Mt Hope Academy ~ New Resources and Curricula: 2013-14 (History and Literature Book List)

History, Historical Fiction, and Literature

This list took me for.ever. to put together, but I’m happy to have it all handy in one place. There were many books I didn’t add to the list because it was simply too long! Check your library. Check Amazon. The possibilities are endless. Wahoo!!

(By the way, this post contains affiliate links. Thanks to those of you who help support my book addiction!)

(Another aside: My boys read. A lot. There is no way I would attempt this list with non-readers. I’d just pick a few of the best for read-alouds and assigned independent reading at appropriate levels, and let the rest go like water off a duck’s back. But I can hardly keep them in books at the moment, so I figure they might as well read books that correspond with our history studies. Only Levi will be reading the more challenging chapter books.)

(Oh, and I’ll be keeping track of all the books the boys read in addition to this list over the course of the year in our monthly reports (which are tagged as weekly reports even though they aren’t).)

Without further ado, our Medieval/Early Renaissance book lists for this coming year:

(Important or favorite books are marked with **)

**The Story of the World: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance (Vol. 2) and Activity Guide

**The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History and The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

Famous Figures of Medieval Times (movable paper figures to cut, color, and assemble)

Poetry memory:

St. Patrick’s Prayer (400)

May the Strength of God pilot us.
May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us.
May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us.
May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Host of God guard us.
Against the snares of the evil ones.
Against temptations of the world

May Christ be with us!
May Christ be before us!
May Christ be in us,
Christ be over all!
May Thy Salvation, Lord,
Always be ours,
This day, O Lord, and evermore. Amen.

A selection from Beowulf (possibly this one:)

Then the minstrel sang
Of rousing deeds of old. Like flames in the firelight
The heart leapt to hear them. And when he had done
And the harp lay silent, the Queen of the Danes spoke out:
’Beowulf, dearest youth, son of most favoured
And fortunate of mothers, this your deed is matchless.
Greater than all these. In the farthest corners
of the earth your name shall be known. Wherever the ocean
Laps the windy shore and the wave-worn headland,
Your praise shall be sung.’

The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson (set in the time of King Arthur) (this is a long, long poem—we’ll see how far we can get)

(Thanks, friends, for the Loreena McKennitt recommendations!)

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi (1200)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

(From Shakespeare’s Henry V. (1400) “Once more unto the breach…”)

Heidelberg Catechism (1500) (first question and answer)

"What is your only comfort in life and death?"

(Answer:)

"That I am not my own, but belong--body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me whole-heartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him."

Shakespeare (1600) (from The Young Person's Guide to Shakespeare: [Book-and-CD Set]):
Hamlet, Act III, sc. ii, 1-8 (“Speak the speech, I pray you…”)
As You Like It, Act II, sc. vii, 139-166 (“All the world’s a stage…”)
Henry V, Act III, sc. I, 1-34 (“Once more unto the breach, dear friends…”) (1400s)
Hamlet, Act III, sc. I, 58-90 (“To be, or not to be…”
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Epilogue (“If we shadows have offended…”)
Sonnet 60 (“Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore…”)

Death Be Not Proud (or various quotes), John Donne (1610)

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.

Classical Conversations:

History memory: 24 sentences about Medieval-modern world history (+world history timeline review)
IEW’s Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons for Levi and Luke in Essentials

Art and Music:

Picture That: Knights & Castles (Exploring History through Art)  
Cave Paintings to Picasso: The Inside Scoop on 50 Art Masterpieces
Design Your Own Coat of Arms: An Introduction to Heraldry (Dover Children's Activity Books)
What Makes a Bruegel a Bruegel?
Pieter Bruegel (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)
The Fantastic Journey of Pieter Bruegel
(And many books about other Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo)

Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido D'Arezzo (an Italian monk in the 11th century)

Science and Math:

**The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way
**The Story of Science: Newton at the Center 
(And many books about Renaissance scientists)

Faith:

Monks and Mystics: Chronicles of the Medieval Church
Courage and Conviction: Chronicles of the Reformation Church 
How the Bible Came to Us: The Story of the Book That Changed the World

 

Literature:

(Like Greek Myths and Homer this past year, we are heavy on King Arthur and Shakespeare this year…)

**Beowulf the Warrior retold by Ian Serraillier (I adore this verse retelling. It is a fantastic read-aloud.) 
Beowulf: Dragonslayer retold by Rosemary Sutcliff (This is a great prose retelling for children.) 
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney (We are listening to the abridged audio version by Heaney. It is fun to hear his voice telling the story.)

**Favorite Medieval Tales by Mary Pope Osborne (This collection of retellings includes Finn MacCoul, Beowulf, The Sword in the Stone, The Song of Roland, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Robin Hood, and Chanticleer and the Fox (from The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer).)

Fairy Tales:
Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales
Scottish Fairy Tales
Favorite Fairy Tales Told in France
Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Spain
Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Russia
Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Germany (And others in the series)

Maples in the Mist: Children's Poems from the Tang Dynasty (China)
Cool Melons - Turn To Frogs!: The Life And Poems Of Issa (Japan)

**Valentine and Orson (retelling of a Medieval French romance, illustrations inspired by the painter Pieter Bruegel, told in Chaucerian iambic pentameter, with appearances by Pepin, King of France and the Green Knight)

**Favorite Norse Myths by Mary Pope Osborne
Nordic Gods and Heroes by Padraic Colum
Myths Of The Norsemen by Roger Lancelyn Green 

**Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien
**The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White, illustrated by Dennis Nolan
The Boy's King Arthur: Sir Thomas Malory's History of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green
Merlin and the Making of the King by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur retold by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady retold by Selina Hastings
Knight prisoner: The tale of Sir Thomas Malory and his King Arthur
The Squire's Tale series by Gerald Morris (Levi’s and my favorite series)

Saint George and the Dragon retold by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Saint George and the Dragon retold by Geraldine McCaughrean
**The Questing Knights of the Faerie Queen by Geraldine McCaughrean

DK Classics: Robin Hood by Neil Philip
**The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green

Chanticleer and the Fox by Chaucer, illustrated by Barbara Cooney
**Canterbury Tales retold by Barbara Cohen, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
The Canterbury Tales retold by Geraldine McCaughrean

The Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Buff (the legend of William Tell)

Poetry for Young People: William Shakespeare
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children by Edith Nesbit
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
**Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield
**Shakespeare Stories II by Leon Garfield
Various picture books
Various performances
Movies (with occasional editing for child-appropriate viewing):
Henry V
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
Twelfth Night 
And others… 

Jim Weiss Story Recordings:
Shakespeare for Children
Romeo and Juliet
King Arthur and His Knights
Three Musketeers/Robin Hood
Galileo and the Stargazers
Masters of the Renaissance
The Queen's Pirate (Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Francis Drake)

History:

**The Greenleaf Guide to Famous Men of the Middle Ages (short biographies of 40 famous men (plus Joan of Arc) from 400-1400 A.D.)
Heroes: Great Men Through the Ages
Don't Know Much About the Kings and Queens of England
Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought)
Ten Kings: And The Worlds They Rule

Augustine, The Farmer's Boy of Tagaste (Augustine of Hippo, 354-430) 

Across a Dark and Wild Sea (Ireland in 521 A.D., Columcille, writing books by hand)

Saint Ciaran: The Tale of a Saint of Ireland
The Life of Saint Brigid: Abbess of Kildare
Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland (and other books about Saint Patrick)

The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica (6th Century Italy)

Who in the World Was The Acrobatic Empress?: The Story of Theodora (Byzantine Empire, Emperor Justinian)

Empress of China, Wu Ze Tian: Written by Jiang Cheng an ; Illustrated by Xu De Yuan 
The Silk Route: 7,000 Miles of History (From the Chinese city of Chang'an to the European capital of Byzantium during the Tang Dynasty (618-906))

Leif the Lucky by the D'Aulaires (and various other books about Leif Eriksson, Eric the Red, and the Vikings)

Who in the World Was The Unready King?: The Story of Ethelred

Castles (a fantastic over-sized illustrated book by Kingfisher) (and many other books about Knights and castles)

Saladin: Noble Prince of Islam by Diane Stanley
Saint Francis by Brian Wildsmith
The Magna Charta by James Daugherty
Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley
Marco Polo by Demi

**Famous Men Of The Renaissance & Reformation

Johann Gutenberg and the Amazing Printing Press
Who in the World Was The Secretive Printer?: The Story of Johannes Gutenberg
How a Book Is Made by Aliki (modern-day process, but fascinating when learning about the printed word—fun illustrations!!)

**The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster (a wonderful world history narrative from 1450-1520)

Around the World in a Hundred Years: From Henry the Navigator to Magellan by Jean Fritz
The Discovery of the Americas: From Prehistory Through the Age of Columbus by Betsy and Giulio Maestro
Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus? by Jean Fritz
Who in the World Was The Forgotten Explorer?: The Story of Amerigo Vespucci

Leonardo da Vinci by Diane Stanley
Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd
Nicolaus Copernicus: The Earth Is a Planet
Michelangelo by Diane Stanley
Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed The World
Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado
William Shakespeare & the Globe by Aliki (love this one!) 
Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley
Good Queen Bess : The Story of Elizabeth I of England
Along Came Galileo by Jeanne Bendick
Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei by Peter Sis

Historical Fiction:

Augustine Came to Kent (Augustine of Canterbury) 

The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane (picture book, Irish monasteries, writing books by hand) 

Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle (Medieval Germany)

**Marguerite Makes a Book (picture book, Medieval France)

Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard

The Most Magnificent Mosque (a picture book set during the rule of the Moors in southern Spain)

Viking Adventure by Clyde Robert Bulla
Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland
The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French

**A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

**Sir Nigel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
**The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth

**The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame (with an appearance by St. George)

A Medieval Feast by Aliki (lovely picture book)
The Making of a Knight: How Sir James Earned His Armor (picture book)
**Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess (picture book, hilarious!)

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village (lovely monologues) 

Ivanhoe adapted by Marianna Mayer, illustrated by John Rush (picture book) 
**Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

**The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales of the Crusades by Olivia E. Coolidge

The Saracen Maid by Leon Garfield

The Secret Shofar of Barcelona (an appropriate picture book set during the Inquisition) 

Some shorter chapter books (for Luke and Leif):
The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla
The Minstrel in the Tower
The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli
The Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett
The King's Equal by Katherine Paterson
Pedro's Journal: A Voyage with Christopher Columbus, August 3, 1492-February 14, 1493
The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park (Korea, 1473) 
The Apprentice by Pilar Molina Llorente (Renaissance Florence)
Knight's Castle by Edward Eager (just for fun, during the time of Ivanhoe)

Longer chapter books (for Levi):
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston by Eleanore M. Jewett
A Morbid Taste for Bones: The First Chronicle of Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
The Samurai's Tale by Erik C. Haugaard (Japan)
Shadow of a Bull (Spain)
The Red Keep by Allen French
Wulf the Saxon: A Story of the Norman Conquest by G.A. Henty
The Boy Knight: A Tale of the Crusades by G.A. Henty
Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (12th-century Korean potters’ village)
The Shakespeare Stealer series by Gary Blackwood (Shakespeare, c. 1600) 
The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (Poland, 1400s) 
Master Cornhill by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (The Black Plague in 1665 and the Great Fire of London)
The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean (13th century China)
The Second Mrs. Gioconda by E.L. Konigsburg (Leonardo da Vinci) 
I, Juan de Pareja (17th-century Spanish painter Diego Velazquez )
Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer (Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII)
The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt by Day by Scott O'Dell (Around the time of William Tyndale)
The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell (Conquistadors)

Movies (just for silly fun):

A Knight's Tale
Ever After - A Cinderella Story
The Princess Bride
Robin Hood (for teacher research only—ha!)

The Secret of Kells (Thanks to the recommendation in the comments—this is PERFECT! It fits wonderfully with the book Across a Dark and Wild Sea, and I’m now inspired to purchase The Book of Kells: An Illustrated Introduction to the Manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin for our family collection.)

Any favorites that I missed? Or family favorites from this list? Please share in the comments!