02 January 2016

Modern Times ~ Idea Collecting Post

Updated Sept 2016:  I originally reposted this archived list here for myself; to refer to as I pulled together the reading schedule for our highschool options with a Modern Times History & Lit study in 2016.   
We've sifted and selected, and the list is now sorted enough for us to get into reading and learning.  (I'll make adjustments as we go along) .
The list from the portion 'items selected' is pretty much what we've decided to use - for anyone interested in the items we discarded from the original selection list, we've placed them at the very end of this post.
I've closed the comments off on this post.
Modern Times History & Literature (Highschool) lists:
Nortontimeline (great for slotting books into)
Ambleside on Line  (yrs 10 and 11)
Veritas Press, and, Sonlight's Booklists Cores 100-630  (view Discontinued Sonlight Titles)
Christine Miller’s All Through the Ages (book)
Milestones Academy  
World Wars:    Suggestions from TWTM   
Greenleaf 20th Century Literature
_____________________________________________
Items Selected: (subject to change)
Modern Times History Spines  
Biblioplan Companion Text (& Advance Maps)
The Story of New Zealand ~ Bassett
Kingfisher Encyclopedia
DK Visual History Encyclopedia

Picture Books & Illustrators -  Art Study with Daisy  
The Red Poppy ~ David Hill; illust by Fifi Colston
The Butterfly ~ Patricia Polacco (purchase)
Little One Step ~ Simon James (already own)
Drawn from New England: Tasha Tudor ~ Bethany Tudor  1915-2008
The Life & Art of Lynley Dodd ~ Finlay Macdonald  NZ  (Content issues. Needs editing)
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers ~  Gerstein


Poetry  (&  Short Stories)
War & Peace: A Collection of Classic Poetry & Prose ~ (Morpurgo & Agnew)
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats ~ T.S. Eliot
The Golden Treasury ~ Palgrave (Oxford)    (Jay)
The New Oxford Book of Children's Verse ~ Edited by Neil Philip    (Daisy)
Short Story Selections are listed amongst the post beneath.

Literary Lectures  
TGC: Life & Writing of C.S Lewis ~ Prof. Markos  (audible download) (book list here)
(Book Study:  Mere Christianity         1942-44    Jay)
(Book Study:  The Screwtape Letters      1942    Daisy)
(select lectures)
L3.  Ethics and the Tao—Mere Christianity and The Abolition of Man
L5.  Heaven and Hell—The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce

The Great Courses: Classics of  British Literature  ~  Prof. Sutherland    
(select lectures)
L44.  Great War, Great Poetry

Lectures/Documentaries/Movies  
    Brit Lit . Films
Sense & Sensibility  (English.  Film Study with Daisy)
Persuasion  (English.  Film Study with Daisy)
Northanger Abbey  (English.  Film Study with Daisy)
The Importance of Being Ernest ~ Oscar Wilde  (Dvd)
    WWI
World War 1 ~ Narrated by Kenneth Branagh (Dvd)
Our Heritage, Our Story, Our Legend: ANZACS (Dvd)
    WWII
The Gathering Storm (Churchill.  DVD)  UK   Jay and Dn watched this during summer 2016
The Hiding Place (Dvd)
Operation Mincemeat  Dramatised Documenatry
Saints and Soldiers   (faith themed, LDS? drama) 
The Rise and Fall of Adolph Hitler (youtube)
Good Morning Mr Hitler (archive for Dn, he wants to view this)
Nuremberg Trials (youtube)
Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes (Dvd)  preview first
    Other
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ~ Betty Smith   (youtube 1945 film)
    Biographical
Gandhi (Dvd)
Sir Edmund Hillary (bio) Dvd  NZ

Biographies/Christian Church (Family Book Basket)
The Hills: Pioneers in Australia from 1841 ~ compiled by Ronald Hill  (selections)
Lincoln: A Photobiography ~ Freedman (America  1860’s)  (Daisy)
Runaway Soldier: The Kimble Bent Story ~ Nigel Ogle (1837-1916)  NZ (Jay and Daisy)
Winston Churchill ~ Severance    (WWI & WWII/ Biography)  (1847-1965) UK
Queen Elizabeth II  (find a documentary)   (1926- ) UK
BBC - World Wars    The World Wars   (Churchill Speeches UK
Joseph Stalin : Dictator of the Soviet Union ~ Brenda Haugen (Daisy) Russia
Adolph Hitler: dictator of Nazi Germany ~ Brenda Haugen (Daisy)  (pub lib)
The Hiding Place ~ Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) (Daisy)
A Tramp for the Lord ~ Corrie ten Boom  (optional)
Mark of the Lion: The Story of Charles Upham ~ Kenneth Sandford (Jay)  NZ (1908-1994)  (content issues.  language)  WWII
Smith Wigglesworth ~ Stormont (1922)  UK
Post WWII Evangelical Movement   Healing Revival in America  1947-1958
A Man Sent from God ~ Lindsey   1940
Mandela's Way: Lessons on Life ~ Richard Stengel (Africa) already own this

English Literature Course or Guides  
Jay:
1:   NZ English Highschool Course - outsourced.  covers short stories, n/f texts, film, novel, biography, play, poetry, lyrics etc))
2: Shakespeare (Sonlight Lit 330: The Tempest) 
3: TGC: C.S. Lewis  (Mere Christianity)
4:  Essentials in Writing (selections)
5:  Invitation to the Classics ~ Cowan   (both)
(week scheduled and contents)
    3:  Eliot ~ Middlemarch      (1871-72) p.271
    4:  Gerard Manley Hopkins (Poems) 1874-89.  (God’s Grandeur) p. 275
    9:  Leo Tolstoy p. 279-280a 
    12: Dostoyevsky ~ The Brothers Karamazov   (1880) p.283 
    14: Henry James (1881) p.287 
    15: The Makers of The Modern World ~ p.295 – 298
    16: Friedrich Nietzscher ~ (1888) p.299 
    17: Joseph Conrad ~ Heart of Darkness   (1899) p.303 
    18: James Joyce ~ Dubliners   (1914) p.307
    25: C.S. Lewis ~ The Screwtape Letters   (1941) p.335    
    26: William Faulkner  ~ Go Down, Moses   (1942) p.339 
    27: Simone Weil ~ Waiting for God  (1950) p.345
    28: Bonhoeffer ~ Letters and Papers from Prison   (1951) p.349 
    30: Flannery O’Connor ~   1953, 1956, 1964     p.353
    32: Solzhenitsyn ~ One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich   (1962) p.357
    33: Contemporary Writers   p.361 

Daisy:
1:  TGC: C.S. Lewis (Screwtape Letters)
2: Shakespeare
(Two plays, audio production and scripts.  The Merchant of Venice, and, The Tempest)
3:  Essentials in Literature Level 8   (ties in perfectly with modern times, we've skipped portions to make it more complimentary to what we are wanting Daisy to achieve/read this year)
Fiction Unit
Stop the Sun – Gary Paulson
A Mother in Mannville – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The Ransom of Red Chief – O. Henry
Checkouts – Cynthia Ryland
Raymond’s Run – Toni Cade Bambara
The Treasure of Lemon Brown – Walter Dean Myers
The Dinner Party – Mona Gardner
Nonfiction Unit
Louisa’s Civil War – Harriet Reisen
Roughing It – Mark Twain
Ten Top Touring Areas – Edited by Aaron Teasdale (switch to NZ topic)
Virginia Hamilton – (Scholastic Interview Transcript)
The Jews Are to Blame – Joseph Goebbels
The Great Rat Hunt – Lawrence Yep
Novel Unit
Night ~ Wiesel   (semi-autobiographical/ WWII Germany)  (1982)    (guide details portions that may be of concern)
Figurative Language/Poetry Unit
“Mother to Son” – Langston Hughes, “Mother ‘O Mine” – Rudyard Kipling
“I Am in Need of Music” – Elizabeth Bishop, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” –Robert Frost
“Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” – Shel Silverstein
“I’m Nobody Who Are You?” – Emily Dickinson, “Sonnet 18” – Shakespeare
“Lady of Shalott” – Alfred Tennyson
 “Barter” – Sarah Teasdale
_____________________________________________

(Book Baskets) :
Family:  (Daisy & Dn will switch titles around amongst themselves so these first 2 lists will change)
+Biographies (select from list above)
The Nickel-Plated Beauty Patricia Beatty (USA) 1886    (hist fict)
Stories by O’Henry ( U.S.A) early 1900’s      (short stories)
The Road from Home ~ Kherdian ( Turkey.  Armenian) 1915  (SL300)
(Kiwis At War) 1915: Wounds of War ~ Diana Menefy (NZ WW I.  easier chapter book)
Parallel Journeys ~ Ayer  (WWII Germany)     (Biographical)
After the War ~ Matas  (post WWII/Palestine)  Emotive story.  Switching to a family read aloud, Dn will enjoy it :).  Some editing out needed for Daisy.  For others that appreciate knowing content like this ahead of time; the later 1/2 of the book details two teens kissing passionately.  
Night ~ Wiesel   (semi-autobiographical/ WWII Germany)   pub 1982 (class study)Gritty, emotive, sobering.
Modern Church history selections
A Collection of Short Stories (list collected)
Evidence Not Scene ~ Darlene Rose (only reading to Daisy, Jay will be in exam mode)


Free, unscheduled, Family Read alouds:
The Giver ~ Lowry   1993     (Dystopian)  (Also read the sequels. needed discussion for our family!)
How to Read Slowly ~ Sire  (N/F)
Do Hard Things ~ Harris & Harris 
Mama's Bank Account ~ Forbes
A title about Jeeves (1919-74)  written by P.G. Wodehouse   (humour)
The Book of the Dun Coloured Cow ~ Wangerin. jnr   1978    (fantasy)  too hard to source in NZ
Essential New Zealand Short Stories ~ Marshall (Library)  NZ

Daisy   (order scheduled)
Invitation to the Classics ~ Cowan & Guinness
Huckleberry Finn ~ Twain (summer time read )  1884
A Great Expectations ~ Dickens (Brit Lit)
Runaway Settlers ~ Elsie Locke    1859  (younger,  but still a good read for Daisy)  (NZ Hist)
The Land ~ Taylor   U.S.A    1880's  (U.S.A)
The Red Badge of Courage (Graphic Novel) ~ Crane (U.S.Civil War) (SL100)
Turn Homeward, Hannalee ~ Patricia Beatty (U.S.A Civil War, end  1865) (SLRA4)
Boys Without Names ~ Sheth (India) 2000+
Follow the Rabbit-proof Fence ~ Pilkington  1931+ (Australia) (a few content issues)
The Endless Steppe ~ Hautzig  (Poland/Siberia) 1941  (SL)
The Screwtape Letters      1942 (Brit Lit)  
Animal Farm ~ Orwell   1945   (Brit Lit)
Sadako & The Thousand Paper Cranes ~ Coerr (1955)  written 1977
Nothing Else Matters ~ St. John (Middle East) 1976+ 
Night ~ Wiesel   (semi-autobiographical/ WWII Germany)   pub 1982 (class study) Gritty, emotive, sobering.
The Green Book ~ Walsh (Sci-fi) 

Free, unscheduled,  Reading for Daisy:
(Also adding in extra titles we pulled in to keep her book basket topped up.  She is a voracious reader.)
Stepping Heavenward ~ Prentiss
Persuasion ~ Austen (audio)   1818  (Brit Lit)
Northanger Abbey ~ Austen
Mansfield Park ~ Austen
Hope Glynne’s Awakening ~ Goldsmith Cooper (Vintage read, borrowed from a friend)
Around the World in Eighty Days ~ Verne   1873  (summer time)
Mildred Keith ~ Finley
The Red Badge of Courage ~ Stephen Crane (U.S Hist)
The Black Star of Kingston ~ S.D. Smith (audio book) younger listen.
The Secret School ~ Avi
Curtain: Periot’s Final Case ~ Christie (audio.  needs discussion. Content issues)
One of George MacDonald's titles not already read (perhaps Sir Gibbie bk:1  1879)
1: The Baronet's Song ~ MacDonald (edited by Michael Phillips)
2: The Shepherd's Castle ~ MacDonald (edited by Michael Phillips)
The Young Carthaginian   ~  Henty   audio. read by Jim Weiss
Michael O'Halloran ~  Stratton- Porter (pub 1915)
The Prisoner of Zenda ~ Anthony Hope   1894
Christy ~ Catherine Marshall (1912)   pub 1967 
Trumpeter of Krakow ~ Kelly   ex.SL
Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Dead ~ Stoppard  (some content issues)
The Keeper of the Bees ~ Stratton-Porter  (post WWI) 
The Harvester ~ Stratton-Porter
I am David ~ Holm
Mary Emma & Company ~ Moody
Duplicate Death:  Inspector Hemingway Series, Book 3 ~ Heyer (some content issues)    
Tales From the Perilous Realm ~ Tolkien
No Promises in the Wind ~ Hunt  (1932 USA/ Depression) audio
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit ~  Judith Kerr   SL 300 
Small Acts of Amazing Courage ~ Whelan
All My Noble Dreams and Then What Happens ~ Whelan
Mother ~ Norris
Code Talker ~ Bruchac
A Season of Gifts ~ Peck
Year of Impossible Goodbyes ~ Choi (SLH)   1945  Korea
The Chestry Oak ~ Seredy (Hungary) 1943
Betty Green ~ Benge (WWII)   1920-77
Other Benge titles not already read
A Little Bush Maid ~ Mary Grant Bruce (1910)
Mates At Billabong ~ Mary Grant Bruce (1912)
Norah of Billabong ~ Mary Grant Bruce  (1913)
From Billabong to London ~  Mary Grant Bruce (1914)
Betsy-Tacy ~ Lovelace ( some in the series.  easier reading. We found that some of the content in the later books is very boyfriend/girlfriend focused, casual dating etc...  :-/ )
The Dragonfly Pool ~ Ibbotson
The Star of Kazan ~ Ibbotson
Ember Falls ~ S.D. Smith  (enjoyed!! and looking forward to the next book)
Agatha Christie (select titles.  audios)
Mrs. Pollifax  (series)~ Dorothy Gilman  various titles  
The Gammage Cup ~ Kendall (fantasy)  SL200
The Boy in Striped Pajamas ~ Boyne
Alas, Babylon ~ Frank (sensuality edited out)
Mama's Bank Account  ~ Forbes
The Cottage Tales (audio series, beneath, about Beatrix Potter) ~ S.A Wittig
1.Tale of Hill Top Farm ~ Wittig Albert
2.Tale of Holly How ~ Albert
3.Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood ~ Albert  bks 2 & 3 focus on Potter, purportedly, believing in fairies - the Holly How book is over focused on that theme - and neither Daisy or myself enjoyed those titles as much as the others
4.Tale of Hawthorn House ~ Albert
5.Tale of Briar Bank ~ Albert
6.Tale of Applebeck Orchard ~ Albert
7.Tale of Oat Cake Crag ~ Albert
8.Tale of Castle Cottage ~ Albert
Dick Barton and the Firefly Adventure ~ Edward J. Mason , Morris West (audio :D )

Jay  (order scheduled)
Invitation to the Classics ~ Cowan & Guinness
Hard Times ~ Dickens   summer time  1854
The Land ~ Taylor   U.S.A  (set in 1880's)
Evil Master ~ Scandiffio (selections)
Outliers: The Story of Success ~ Malcolm Gladwell    SL400
Follow the Rabbit-proof Fence ~ Pilkington  set in 1931+ (Australia) a few content issues
Anthem ~ Ayn Rand (Dystopian) (1937)     (mature themes)
Churchill's History of the Second World War   (audio option available)
  The Second World War: Bk 1:  Milestones to Disaster
  The Second World War: Bk 2:  Alone
  The Second World War: Bk 3:  The Grand Alliance
  The Second World War: Bk4: Triumph and Tragedy
A:  Mark of the Lion: The Story of Charles Upham ~ Kenneth Sandford (Jay)  NZ (1908-1994)  (content issues,  profanity.  needs editing for our family)  WWII
or
B:  Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader ~ Paul Brickhill WWII (content issues
Mere Christianity ~ Lewis  1942-44
Animal Farm ~ Orwell   1945  
Fahrenheit 451 ~ Bradbury 1953 ( Dystopian, this makes for tame reading after pre-reading 1984, and, Brave new World - still contains content issues - woman tries to commit suicide, dysfunctional marriage, totalitarian state which murders people, protagonist uses a fire torch on his work colleagues - but!  the story ends with hope!) 
Alas, Babylon ~ Frank  1959 (sensual content and some swearing. needs editing for our family)
Night ~ Wiesel   (semi-autobiographical/ WWII Germany)   pub 1982 (class study) Gritty, emotive, sobering.
Babylon's Ark ~ Lawrence Anthony    (Iraq)       (content issues, edit out profanity)   pub 2007

Jay, Short Stories:
The Jumping Frog ~ Twain  (1865)  American Lit
1 Million Pound Bank Note ~ Twain (1893)  American Lit
The Necklace ~ de Maupassant (1884)  French Lit
How Much Land Does a Man Need ~ Tolstoy  (1886) Russian Lit
Three Questions ~ Tolstoy (1903)   Russian Parable
The Machine Stops ~ E.M. Forster (1909)  Brit Lit
The Open Window  ~ Saki  (1914)
The Interlopers  ~  Saki (pub 1919)
The Garden Party ~ Katherine Mansfield (1921)  NZ/U.K
The Dolls House ~ Katherine Mansfield (1922)  NZ/U.K
Contents of The Dead Man’s Pockets ~ Jack Finney (pub 1955)   American Lit
The Hand That Feeds Me ~ Michael .Z. Lewin  (1998) gritty!

Free, unscheduled, Reading for Jay:  
Three Men in a Boat ~ Jerome  (1889) humour
The Time Machine ~ Wells   audio  (Sci-fi) (1895)
A Surfeit of Lampreys ~ Ngaio Marsh (1941)  NZ author    issue with the way the victim was murdered  (became a summer time 2016/17 read)
The Great Escape ~ Brickhill   (content issues)  
Fallen into the Pit ~ Ellis Peters  mystery (post WWII related titled) 1951 (a few content issues)
To Kill a Mockingbird ~ Lee (1960)
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case ~ Agatha Christie (pub 1975)
The Gammage Cup ~ Kendall (fantasy)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas ~ John Boyne
Along with a hefty pile of books on Economics, and, Business

Anyone:  (optional)
Flesh & Blood So Cheap ~ Albert Marrin  (U.S.A)  1911
The Lost World ~ Doyle (1912)
Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York  1880-1924 ~ Hopkinson 
Years of Dust ~ Marrin  N/F (USA/ Depression) 1930’s
The Chestry Oak ~ Seredy (Hungary) 1943
The Small Woman ~Burgess    1932-48
Raid at Entebbe ~ Ira Peck  1976 (or could switch to the film?)
___________________________________________

Titles considered and discarded:


1:  Modern Times Secondary History Spines  
Australian Pioneers ~ Cassell’s (selections) (Daisy)
Reed Illustrated History of New Zealand ~ Matthew Wright

2:  Nonfiction Options (incs biographies)
  • What Lies Beneath (History/geological)   DvD  NZ 
  • George MacDonald ~ C.S. Lewis  UK  (1842-1905)
  • A Fortunate Life ~ A.B. Facey (Australia)  Library 1894-1982 optional book basket read. good story, though it does amble along at a very gentle pace. 
  • Nancy Wake (youtube documentary)   dropped
  • Kon-Tiki  (documentary)
  • Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Our Times ~ Bradford  audio  (switch to documentary.  Could be a good selection with her 90th birthday happening this year)
  • Black Like Me ~ Griffin  (audio)  1959  Dn listened thru this. content issues.  Needs editing for our family
  • The Cross and the Switchblade ~ Wilkerson   pub 1962
  • Run Baby, Run ~ Cruz 
  • A Severe Mercy ~ Sheldon Vanauken     (C.S. Lewis tie-in title)   read in 2017
  • Just as I Am ~ Billy Graham   1997   (? or other?)   select a documentary (? )
  • Freedom in Exile ~ Dalai Lama    Tibet   China
  • A Long Walk to Freedom ~ Nelson Mandela   Africa
  • The Elephant Whisperer ~ Lawrence Anthony    Africa    2009 (unread. possible profanity content?)
3:  WW's
  • Stalin ~ Albert Marrin  Russia  (1878 – 1953)
  • Hitler ~ Albert Marrin  Germany (1889-1945)    
  • Bomb ~ Steve Sheinkin (library) (1938, pub 2012)    (already read)
  • Operation Mincemeat ~ Macintyre   audio  WWII Britain  (optional)
  • The Tartan Pimpernel ~ Donald Caskie  (French Resistance) already read
  • The Churchill Club ~ Phillip Hoose   (too expensive to purchase in NZ :/  )  Fict
  • The Cay ~ Taylor   WWII  Fict
4:  Other Modern
  • Huckleberry Finn, Twain (1884)    summer time (Jay's already been thru this twice)
  • The Chosen ~ Potok  (modern era, year? ) 
  • The Great Gatsby ~ Fitzgerald                                          For other mums that appreciate book review details like this before your teen starts reading a title: hedonistic, non-religious life style. Adultery, greed, murder.  Jazz era.  Good book for discussion about what success and happiness really is.  We've chosen to edit out the sensual 'romance' portions before handing to our children:   our family, our choice. (delay until 2017)
  • Cry, The Beloved Country ~ Paton (Africa) audio option  SL300 (save for 2017?)
  • Murder on the Orient Express ~ Christie (1934+)  already read
  • Kon-Tiki ~ Heyerdahl SL300  (switched to a documentary instead)
  • Keeping Corner ~ Kashmira Sheth (India) set in 1918?
  • Out of the Dust ~ Hesse ( U.S.A) 1934+  (SL)
  • Murder in the Cathedral ~ T. S. Eliot (1935)   (switched to poetry)
  • Death of a Salesman ~ Arthur Miller (youtube   act 1    act 2)  preview first.
After pre-reading these next 2 titles: they are not what I'm wanting our 16 year old reading:
  • A: Brave New World ~ Huxley  (loaded with s3xual content, including interaction amongst children,  adult groups.  Ends with a mass orgy and a suicide.)
  • B:   1984 ~ Orwell  (too many content issues to be used as a reader for our teen;  some profanity,  and detailing physical relationship problems, and then s3xual encounters Winston embarks on.  Includes sadistical torture and a seriously!! depressing ending. )   
  • A Man for All Seasons ~ Bolt (1962) 
5:  Sci-Fi/Fantasy
  • Enchantress from the Stars ~ Engdahl (SL200. sci-fi)  Not us.
6:  Poetry
  • Poetical Works of Henry Lawson  (Australian) 1867-1922
  • Greenleaf Guide Modern times Literature (Poetry) Guide (free download)
  • The Penguin Book of English Short Stories ~ Edited by Christopher Dooley
  • Essential New Zealand Short Stories ~ Marshall (Library)  NZ
7:  Literature Guides
  • 7 Sisters Literature Guides various options
  • Greenleaf Modern Times Lit Guide (Jay?)  (not available for download)
8:  Possible (other) options:
Titles on our shelves listed beneath...

8a:  New Zealand
Petticoat Pioneers: North Island Woman of the Colonial Era ~ Macgregor
A River Rules My Life ~ Mona Anderson

8b:  Australia
Gold! Gold! Gold! The Life & Times of John Mitchell Barr ~ Lynton G. Barr
We of the Never-Never ~ Aeneas Gunn (1902)    
The Drover's Boy ~ Egan, Ingpen (Australia 1920's)  Picture book. mature content