What to Read Next If You Love Hadestown
If you can’t get enough of Greek mythology, add these myth-inspired books to your summer reading list.
If you can’t get enough of Greek mythology, add these myth-inspired books to your summer reading list.
PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons
Thundercluck
How have we all gone so long without demigod chickens fighting evil to save Asgard? Thundercluck is the hero Norse legend forgot to mention, but he’ll definitely be a memorable addition to your readaloud list. (All ages)
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
The power of Orpheus’s story is his belief that he can change his fate if he just keeps fighting — and in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Minli follows the same determined path on her quest to find the Old Man of the Moon. (Middle Grades)
Lalani of the Distant Sea
Lalani’s voyage to legendary Mount Isa — in search of a cure for her mother — is steeped in Filipino folklore, but readers will find echoes of Hadestown’s themes of personal responsibility, loyalty, and leadership in Lalani of the Distant Sea. (Middle Grades)
When You Trap a Tiger
Lily makes a deal with a magical tiger to save her grandmother in When You Trap a Tiger. This tale based on Korean myth hints at the same risks Orpheus discovers in making agreements with supernatural powers. (Middle Grades)
Pandora’s Jar
If you’re over the heavy Boys Club atmosphere of the classic Greek myths, Pandora’s Jar is just what Athena ordered. In this imaginative collection, Natalie Haynes emphasizes the stories of the goddesses and women who usually get short shrift, including Eurydice, Pandora, Artemis, and Hera. (High School)
Circe
The complicated feminist witch of the Odyssey finally gets center stage in Madeline Miller’s Circe. From her childhood in the shadows of Olympus to her (surprise!) friendship with Penelope, Circe’s hero’s journey is a definite twist on the traditional version. ((High School)
Girl Meets Boy
Here’s a delightful rarity in the mythological world: A happy ending. In the original, Iphis is a girl raised as a boy who falls in love with Ianthe — the goddess Isis changes Iphis into a biological male so that the two can get married. In Ali Smith’s retelling Girl Meets Boy, Anthea and Robin get to live a trans-affirming version of this story in our modern world. (High School)
Piranesi
Piranesi is the only inhabitant of a mysterious, labyrinthine house with no apparent entrances or exits. He spends his days wandering the endless procession of passageways, which include oceans, crowds of statues, and levels covered in clouds. It’s as a mysterious as any Underworld — and as eerily lyrical as Orpheus’s journey. (High School)
An Orchestra of Minorities
In An Orchestra of Minorities, Chigozie Obioma transposes the Orpheus myth to Umuahia, Nigeria. When a young farmer is pulled into the life of a young woman, he finds himself pulled into a fate he never expected. (High School)
What to Read Next If You Loved Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse as a Kid
Nobody’s perfect, but we all have the power to be better tomorrow than we were yesterday. These tales of forgiveness and redemption remind us that we are better together.
Nobody’s perfect, but we all have the power to be better tomorrow than we were yesterday. These tales of forgiveness and redemption remind us that we are better together.
Forget the perfectly behaved children of mid-century children’s books — one of the best things we can show our children is that it’s OK to mess up — and that there are real ways to move on from our mistakes. Lilly is every kid who’s ever been too excited to settle down. Nobody’s perfect, but we all have the power to be better tomorrow than we were yesterday. These tales of forgiveness and redemption remind us that we are better together.
Because of Mr. Terupt
Mr. Terupt’s fifth grade class isn’t like other classrooms — it’s actually fun, and the seven kids whose perspectives shape Because of Mr. Terupt enjoy being there. But when a tragedy changes everything, no one knows how to move forward. How can you be forgiven for something unforgivable? Sometimes it’s weird to ready school-y books like this one with homeschooled kids, but Because of Mr. Terupt is a great reminder of the personal relationship that’s at the heart of good learning — and of our homeschools. (Middle grades)
Bob
Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead teamed up with illustrator Nicholas Gannon for Bob, which would honestly be enough to put this slim volume on my middle grades reading list. Bob has been waiting in the closet for five years for his friend Livy to return — but when she finally does, she’s almost completely forgotten her imaginary friend. This is a lovely meditation on growing up and changing friendships that taps into the essential me-ness at the heart of all us. (Middle grades)
New Kid
Seventh-grader Jordan is the New Kid at his prestigious private school, but being one of the only Black students in a privileged bubble is hard. Being one of the few kids in his neighborhood enrolled at a fancy school is hard, too, and Jordan often feels like he doesn’t fit in anywhere. (Like middle school isn’t hard enough!) One of the best things about this book is how realistic it is: Jordan is about to confront some of the problems with the system, but he can’t dismantle them by himself. (Middle grades)
Ida B... and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World
This book — about a homeschooler! — tackles the tough question of what to do when your whole life falls apart — and you don’t react in the best possible way. Ida B. gets a major life upheaval after her mom’s cancer diagnosis, and it takes time for her to make peace with her new normal. Homeschool characters in middle grades books can be complicated for actual homeschooler, but this one doesn’t feel unrealistic. (Middle grades)
I’ll Give You the Sun
In I’ll Give You the Sun, Noah and Jude have gone from being super-close twin siblings to barely speaking to each other — and they’re both carrying burdens of loss and guilt in the wake a family tragedy. Jude and Noah alternate telling the story of their lives, including a tangle of misunderstandings that must be unraveled for them to move on. (High school)
Early Departures
In Early Departures, Jamal has the chance to make things right with his ex-best friend Q — something he never expected since Q died two years into their estrangement. But thanks to new technology, Q can be reanimated for a short time, and Jamal may be able to make amends. Unsurprisingly, the result is an emotionally heavy book — hopeful but heartrending — so read accordingly. (High school)
Darius the Great Is Not Okay
Darius the Great is not, in fact, okay: He’s about to take his first trip to visit family in Iran, but he fully expects to be as lonely, depressed, and disappointing to everyone in his life as he is at home. Then he meets boy-next-door Sohrab, who turns out to be the friend Darius has been waiting his whole life for. This is a lovely reminder that sometimes we need someone else to really see us before we can find ourselves. (High school)
Autobiography of Red
A reimagining of the myth of Herakles, Autobiography of Red is novel-in-verse from the perspective of Geryon, a winged red monster who is also a boy. Part love story, part bildungsroman, part myth, this is a compact, dense tale that rewards slow reading. (High school)
Cry the Beloved Country
Cry the Beloved Country is a novel about two South Africas and about two men on either side of South Africa’s color line. When Stephen goes to Johannesburg to find his sister and his son, he finds more sorrow and hope than he could have imagined. This is one of the most profound books about the cycle of violence, the effects of systemic justice, and whether hope is enough without action. (We have a reading guide for this one.) (High school)
The 57 Bus
Sasha and Richard were co-passengers for about eight minutes every weekday on The 57 Bus — eight minutes where Sasha’s white, private school life intersected with Richard’s experiences as a Black public high school student in Oakland, California. That eight minutes, though, was long enough to lead to a tragedy that would change both their lives forever. (High school)
A Prayer for Owen Meany
John and Owen are unlikely best friends who grow up together in A Prayer for Owen Meany — gravel-voiced, short-statured, peculiarly superstitious Owen isn’t always an easy friend to have, but John can’t imagine his life without him. (High school)
What to Read Next If You Loved Miss Rumphius
Miss Rumphius wants to make the world a more beautiful place, a legacy that comes with a deep connection to nature. These books take up that project, showing that family, home, and nature can change us for the better.
Miss Rumphius wants to make the world a more beautiful place, a legacy that comes with a deep connection to nature. These books take up that project, showing that family, home, and nature can change us for the better.
The Complete Brambly Hedge
The illustrations are the real stars of The Complete Brambly Hedge, a collection of old-fashioned stories about very civilized mice living the cottagecore life across the four seasons. (All ages)
The Secret Garden
Nature has the power to change more than the environment in The Secret Garden. Bitter, guarded Mary Lennox doesn’t find a warm welcome when she’s sent to live at her uncle’s Yorkshire manor, but she does gradually find herself. (All ages)
The Becket List
In The Becket List, Becket is determined that her new life on Blackberry Farm will be the best ever — but the reality never seems to live up to her expectations. Slowly, she realizes that loving herself — just the way she is — is the key to living the life of her dreams. (Middle grades)
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer
In Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, Sophie adjusts to her new life on a rural farm by writing lots of letters — many of them to Redwood Farm Supply, which specializes in the “unusual” chickens that suddenly seem to be everywhere — and doing all kinds of strange things. (Middle grades)
Across the Pond
Callie’s family movies to a castle in Scotland in Across the Pond, and Callie takes on sexism in the local birding troop with the help of some new friends, thanks in part to an old birdwatching journal she discovers in a locked trunk. There’s a core of real sweetness in this book that I loved: We all sometimes feel like we don’t belong, and we’re all delighted when we discover that we’ve found a community. For birding enthusiasts, for middle grades readers who enjoy realistic fiction, for anyone who’s ever wished for that castle in Scotland — you’ll want to pick this one up. (Middle grades)
All Creatures Great and Small
Small town English country life between the world wars is illuminated through one veterinarian’s adventures in All Creatures Great and Small. Suzanne says, “My love affair with these books — All Creatures and its sequels — goes back over 30 years. In them, Herriot tells stories of his days as a Yorkshire veterinarian working on both farm animals and pets, beginning when he is just out of school in the 1930s and has joined the practice run by eccentric Siegfried Farnon, assisted (more or less) by Siegfried’s hapless brother, Tristan. The tales are sometimes tragic, as when a farmer loses both his livestock and his livelihood, and sometimes hilarious (“Mrs. Pumphrey’s Tricki Woo has gone flop-bott again”), while always being warmly affectionate and self-deprecating. Supposedly these are Herriot’s real-life experiences — ‘James Herriot’ is the pen name of Alf Wight — but over the years there have been different opinions on how much is real and how much is fiction, so that I’ve moved my own copies from the ‘memoir’ shelf to ‘fiction’ and back again, but when the writing is this enjoyable it doesn’t really matter where they end up.” (Middle grades)
The War that Saved My Life
In The War that Saved My Life, Ava is evacuated from her cramped London apartment to the British countryside — where she discovers that even in wartime, life can be happier than she ever suspected. (Middle grades)
Far from the Madding Crowd
Bathsheba Everdeen is smart, capable, and ready to take over her uncle’s farm in 1830s rural Essex in Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy’s least depressing novel. If only all those suitors would leave her alone and let her focus on her work. (Spoiler: They will not.) (High school)
Cold Comfort Farm
Orphaned socialite Flora decides Cold Comfort Farm sounds like a perfect spot for a little adventure in this tongue-in-cheek satire of British rural life in the 1930s. (High school)
Miss Buncle’s Book
Who wrote the book about Silverstream and its inhabitants? Nobody suspects meek, 30-something Barbara Buncle of the skewering story, but it is indeed Miss Buncle’s Book, and it launches Miss Buncle and the folk of Silverstream on a series of adventures. (High school)
What to Read Next If You Loved The Phantom Tollbooth
Milo’s adventure in the Lands Beyond is full of witty wordplay and curious characters. Get a similar taste of brainy unpredictability from these delightfully eccentric books like The Phantom Tollbooth.
Milo’s adventure in the Lands Beyond is full of witty wordplay and curious characters. Get a similar taste of brainy unpredictability from these delightfully eccentric books like The Phantom Tollbooth.
Your Next Picture Book:
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson celebrates the power of pure imagination with this story of a boy and his favorite art supply.
Your Next Chapter Book
The Little Prince
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery explores some of the same big questions and ideas as The Phantom Tollbooth within a similarly whimsical premise.
Your Next Readaloud
The Princess Bride
The Princess Bride by William Goldman has a ripping good story — it’s better than the movie, and that’s saying something — and a narrator whose literary asides will have you giggling with glee.
Your Next Teen Read:
Your Next Grown-Up Book
Gentlemen of the Road
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon is full of weird characters and curious situations. The twist: It’s all taking place in the real world, circa C.E. 1000.
What to Read Next If You Like Harriet the Spy
Harriet the Spy was our first rebel heroine, a smart girl who spies for the sheer pleasure of it. These other renegade girls are worthy follow-ups to her literary legacy.
Harriet the Spy was our first rebel heroine, a smart girl who spies for the sheer pleasure of it. We’ve rounded up a Harriet-inspired reading list for every level starring other renegade girls are worthy follow-ups to her literary legacy.
Have you watched the animated Harriet the Spy adaptation on Apple TV+? What did you think?
Your next picture book
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes features an equally likable little rebel. Like Harriet, Lilly accidentally creates conflict with people she cares about; like Harriet, she has to figure out how to make things right while still being true to who she is.
Your Next Chapter Book
Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry
Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry also focuses on a budding writer who sometimes finds herself at odds with life. Anastasia’s artsy parents are a little more in touch than Harriet’s, but Anastasia and Harriet share an independence and introspection that make them literary soul sisters.
Your Next Readaloud
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley is usually shelved in the adult section, but its 11-year-old chemist heroine has plenty of Harriet-style spunk. Flavia sees the world through her own particular lens, making observations and connections that the adults around her don’t always see.
Your Next Teen Read
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart, the tale of a plucky teen who infiltrates the all-male secret society at her snooty boarding school. This seems like your typical teen high school novel, but once you start reading, you realize it’s a whole lot more — not unlike its intrepid heroine.
Your Next Grown-Up Book
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery focuses on precocious Paloma’s life in a Parisian apartment building, where — driven by loneliness and monotony — she vows to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday.
What to Read Next If You Love Downton Abbey
An Edwardian family faces a changing world in this British drama of manners that’s a little bit Austen, a little bit soap opera, and entirely satisfying. Get your Downton fix with historical fiction featuring rich details and nuanced character development.
An Edwardian family faces a changing world in this British drama of manners that’s a little bit Austen, a little bit soap opera, and entirely satisfying. Get your Downton fix with historical fiction featuring rich details and nuanced character development.
The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton’s The Buccaneers may have been an inspiration for Downton Abbey, but it’s Wharton’s The Age of Innocence that really channels the wistful privilege of Edwardian life, right down to the not- entirely-happy ending. (High School)
The Davenports
In 1910 Chicago, the four Davenport daughters are among the wealthiest Black families in the United States. This novel, like Downton Abbey, is definitely lighter on the history than the romance (even though it’s based on the real-life Patterson family, who are totally rabbit trail-worthy, if you are so inclined), but it’s still really cool what it was like to be part of the Black one-percent during the early 20th century. And yay for historical fiction about Black joy and Black success, which I always personally love to see. (High School)
The Remains of the Day
In The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro explores the slow decline of the aristocracy in the early 20th century from the perspective of a faithful — perhaps, ultimately, too faithful — butler. (High School)
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen is set in an earlier time, but its story of two very different sisters, an entailed inheritance, and the problems of class and wealth will resonate with any Downton fan. (High School)
Jeeves and the Wedding Bells
Sebastian Faulks brings back Bertie Wooster in Jeeves and the Wedding Bells, a lighthearted peek at the Edwardian aristocracy featuring a perpetually befuddled young gentleman and his unflappable valet. (High School)
Hetty Feather
Hetty Feather is set at the end of the Victorian era, but Jacqueline Wilson’s novel about a girl who escapes from the Foundling Hospital to find her family is full of as many dramatic twists and turns as the best Downton episodes. (Middle Grades)
What to Read Next If You Love Into the Woods
Fairy tales get complicated in these twists on tradition. You’ll never read “happily ever after” the same way again.
Fairy tales get complicated in these twists on tradition. You’ll never read “happily ever after” the same way again.
Interrupting Chicken
Interrupting Chicken just wants everybody to get a truly happy ending — which they would, if they would just listen to his very good advice! This is a fun read aloud for anyone who’s ever wanted to interrupt the story to steer its characters in a better direction. (All Ages)
Egg and Spoon
A case of mistaken identity lies at the center of Egg and Spoon: Elena, a peasant living in the Russian countryside, changes places with wealthy Ekaterina who is on her way to see the Tsar in Saint Petersburg. Along the way, the two girls match wits with Baba Yaga, uncover a prince in disguise, and explore a world full of Russian folklore. (Middle Grades)
Rumaysa: A Fairytale
What would traditional western fairy tales look like through the lens of another culture? Radiya Hafiza retells the stories of Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty in the surprisingly delightful Rumaysa: A Fairytale, which begins when imprisoned Rumsaya lowers her hijab out a tower window to escape to freedom. (Middle Grades)
Spinning Silver
In Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver, a moneylender’s savvy daughter gains a reputation for turning silver into gold — bringing her to the unwanted attention of the king of the Staryk. It’s a brave new Rumpelstiltskin. She’s not the only young woman who sees an opportunity to rewrite her life for the better in this layered story. (High School)
Cinder
In futuristic New Beijing, Cinderella is a cyborg mechanic who gets caught up in struggle for the crown. Cinder lives with discrimination against cyborgs from her society, but her stepmother never misses a chance to remind her that she’s not a real person. When she’s caught up in a power struggle around Prince Kai, Cinder has to decide what her own happy ending might look like. (High School)
Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins
I’m always recommending Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins because it’s one of my favorite books from high school. Emma Donoghue reimagines 13 fairy tales in new, feminist queer retellings, including one in which (finally!) a Beauty realizes that she cannot change the beast. (High School)
What to Read Next If You Like Lemony Snicket
If you loved The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket's hilariously tragic chronicle of the sad adventures of the Baudelaire orphans, add these titles to your library list this summer.
If you loved The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket's hilariously tragic chronicle of the sad adventures of the Baudelaire orphans, add these titles to your library list this summer.
Your Next Picture Book
Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue by Maurice Sendak
Pierre: A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and a Prologue by Maurice Sendak is a delightfully subversive story about a bratty boy who gets a lion-sized comeuppance.
Your next chapter book
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken pits bold Bonnie and her orphaned cousin Sylvia against an evil governess.
Your next readaloud
Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotsen
Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotsen turns the traditional ghost story on its head by introducing sympathetic specters who rescue young Oliver from his nefarious cousins.
Your next teen read
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman makes the Apocalypse a comedy of errors, complete with a reluctant Antichrist, a hellhound who just wants to be a Good Boy, and a set of prophecies that are a little too accurate.
Your next grown-up book
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde puts Special Ops literary detective Thursday Next into perilous situations both in and out of classic literature.
What to Read Next If You Loved The People Could Fly
There’s a kind of magic in imagining worlds shaped from non-European culture and myth — and these books paint possibilities powerful and profound.
These books celebrate Black storytelling traditions.
There’s a kind of magic in imagining worlds shaped from non-European culture and myth — and these books paint possibilities powerful and profound.
The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton
When The People Could Fly was published in 1985, it heralded a movement toward more diverse literature — Virginia Hamilton called her work “Liberation Literature,” and one of its goals was to preserve Black culture and memory through books and stories. We may be living in a golden age of diverse literature, and if you loved The People Could Fly, add these empowering books based on Black history and culture to your homeschool reading list.
Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor
Zahrah the Windseeker isn’t like the other kids in the Ooni kingdom — her long green dadalocks made her an object of fear for many in her techno-nature community. But when Zahrah’s best friend’s life is in danger, she is the only one who can venture into the forest to save him. (Middle grades)
The Jumbies by Tracy Baptiste
Corinne La Mer isn’t afraid of anything, including The Jumbies — but maybe she should be. One of these Haitian folk monsters is after her family, and Corinne must channel her own unexpected magic to save the day. (Middle grades)
Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender
Being a Hurricane Child is believed to be bad luck — and it’s certainly been that way for Caroline, who’s been despised by her classmates and abandoned by her mother. But a new student inspired Caroline to channel her inner courage, and they set out on an adventure that may restore Caroline’s lost luck — and her mother. (Middle grades)
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
A whole world of African folklore and legend opens up in Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, when Tristan accidentally unleashes evil on the MidPass and discovers that he is one in a long chain of Storytellers with the ability to shape reality through stories. (Middle grades)
The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
In The Gilded Ones, girls with golden blood are considered impure — and subject to all kinds of abuse. Deka is one of them, but an unlikely opportunity presents itself: If she joins the emperor’s elite military force, full of girls with the same golden blood, all her sins will be forgiven. Of course, it’s much more complicated than she knows. (High school)
Children of Bone and Blood by Tomi Adeyemi
In Children of Bone and Blood, Zélie has just one chance to bring magic back to Orïsha and take down the ruthless monarch who is determined to eradicate it forever. (High school)
Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older
Sierra discovers that she’s a Shadowshaper, a person who has the ability to connect with spirits through art, music, and stories — a discovery that comes just in time, since another Shadowshaper is attempting to channel all their power for himself. (High school)
What to Read Next If You Love Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys
If you love solving mysteries with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, we’ve got a reading list of detective stories from picture books to adult novels you’ll love.
Let’s face it: Few things are as fun as racing to put together the clues before your favorite intrepid detective solves the case. We think these books make worthy follow-ups (or lead ups!) to the adventures of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.
Older Nancy Drew fans may find the dark, twisty, supernatural TV version of the classic stories a lot of fun — I did!
Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys set the standard for grade-school mysteries, but even with all those titles in the series, you may reach a point when you need something more. These mysteries — from picture books to adult novels — also ask you, the reader, to put together the clues to solve the case, using your eye for details and creative problem-solving abilities. Most of these are part of a series, since part of the fun of the Drew-Hardy world is the luxuriously long list of titles.
Your next picture book
Alphabet Mystery by Audrey Wood
In Alphabet Mystery by Audrey Wood, the lowercase letters must team up to find little x, who’s gone missing just before his mom’s big birthday bash. This is a great book for practicing letter recognition, since you’ll be hunting for all the letters on every page — but it’s not a great learning-the-alphabet-in-order book because the letters don’t appear in order. It’s a fun picture book mystery, though, with a sweet message about how we may be more important than we realize — even if it doesn’t always feel that way.
Your next chapter book
Mudshark by Gary Paulsen
Mudshark by Gary Paulsen introduces Mudshark, a kid whose reputation as a great problem solver is challenged by a case of disappearing erasers at his school. He’s also got unexpected competition — in the form of a librarian’s apparently psychic pet parrot. (This one should maybe go on an “if you loved Encyclopedia Brown” reading list, too, because it does a similar vibe with lots of small episodic mysteries around the bigger one.)
Your next readaloud
Sammy Keys and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen
Sammy Keys and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen kicks off a mystery series about a 12-year-old detective who finds trouble wherever she goes. In this book, Sammy, who lives with her grandmother in a seniors-only complex, spies a thief in action. Unfortunately, the thief sees her, too. So Sammy does what any intrepid kid detective would do — she waves at the thief. Smart, quick-thinking Sammy is always on the case. A lot of mysteries for kids lean into the formulaic, and that’s fine, but this Edgar-award winning series has some genuinely surprising plot twists.
Your next teen read
Virals by Kathy Reichs
Virals by Kathy Reichs starts another series, when sci-phile teens led by Tory Brennan rescue a dog from a medical testing facility, kicking off a chain of events that will put them hot on the trail of a not-so-cold case and launch a surprising new phase of their lives. This series comes from the author of the definitely-for-adults Bones series — the protagonist is Temperance Brennan’s niece and has definitely learned a thing or two from her forensic anthropologist aunt. (Sometimes maybe unbelievably a lot? But also we all know that when kids are genuinely obsessed with something, they can become in-depth experts, so I’ll allow it.)
Your next grown-up book
The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters is the first book in the delightful Amelia Peabody mysteries, in which an eternally curious 19th-century spinster decides to take her inheritance to Egypt, where she falls in love with Egyptology and becomes caught up in an old-fashioned whodunnit. Amelia’s romance with a grumpy amateur archaeologist has some entertaining moments, but it’s the mystery — set in an Egyptian dig site and featuring all kinds of fascinating period archaeological details — that makes this first-in-the-series book a great follow-up to Nancy Drew.
What to Read Next If You Love Swallows and Amazons
Summer means adventure in these old-fashioned stories about independent children making their own fun.
Summer means adventure in these old-fashioned stories about independent children making their own fun.
Of course you should schedule a screening of the recent movie adaptation (pictured above), but even if you've read the whole series through multiple times, you can get a similar taste of old-fashioned summer adventure with these books. The reading levels skew on the younger side if you’re worrying about Lexiles — but it’s summer, and your kid wants to read! Why are you worrying about Lexiles?
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
Four sisters spend their summer exploring the grounds of a neighboring estate in this delightfully nostalgic summer story. Modern day independent kids look a little different from the free range kids of the past, but there’s still plenty of adventure and self-discovery in this surprisingly sweet tale. Like Swallows and Amazons, it sometimes feels more like a meandering journey than a Big Plot working toward a climax, but frankly, that is part of its charm — and why it’s a great readaloud for summer, when you may need to put down a book for several days at time.
Half Magic by Edward Eager
Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha find a magic talisman on their way home from the library one summer afternoon, but it only grants wishes in halves. My kids found it really fun that the kids in the book were imagining what magic in the modern world might look like — in a world that seemed very old-fashioned to them! The adventures the siblings go on with the aid of their magic talisman — including a visit to Camelot and being able to communicate with their very disgruntled cat — are equal parts zany and practical.
Like Bug Juice on a Burger by Julie Sternberg
At first Eleanor’s excited to spend the summer at Camp Wallunmwahpuck — but the annoying bugs, disgusting camp food, and especially swimming class soon change her mind. Summer camp is maybe the closest modern day kids get to the free range adventures of the Swallows crew, and I like that Eleanor does not immediately love the adventure she’s on. Not all of us are cut out to live in the wild for weeks at a time, however charming books may make it sound!
How Tia Lola Saved the Summer by Julia Alvarez
Summer seems like it’s going to be a bummer for Miguel and his sister — until his aunt Lola steps in and sets up a summer camp full of seasonal adventures. Tia Lola feels like a kinder, Latinx version of Mary Poppins, but the adventures she sends the siblings on definitely have the free-spirited, open-possibilities vibe you get in Swallows and Amazons. This one may ultimately be a little more emotionally resonant than Swallows and Amazons, but that really just made us like it more.
Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
Discovering the abandoned remains of an old summer community — and its two last inhabitants — makes for a magical summer for Portia and her cousin Julian. It’s doubly old-fashioned: Portia and Julian are charmed and delighted by the turn-of-the-century childhoods of their new friends; my kids were just as charmed and delighted by the 1950s adventures of Portia and Julian. There’s something really delightful about the nerdy enjoyment these cousins take in the world around them — they’re as fascinated watching a colony of ants abscond with their sandwich scraps as they are learning about the history of the philosopher’s stone.
Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge
The author of The Little White Horse also wrote this charming tale of four siblings who run away from their ruthless grandmother to live at their uncle’s country manor. Nan, Robert, Timothy, and Betsy find a mix of everyday magic (bees, cats, and gardens) and suspiciously magical magic (witches and disappearing families) at their uncle’s ramshackle country house and its surrounding village. There’s also a nice nod to homeschooling — the children are all required to spend a certain amount of time every day studying with their uncle, but then they’re free to spend the rest of the day however they like.
What to Read Next If You Liked Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Who can resist the perfect combination of words and pictures? Add a spunky hero with a few problems, and you’ve got worthy Wimpy Kid follow-ups.
Who can resist the perfect combination of words and pictures? Add a spunky hero with a few problems, and you’ve got worthy Wimpy Kid follow-ups.
Disney+ turned the Wimpy Kid book series into an animated television show.
Your next picture book
Luke on the Loose
In Luke on the Loose, a boy follows a flock of pigeons in an increasingly wild chase out of New York’s Central Park, through Manhattan, and all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Your next chapter book
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates is the Diary of a Wimpy Kid gone British, with a doodling, diary-ing hero who just wants to make it through middle school alive.
Your next readaloud:
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made
Timmy Failure would like to believe that he’s the greatest detective in the world, but he’d be wrong. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made has delightful illustrations on every page but enough story to make reasonable for a readaloud.
Your next teen read
Your next grown-up book
Sacred Heart
In the weird, unresolved Sacred Heart, teenager Ben is just trying to survive adolescence while her parents—and all the other adults in town—are off on a four-year pilgrimage. This coming-of-age story nails the awkward ordinariness and utter strangeness of being a teenager.
What to Read Next If You Love Anne of Green Gables
Home in these books takes many forms, but it’s always the place where you just belong.
Home in these books takes many forms, but it’s always the place where you just belong.
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
When 16-year-old Hattie inherits her uncle’s Minnesota homestead claim, she sets off to build a home for herself in pioneer country. (Middle grades)
When Mischief Came to Town by Katrina Nannestad
After her mother’s death, Inge Maria goes to live with her grandmother on a tiny Danish island where the grown-ups and her new school are stricter than she’s accustomed to. But Inge Maria’s curiosity, intelligence, and tendency to making mischief may be just what the little island community needs—and Inge Maria discovers that she has more in common with her grandmother than she expected.
Perfectly balancing tenderness and humor, this is pretty much a textbook example of a heartwarming story. Inge Maria is utterly lovable, and the island town is peopled by funny, interesting residents. Bonus: This book is full of yummy food. (Elementary)
Bright Island by Mabel Louise Robinson
Island-reared Thankful wants to be a sea captain like her grandfather, but her parents send her to boarding school on the mainland. (High School)
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Sam runs away from his crowded New York City apartment to live—alone—in the Catskill Mountains. Shelli says, “When I was a young girl, I read My Side of the Mountain, and it instantly became one of my favorite books. I wanted to be Sam Gribley, a fifteen-year-old boy who lives alone in a tree in the Catskill Mountains. He learns to live off the land, and he captures and raises a peregrine falcon, named Frightful, to help him hunt. He also becomes friends with The Baron, a weasel, learns the ways of other forest animals, and meets some interesting people, too.” (Middle grades)
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm
In this quintessential summer story, 11-year-old Turtle goes to live with her aunt in Key West, Fla., when her mom’s new housekeeping job proves kid-unfriendly. (In the middle of the Great Depression, you have to take the jobs you can get, but Turtle’s mom hasn’t always made the best life choices.) As Turtle explores her new community and makes friends with her wild cousins, who call themselves the Diaper Gang, she discovers the joys of family and of standing up for what you really want.
Holmes really captures both the beauty and the hardship of life in 1930s Florida—this book is a great jumping-off point for reading more about the Great Depression. Turtle is a tough, likable protagonist, and her cousins’ antics are pretty hilarious. (Bonus: Now you have a fun excuse to look up Shirley Temple and Little Orphan Annie on YouTube.) (Middle grades)
The House at World's End by Monica Dickens
Four siblings create a home of their own in a rundown old inn when they’re sent to live with their wealthy-but-unpleasant relatives while their mother is recovering in the hospital. (Middle grades)
The Nutmeg Tree by Margery Sharp
Suzanne says, “I’m a long-time fan of Sharp, having read through her Rescuers series several times over as a kid (the Disney adaptations are a lot of fun but be sure to check out the books!), but this is the first time I’ve tried one of her adult novels and it was CHARMING. Julia is broke and not quite sure what to do next when she is contacted by her adult daughter, who she hasn’t seen in years (after giving up custody to her posh in-laws). The daughter needs help with a romance: she’s determined to marry a young man that her grandparents don’t entirely approve of, but slightly disreputable Julia may not be the best person to ask for advice. Did I mention that this novel is CHARMING? Julia is a delightful character and she gets a romance of her own and now I’m off to find the rest of Sharp’s novels.” (High school)
On Turpentine Lane by Elinor Lipman
Lipman writes warmly affectionate stories about screwed-up but still loving families, both those we are born into and those we create along the way. In this one, our heroine moves into a new home and soon gets caught up with (1) a decades-old possible murder mystery, and (2) a handsome new housemate. Lipman’s characters are funny and actually try to be nice to each other and she’s never let me down — highly recommended for comfort reads (and getting over any mean-spirited and spiteful novels you may have accidentally read).
What to Read Next If You Love Stranger Things
Small towns with spooky secrets, friends who face down evil, and a little retro charm give these books the same vibe as the sleeper series hit.
Small towns with spooky secrets, friends who face down evil, and a little retro charm give these books the same vibe as the sleeper series hit.
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
Many of the reader reviews for this one contain some variation on the line: “You’ll never look at rocks the same again,” and they don’t mean that in a “Wow, geology is cool!” sort of way. After her grandmother’s death, our protagonist, Mouse, is tasked with cleaning out her house, which is made more difficult by the fact that (1) her grandmother was a terrible person and was estranged from the rest of the family, and (2) she was a hardcore hoarder. Also, there may be Things Lurking in the Woods outside. (SPOILER: There absolutely are.) Fortunately, Mouse has her dog Bongo to keep her company and — this is not a spoiler because the author gives us this incredible gift up front — we know that Bongo comes out okay at the end, so we don’t have to spend the whole book worrying about what happens to the dog! HURRAY! This is an original and very creepy take on the ‘haunted woods’ idea and I’ve been seeing this book on various best-of-the-year lists, so congratulations to T. Kingfisher, who you may already know as Ursula Vernon, author of (among many other wonderful works) the delightfully Eva Ibbotson-esque Castle Hangnail. (High school)
Locke & Key Vol. 1: Welcome To Lovecraft
This series began publication in 2008 but is already considered a classic of modern horror. After a tragedy, a mother and her three children move into the old family home (located in Lovecraft, Massachusetts, so you know that’s not good), where strange keys can be found hidden away in various cracks and crevices. The kids soon discover that if they find the lock that matches a particular key, something magic will happen—a key may make you giant-sized, or turn you into an animal, or allow others to see your thoughts. Unbeknownst to the new occupants of the Keyhouse, however, a demon is stalking their family, trying to gather keys for its own dark purposes. The story is compelling and the artwork is gorgeous (and includes a very unexpected but lovely Calvin & Hobbes tribute), and I highly recommend it to all horror fans. Warning: this is not a series for younger readers as it does contain some intense violence. Locke & Key, Vol 1: Welcome to Lovecraft is a great place to start, or you could spring for the entire six-volume set as a gift for yourself or, say, your favorite Library Chicken blogger. (High School)
Summer of the Mariposas
Five sisters set out on a Homer-inspired Odyssey in Summer of the Mariposas, family story infused with the supernatural and Mexican folklore. (Middle Grades)
The Boys of Summer
Todd wakes up from a coma after four years in The Boys of Summer, going from 9 to 13 years old overnight, but the world doesn’t feel the same. (High School)
Fever Dream
In Fever Dream, a short novel by an Argentinian author, a woman and a boy try to make sense of the woman’s imminent death. (High School)
Meddling Kids
A group of Scooby gang-like former teen detectives (including one who’s dead) reunite in Meddling Kids for one last case. (High School)
What to Read Next If You Love The Hunger Games
Get your rebellion on with these books set in dystopian worlds that are just asking to be burned down.
Get your rebellion on with these books set in dystopian worlds that are just asking to be burned down.
The Maze Runnder by James Dashner
You may like this book if: You liked Divergence, Percy Jackson
You may not like this book if: You don’t like it when bad things happen to kids
When Thomas wakes up in the Glade, he has no memories of his previous life and no idea how to solve the life-size maze he and his fellow Gladers must exit to escape. (Middle Grades)
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
You may like this book if: You liked The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Golden Compass
You may not like this book if: You’re not a fan of steampunk
It’s a city-eat-city world in Reeve’s futuristic London, where cities engage in a form of Municipal Darwinism, floating above the ground and lying in wait for vulnerable flying cities they can consume. Most people never set foot on the ground — including third-class apprentice Tom, who’s not happy to find himself walking the surface of the world for the first time, trying to get back to his city in the sky. (High School)
Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
You may like this book if: You liked Uglies, My Sister’s Keeper, Matched
You may not like this book if: You’re looking for a happy ending
Sephy and Callum live in a very different world, where people with dark skin (Crosses) have historically enslaved and segregated themselves from people with lighter skin (Noughts). Prejudice is everywhere, and it’s almost impossible to imagine that a relationship between a Nought and a Cross could have a happy ending. But Sephy and Callum can’t stop themselves from falling in love. (High School)
Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
You may like this book if: You liked Gregor the Overlander, Found
You may not like this book if: You don’t like books that end on a cliffhanger
When Will’s excavation-nut dad goes missing on one of his digs, Will’s determined to find him — but he’s not expecting to find an entire colony living underneath the Earth’s surface. (Middle Grades)
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
You may like this book if: You liked The Maze Runner, Graceling
You may not like this book if: You don’t like dystopian stories
Inside a bleak futuristic prison, inmate Finn dreams of the world outside — a world he’s told he’s never seen. Outside the prison, the Warden’s daughter Claudia dreams of freedom from the stifled life of a well-bred young lady. When they accidentally meet, the two dreamers hatch a plan that may forever alter the world as they know it. (High School)
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
You may like this book if: You liked Ship Breaker, The Maze Runner, Brave New World
You may not like this book if: You’re bothered by creative grammar and punctuation
Todd can hear what people are thinking — but that’s no surprise. All the men in Prentisstown can. The women could, too, he supposes, if the germ that caused the telepathy hadn’t also killed all the women in the world. But one day, Todd hears something strange: silence. Seeking its source, he learns that it’s possible to keep dark secrets, even when your mind is an open book. (High School)
Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner
You may like this book if: You liked 100 Cupboards, The Search for WondLa, The Sixty-Eight Rooms
You may not like this book if: You don’t like children in peril
Goldie is always in trouble — which is pretty impressive, really, since she’s chained to a Guardian twenty-four hours a day to protect her from all the tragedies that can befall innocent children. She manages to break free and escape to a mysterious museum, where the rooms shift and change, and where she may be able to save her city from its gloomy fate. (Middle Grades)
What to Read Next if You Love Black Mirror
Technology meets humanity with unpredictable results in these works of speculative fiction.
Technology meets humanity with unpredictable results in these works of speculative fiction.
The Flinkwater Factor
Ginger is the only one who can save her very-plugged-in hometown from its rebellious robots in The Flinkwater Factor. (Middle Grades)
Never Let Me Go
Technology’s seamy underbelly is as genteelly managed as a British manor house in Never Let Me Go. (High School)
More Than This
A boy wakes up, naked and alone, in an empty world with no idea how he got there in More Than This. (High School)
Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang’s questions launch a world of possibilities in Stories of Your Life and Others: What if we built a tower to heaven? What if math was actually not predictable fact? (High School)
Children of the New World
The short story collection Children of the New World eerily channels the dark possibilities of modern life, from robot siblings to memory-making emporiums to population control strategies targeting the unliked. (High School)
What to Read Next If You Like Roald Dahl
If you love the fantasy, fun, and humor of Roald Dahl, you’ll enjoy these books that capture some of that same playful spirit.
Madcap hijinks and memorable characters are the best ways to celebrate the (not uncomplicated) writer who brought us Willy Wonka and the BFG.
The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R.A. Spratt
When miserly Mr. Green hires a pig to nanny his three children in an effort to save money, he has no idea what hilarious adventures await them with the sassy, sharp-dressed caretaker. Mr. Green is a classic Dahl-esque villain (his job involves helping rich people avoid paying taxes, and he has zero interest in spending time with his children), and Nanny Piggins brings a Pippi Longstocking-style madness to the Green children’s lives — she’s definitely not a real-life role model, but this isn’t supposed to be a real-life kind of book. As with so many of Dahl’s books, that’s part of its wacky charm. (Early Grades)
Karlson on the Roof by Astrid Lindgren
Fun and chaos ensue when Eric spots a funny man with a propeller on his back who happens to live on Eric’s rooftop. Karlson is very rude and annoying — he kind of reminds me of the cat in Dr. Seuss, who runs around making chaos and messes without ever having to deal with the consequences (I had no idea I could identify so much with a fish!), but that kind of whimsical chaos is definitely the stuff of Dahl. (Early Grades)
The Perilous Princess Plot by Sarah Courtauld
There’s nothing predictable about this fractured fairy tale, starring two sisters from The Middle of Nowhere who end up on a wacky adventure. Lavender is obsessed with being a princess, but when she’s kidnapped by an ogre, her little sister Eliza (who does not want to be a princess or discuss princesses at all, thank you very much) sets off on a rescue mission — whether Lavender wants her to or not. The sibling dynamic is a big part of the fun here. (Early Grades)
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
When someone murders the decidedly unpleasant headmistress of St. Etheldreda's School for Girls, the school’s young-ladies-in-training decide to cover up the crime and keep the school going. I love the idea of Victorian “bad girls” (who are interested in devilish things like science and finance) going rogue and taking over their school to run it the way that suits them, even if it means going to great lengths to convince their community that their headmistress is still alive and chaperoning them appropriately. (Middle Grades)
Mr. Stink by David Walliams
Chloe befriends the town tramp and hides him in her backyard garden shed in this story from Little Britain star Walliams that’s equal parts funny and touching. (How can you resist a book with lines like “Mr Stink stank. He also stunk. And if it was correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well…?”) This is one of those readalouds that you have to stop mid-sentence to let the giggles subside. (Middle Grades)
You're a Bad Man, Mr. Gum by Andy Stanton
The truly terrible Mr. Gum has the prettiest garden in town in this darkly hilarious novel. Mr. Gum is as deliciously awful as the best Dahl bad guys, but there are also of other delightfully weird characters, including the enormous dog Jake who is a particular target of Mr. Gum’s rage and Jammy Grammy Lammy F’Huppa F’Huppa Berlin Stereo Eo Eo Lebb C’Yepp Nermonica Le Straypek De Grespin De Crespin De Spespin De Vespin De Whoop De Loop De Brunkle Merry Christmas Lenoir (you can call her Polly). The fairy who smacks Mr. Gum with a frying pan when she’s angry at him was a favorite in our house. (Early Grades)
Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz
Horowitz’s absurd horror story centers around David, whose awful parents ship him off to an equally awful—and deliciously creepy—boarding school. You might think this book is borrowing from Harry Potter — a magical school reached by train, students teaming up to fight evil forces, a boring history teacher who is actually a ghost — but Groosham Grange was actually published first. Horowitz, like Dahl, enjoys leaning into the dark side and laughing. (Middle Grades)
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
I will never stop recommending this collaboration by two of my favorite British writers—a rip-roaringly funny apocalyptic story. When the Antichrist ends up being raised in a typical British town, a Witchfinder-in-training falls for one of the witches he’s supposed to be investigating, and a demon and an angel team up to save humanity from the Apocalypse, you know some crazy things are going to happen. (High School)
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Wilde’s wacky tale of intentional and accidental mistaken identity in very proper society is a delightful romp. Jack and Algernon both have secret lives that crash into each other spectacularly at a Very Polite country house weekend. My high school students laugh out loud the whole time we’re reading this play. (High School)
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
When a blind boy who happens to also be a master thief steals three sets of magical eyes from a mad haberdasher, he’s propelled into an unexpected adventure. This has a little bit of a weird fairy tale vibe, but the fantastic characters and often-surprising plotting will definitely appeal to Dahl fans. (Middle Grades)
Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson
Evil enchanter Arriman must find a bride if he hopes to ever retire, so he sets up a wicked contest to discover his witchy mate. White witch Belladonna, who is desperately trying to convince everyone she’s wicked, has a Dahl heroine’s plucky sensibility, and the real wicked witches are delightfully evil.
(Middle Grades)
8 Ways to Celebrate the End of the Homeschool Year
Even if you’re a year-round homeschooler, late spring marks the end of lots of regular activities and is a great time to throw an end-of-the-year celebration for your homeschool.
Celebrating milestones like the end of the school year can be an important part of keeping joy alive in your homeschool, so pause to appreciate that you’ve made it through the year together.
Even if you’re a year-round homeschooler, late spring marks the end of lots of regular activities and is a great time to throw an end-of-the-year celebration for your homeschool. Celebrating milestones like the end of the school year can be an important part of keeping joy alive in your homeschool, especially as students move into middle and high school, so pause to appreciate that you’ve made it through the year together. Here are a few of our favorite ways to mark the end of the academic year:
Make a time capsule.
Add a few items that sum up the year: a favorite book, a CD with your in-regular-rotation tunes on it, pictures of fun science or history projects, and a favorite artwork or two. Ask your student to write a letter about her year, and add a letter of your own highlighting some of your favorite memories from the year. (Not that you have to think this far ahead, but you could open these boxes together to celebrate your student’s last day of high school.)
Take a camping trip.
Unplug literally by heading to the nearest campground and spending the night in the great outdoors. (If you’ve never camped before, many state parks have special newbie camper programs that set you up with gear and on-site assistance. Finishing up your last official readaloud by the campfire and toasting your year’s highlights while star-gazing is definitely a memorable way to celebrate finishing another grade.
Have an end-of-the-year scavenger hunt.
Bonus points if you can tie some of your clues to the year’s highlights: Find a plant mentioned in a Robert Frost poem, find a substance with a pH level of 7.0 or higher, find a historical marker that refers to the Civil War, etc. Do a little advance planning to choose your site and clues.
Make the world a better place.
Helping others can be a great way to celebrate — consider spending your last month of school collected canned goods for a food kitchen or dog food for an animal shelter and making your donation together on your last day of school. If you’re taking a summer break, consider signing up for a recurring volunteer opportunity during the summer — for example, kids can ride along on Meals on Wheels deliveries or participate with you in park clean-up days.
Freshen up your homeschool space.
By the end of the year, half the pencils are stubby, the bookshelves are sloppy, and everything’s just kind of a mess. Celebrate the end of the year by making your space beautiful again: Clean it from top to bottom, consider brushing on a fresh coat of paint, and update chair cushions or throw pillows to make everything feel new and shiny again.
Host a lawn games party.
Break out the classics: badminton, croquet, cornhole, water balloons, and bocce ball, and spend the day competing in old-fashioned outdoor games. If you want, keep score and award paper medals to the people who do the best in each category. A day like this is a fun way to officially welcome summer to your homeschool.
Go out for afternoon tea.
Something about a classic high tea feels so special, which is what makes it such a lovely way to celebrate the end of another year. Check high-end hotels and tea rooms in your area to find a place that serves high tea, make reservations, and wear your fancy best to nibble and sip your way through the afternoon.
Have a pajama party.
Spending the day in your pajamas is the epitome of homeschool life, right? Cozy up in your PJs with a movie marathon (rent the Harry Potter flicks or all the Studio Ghibli films), eat pancakes or waffles for dinner, and enjoy your well-earned day of rest.
Unit Study: Exploring the French Revolution
By the time the French Revolution ended, the class and political landscapes of the Old World has been completely redrawn to value democratic political participation and individual rights. All of this makes it a particularly fascinating period of history to dig into with your high schooler.
The rise of the proletariat launched the bloody end of the Old World and the beginning of a new one, and most people date the revolution’s official beginning to the opening of the Estates General, on May 5, 1789.
The French Revolution was the 18th century revolution that mattered. Across the Atlantic, the revolt of Britain’s colonies raised a few eyebrows, but it was the revolution in France that reshaped the European world. When the revolution began, Europe was dominated by virtually impenetrable class structures and wealthy aristocrats; by the time the French Revolution ended, the class and political landscapes of the Old World has been completely redrawn to value democratic political participation and individual rights. All of this makes it a particularly fascinating period of history to dig into with your high schooler.
SET THE STAGE
To appreciate the impact of (and motivation for) the French Revolution, you need to understand the world that preceded it. A big piece of that world is the pre-Enlightenment notion of royalty, captured in candy-colored opulence in the film Marie Antoinette. As you watch it, talk about the expectations of royalty: They really believed they ruled because some divine being wanted them to and had no problem living the high life regardless of the conditions in which their citizens were living. Were they evil or just completely oblivious? You can decide for yourself. And then you can watch 1938’s La Marseillaise to see the beginnings of this world’s unravelling.
CONSIDER THE SCOPE
Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities carries the reader from the first rumblings of the French Revolution to its bloody, battered climax through the story of two lookalikes who find themselves at the center of revolutionary action. As you read, think about how the revolutionaries are perceived — and how their aims and actions change over the course of the story. How do passion-fueled individuals become a violent mob?
For a non-fiction take, Alexis de Tocqueville’s The Ancien Régime and the Revolution isn’t a contemporary account (Tocqueville was born in 1805), but it’s a near-contemporary look at both the promise of democracy and the failures of democracy leading up to and in the wake of the French Revolution. As you read, think about what interests Tocqueville so soon after the revolution: How did this happen?
Finally, pick up The New Regime by Isser Woloch — it’s a bit staid, but it does a great job chronicling the Revolution’s major, world-changing effects (for better and worse). Divorce, universal education, revised penal codes — as you read, make a list of all the things we now take for granted that originated with the French Revolution.
GET PERSONAL
Once you’ve got a handle on the story of the Revolution, slow down and explore its impact on individual lives. You’ll probably have to read the subtitles, but the French film Danton, depicting the last weeks of Revolution hero-turned-public enemy number one Georges Danton, offers a meaningful look at the dark side of the Revolution (with a bonus commentary on late 20th century Poland). Think about the nature of betrayal in a world of shifting allegiances and power. Get outside of Paris with Daphne du Maurier’s The Glass Blowers, which focuses on the brutal royalist counter-revolution in the 1790s. The Broussard family (based on du Maurier’s real-life ancestors) are caught up in the prospect of revolutionary changes but find it hard to adjust to post-war hardships.
Unit Study: Queen Victoria
You could spend years digging into the life of the British ruler who gave the Victorian age its name and still make new discoveries, but consider these resources a delightful starting point for a high school history homeschool unit study.
Celebrate Victoria Day on May 22 by learning more about the British queen it’s named for.
When Alexandrina Victoria took the throne of England in 1837, she was a teenager inheriting a seriously tainted monarchy. By the time of her death in 1901, the Queen had become a global symbol of the British Empire, the time period had become eponymous with her name, and she would successfully redefine royalty for the modern world. Some of this was luck, some of this was the people who surrounded her, and some of it was the sheer stubborn determination of Victoria herself. You could spend years digging into Victoria’s life and still make new discoveries about the 19th century queen, but consider these resources a delightful starting point.
READ
Who Was Queen Victoria? BY JIM GIGLIOTTI
This is a predictably solid entry in the reliable Who Was elementary biography series, covering Victoria’s life from unhappy childhood to triumphant Jubilees. (Elementary)
My Name Is Victoria BY LUCY WORSLEY
Worsley imagines Victoria’s life through the eyes of her forced companion, John Conroy’s daughter — also named Victoria — who is brought to Kensington Palace to spy on the Queen-to-be but finds herself sympathetic instead. (Elementary)
Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia, England, 1829 BY ANNA KIRWAN
This historical fiction novel is part of the Royal Diaries series, so its focus is on Victoria’s unhappy princess period, when she dreams of being Queen as a way to escape her miserable life at Kensington Palace. (Middle grades)
Victoria Victorious BY JEAN PLAIDY
Jean Plaidy is less sparkly than usual in this historical novel, and like so many writers, she dwells on the romance of the early half of Victoria’s reign, when she is a young queen in love with her husband, but this first-person story is a thoughtfully researched introduction to Queen Victoria’s life. (Middle grades)
Queen Victoria BY LYTTON STRACHEY
For the post-World War I view of Queen Victoria, turn to Lytton Strachey’s very un-Victorian biography, a classic, snarky history as full of royal gossip as historical details. (High school)
Victoria BY DAISY GOODWIN
This YA-friendly historical fiction biography focuses on Queen Victoria’s first two years as Queen of the British Empire, bringing to life the larger-than-life personalties who defined the early years of her reign, including the very charismatic prime minister Lord Melbourne, Victoria’s cousin (and future husband) Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Victoria herself. (High school)
Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire BY JULIA BAIRD
If you’d like a frothy biography that reads like a well-researched version of “Keeping Up with the Hanovers,” pick this up: Baird writes a little like a romance novelist and holds firm to her theory that Victoria secretly married her servant John Brown, but it’s a fun read. (High school)
We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals BY GILLIAN GILL
Even though Victoria reigned for half her life without Albert, his influence on her was so great that he permanently shaped her ideas (for better and worse) about what a monarch, a parent, and a woman should be. This dual biography illuminates the most important relationship of Victoria’s life and the constant tension between power and family love that it inspired. (High school)
Victoria’s Daughters BY JERROLD M. PACKARD
It was not easy to be the offspring of the ruler of the British Empire and her perfectionist partner, and this group biography explores the lives of the five women who called Queen Victoria mother. It’s a sad and fascinating history of female life on top tier of British society, with a special interest in the life of rebellious Princess Louise. (High school)
Uncrowned King: The Life of Prince Albert BY STANLEY WEINTRAUB
I’m always telling my students that had Albert lived as long as his wife, we would probably be calling the 19th century the Albertine Era. Weintraub does a great job painting a vivid picture of the reform-minded, ethically intense polymath who proved the perfect romantic and political partner for the woman he was steered to marry since childhood. (High school)
The Letters of Queen Victoria BY QUEEN VICTORIA
One of the best ways to get to know someone is through her own words, and Victoria is no exception. The Letters of Queen Victoria put the Queen’s best foot forward, clearly demonstrating how the chief figure of the Victorian era wanted to be seen by the people in her world. (And, of course, it doesn’t hurt that her children re-edited these letters, too.) (High school)
WATCH
Victoria
Jenna Coleman’s Victoria is neither prim nor proper, but she’s certainly interesting in this fairly faithful BBC adaptation created by Daisy Goodwin. OK, it veers a little toward the romantic with heartthrobs cast as middle-aged Melbourne, aristocratic Albert, et al, but who are we to complain about a little eye candy in period costume?
The Young Victoria
Emily Blunt is the lonely little girl crowned Queen of England in this dreamy biopic focused on the years 1836 to1840. Paul Bettany is a particularly disreputable Lord Melbourne, Mark Strong is a particularly vile John Conroy, and Miranda Richardson is a conflicted Duchess of Kent, but Blunt steals the show with her Victoria torn between the desire for freedom and independence and longing for a real family.
Victoria the Great
This 1937 film focuses on the early years of Victoria’s reign. The film, commissioned by Edward VII in honor of his great-grandmother, includes sets and costumes that are accurate reproductions of actual items in the British museum.
Mrs. Brown
Judi Dench is glorious as a middle-aged Victoria who cannot seem to get her Queenly groove back after the death of Prince Albert. Only Albert’s Highland servant, John Brown, cheers her up, but friendship between a Queen and a rowdy Scotsman seems pretty scandalous.
Victoria and Abdul
Judi Dench reprises her role as Victoria in another historical account of the Queen’s fondness for her servants: This time, it’s focused on Victoria’s late-in-life friendship with her Indian servant Abdul Karim.
Ohm Krüger
For a totally different perspective, screen this World War II German propaganda flick about the Boer War, which paints Queen Victoria as a ruthless alcoholic who tricks the Germans into signing an unfair treaty.
PBS Empires: Queen Victoria
This series focuses on the politics and geography of the Victorian empire, which ruled one-fifth of the world’s people during Victoria’s 64 years on the throne.
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