There are no prerequisites to the first class.  

People read for a lot of reasons: because someone told them to, to discover something new, to sort out something technical.  I think my favorite reason might just be to escape into an adventure.  There is nothing so wonderful as following a character through twists and turns and out into a bright new future.  These kinds of books have beautiful landscapes and ancient evils and valiant heroes.  Lurking within our book list you will find dragons and hobbits, humans and dwarves, rabbits and shrews.  There is something wonderful here for every age.  See the end of the description for other books in this EPIC JOURNEY BOOK SERIES

We will go over interesting words, phrases, and vocabulary that the learners will find in their reading in the coming week, and we will go over the characters that they will meet and there will be a list of discussion questions we'll pull from in our discussions for each week.  This list is to help focus our reading, not to be a writing assignment for class.

Assignments by week

Week 1- no assignments due at first class.  

Read 14 chapters (approximately 150 pages, or 20-30 pages per day)
Chapter 1 - Bad News
Chapter 2 - A Meeting in the Rain
Chapter 3 - Advice and Warnings
Chapter 4 - A Big City and a Small Human Being
Chapter 5 - Gilbert the Ship's Rat
Chapter 6 - Dragon-Fire
Chapter 7 - Waiting for Dark
Chapter 8 - Flying off Course
Chapter 9 - Nettlebrand, the Golden One
Chapter 10 - The Spy
Chapter 11 - The Storm
Chapter 12 - Captured
Chapter 13 - The Basilisk
Chapter 14 - Professor Greenbloom Explains

Week 2 - We'll discuss the first 14 chapters
Read 14 chapters (approximately 145 pages, or 20-30 pages per day)
Chapter 15-Twigleg's Second Report
Chapter 16 - Flying South
Chapter 17 - The Raven
Chapter 18 - A Visitor for the Professor
Chapter 19 -  The Signpost
Chapter 20 -  The Djinn's Ravine
Chapter 21 - Twigleg's Decision
Chapter 22 - The Vanishing Mood
Chapter 23 - The Stone
Chapter 24 - The Anger of Nettlebrand
Chapter 25 - The Indus Delta
Chapter 26 - An Unexpected Reunion
Chapter 27 - The Dragon
Chapter 28 - The Tomb of the Dragon Rider

Week 3 We'll discuss through Chapter 28
Read 14 chapters (approximately 120 pages, or 18-24 pages per day)
Chapter 29 - Twigleg the Traitor
Chapter 30 - All is Revealed to Nettlebrand
Chapter 31 - Return of the Dragon Rider
Chapter 32 - All Lies
Chapter 33 - Face to Face
Chapter 34 - Snatched Away
Chapter 35 - The Nest of the Giant Roc
Chapter 36 - Losing the Trail
Chapter 37 - An Old Campfire
Chapter 38 - The Monastery
Chapter 39 - The Rat's Report
Chapter 40 - Work for Gravelbeard
Chapter 41 - Burr-Burr-Chan
Chapter 42 - A Farewell and a Departure

Week 4 We'll discuss through chapter 42
Read 15 chapters (approximately 110 pages, or 15-22 pages per day)
Chapter 43 - The Pursuers
Chapter 44 - The Rim of Heaven
Chapter 45 - The Eye of the Moon
Chapter 46 - The Dragon's Cave
Chapter 47 - No, No, and No Again
Chapter 48 - The Captive Dwarf
Chapter 49 - Making Plans
Chapter 50 - Deceiving the Spy
Chapter 51 - Polishing Nettlebrand for the Hunt
Chapter 52 -  Nettlebrand's End
Chapter 53 - The Dwarf's Request
Chapter 54 - A Dragon Wakes
Chapter 55 - What Now?
Chapter 56 - The Way Back
Chapter 57 - Good News

Other Books In the Epic Journey Book Series:
Nurk: The Strange and Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew, by Ursula Vernon
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
Red Wall, by Brian Jacques
The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkein

Week 5 -  We'll finish the discussion and have an end of Book CELEBRATION!