This course is the first half of this foundational course in literary analysis that will prepare students for more advanced literature courses.  Studying great literature helps students develop their own vocabulary and writing skills, as well as generating the ability to defend their ideas both orally and in writing.  This course is excellent preparation for students soon to be in high school, as well as young high schoolers to prepare for the discussions and writing of literature in later high school and university classes.  In this class, we will cover many reading and writing skills necessary to succeed in academic literary study, while reading and discussing various genres and time periods in literature. This class is highly interactive, Socratic, and inquiry led.

Outside of class, students will be given various reading and writing assignments to practice and develop their critical thinking and literary analysis skills.  In class, we will focus on introducing literary devices, clarifying terms and practicing the art of discussion regarding various genres of literature.  We will practice close reading, analysis, deconstructing texts, and constructing our own arguments alongside the texts we are exploring.  Students will learn how to write a proper literary analysis essay.

This class can be followed by my American, British, World, or Russian literature series.

From a former student, "Your literature classes really prepared me well for college but also continued developing my critical thinking skills, world view, and love of learning."

Week 1-Setting-The Call of the Wild
Week 2-Active and Passive voice-The Call of the Wild
Week 3-Narration-The Call of the Wild
Week 4-Theme-The Call of the Wild
Week 5-Characterization-Tom Sawyer
Week 6-Plot-Tom Sawyer
Week 7-Humor/tone-Tom Sawyer
Week 8-Allegory-Idylls of the King
Week 9-Paragraphs-Idylls of the King
Week 10-Positive vs negative case-Treasure Island
Week 11-Suspense-Treasure Island
Week 12-Parallelism-Treasure Island
Week 13-Theme cont.-Alice in Wonderland
Week 14-Parody-Alice in Wonderland
Week 15-Dialogue-"Oracle of the Dog"