where did English come from? - Claire Bowern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEaSxhcns7Y

How did English evolve?

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-did-english-evolve-kate-gardoqui

This Week in MzT's Classroom 9/4/18

How thrilling, Grades 11 is time traveling to Early America and Grade 12 through the history of the English Language.

Grades 7, 8, 9, and 10 are reading some of the greatest short stories ever! 

Tuesday 9/4/18 through Friday 9/7/18


Grade 12
Tuesday: Review notes from Icarus and Phaethon developing a suitable outline for a Compare and Contrast Essay.
Wednesday: Write a Compare and Contrast Essay using notes from Icarus and Phaethon.
Thursday: Take notes from Lecture on the History of the English Language.
HW Develop timeline for the History of the English Language. Write a summary using notes.
Friday: Identify and discuss the main groups to invade England prior to the Normans.


Grade 11
Tuesday: Review notes from Icarus and Phaethon developing a suitable outline for a Compare and Contrast Essay.
Wednesday: Write a Compare and Contrast Essay using notes from Icarus and Phaethon.
Thursday: Take notes from Lecture on the History of the English Language.
HW Develop timeline for the Early American Literature. Write a summary of notes.
Friday: Identify and discuss the main events and groups of Early American Literature up to the American Revolution.

Grade 10
Tuesday: Review notes from Icarus and Phaethon developing a suitable outline for a Compare and Contrast Essay.
Wednesday: Write a Compare and Contrast Essay using notes from Icarus and Phaethon.
Thursday: Introduction to Edgar Alan Poe; the short story "Masque of the Red Death." Begin the story, and a plot diagram.
HW Answer Read and Respond questions.
1. When does the story take place? Why do the partiers leave the city?
2. Describe Prince Prospero.
3. Why did the prince have a huge party?
4. This story has great contrast in mood--what was the author trying to do?
5. Do you think the ending was appropriate?

Friday: Discuss the story and complete plot diagram. Write a summary of the story using plot diagram.





Grade 9
Tuesday:  Take notes on Short Story and review punctuation. Introduction to Nathaniel Hawthorn. Begin the story. Start a plot diagram.
HW Write a summary of your notes.

Wednesday: Continue reading"Dr. Heidegger's Experiment." Reading the story in class, fill in the plot diagram.
Thursday: Finish the story in class. Answer questions in the text.
HW Answer Read and Respond questions. 
1. What age group are the characters in? How would you describe their pasts, including Dr. Heidegger? 
2. How would you describe the mood of this story? What feeling does the start of the story give you?
3. There is a narrator in this story--does the narrator participate in the story?`
4. Why does the doctor not partake in the experiment? Does his friends share his view at the end of the story?

Friday: After reading the story, fill in plot diagram. Write a summary of the story using plot diagram.



Grade 8

Tuesday:  Take notes on Short Story and review punctuation. Takes notes on the introduction to Jack London.
HW Write a summary of notes from class.
Wednesday: Introduction to "Bank of the Sacramento."Begin reading the story aloud in class. Answer questions in text.
Thursday: Read the story aloud in class. Create a plot diagram, discuss the action of the story.
HW Answer Read and Respond questions.
1. At the time of the story, Yellow Dream Mine was not being worked. Why do you think this is so?
2. Young Jerry was left in charge to supervise the mine. How does he react when the Spillanes ask for help.
3. Describe the cables and cars that went over the Sacramento River.
4. Jerry has a serious task to help the Spillanes to safety. Why does the storm make it harder?
5. Draw a picture of Jerry working on the cable car.

Friday: Discuss the story, and answer questions from the textbook. Fill in the plot diagram. Write a summary of the story using the plot diagram.



Grade 7

Tuesday:  Take notes on Short Story and review punctuation. Introduction to Rudyard Kipling.
HW Write notes into a summary.
Wednesday: Introduction to "Rikki Tikki Tavi." Take notes from teacher lecture. Begin reading story aloud in class.
Thursday: Read the story aloud in class. Plot diagram, discuss the meaning of the story. Take notes, and write them into a summary. 



HW Answer Read and Respond questions. 
1. How does each of these animals resemble humans in the story?
2. Compare and contrast the two personalities of Rikki and the two cobras.
3. How is 'the great war' a battle between good and evil? 
4. How is Rikki's approach to problems in life work better than Darzee's?

Friday: Finish reading story, and answer questions from textbook. Fill in the plot diagram. Write a summary of the story using the plot diagram.

Attention Grades 10, 11, and 12! 

If you have not read the short stories the lower grades are reading, you can use these free reading sites to do so. Each story is a classic, each author is vital to your background as a literate person.