Here's a must-have resource for educators who use J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and/or The Lord of the Rings. Packed with materials for both tales, the packet includes both a reader's guide and an educator's guide, lesson plans, vocabulary...

Kathryn Barker's In the Skin of A Monster explores how a school massacre impacts a community. Unfortunately, the events depicted are all too familiar to many. This teacher's guide for Barker's novel offers activities that enable readers...

Considering using Tolkien's The Hobbit for book circles or whole-class reading? Check out this packet that provides an overview of the novel, some interesting background materials, and links to additional resources.

Real or fantasy? Dogzilla, the Giant of Barletta, the Garden of Abdul Gassazi. To enrich their understanding of incredible stories, teams create a mouse newspaper and report on the invasion of Dogzilla, craft folktales, and draft a story...

Focus on vocabulary, comprehension, and analysis while reading A Weave of Woods, a colorful picture book by Robert D. San Souci. Young learners use worksheets to preview, predict, practice paraphrasing, and make comparisons. The richly...

Moral choices arise when a character is imbued with great talent or super powers. A study of these choices form the basis of a unit focused on character development in the first two novels of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series. The...

Fairy Tales are the focus of this language arts lesson. First, 3rd graders come up with True or False statements regarding familiar Fairy Tales. Then, students are put into groups and go to the computer lab, where they perform research...

Young writers get an opportunity to create their own characters, world, and fantasy as part of a study of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. After reviewing the tropes of the genre, they let their imaginations carry them away to a land of...

Yann Martel's Life of Pi is a complex novel, combining as it does elements of fantasy, philosophical questions, and religious references. Rather than using a whole-class discussion approach, the class is divided into book club circles....

Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2005. A short video provides insight into the many threads that form the tapestry of the prize-winning novel.

C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia is about far more than the adventures of a group of children in an imaginary kingdom. Find out what else it's about in a short Great American Read video.

One Hundred Years of Solitude introduces readers to magic realism. Told in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Nobel Prize-winning novel is a candidate for The Great American Read program and aficionados...

George R.R. Martin, famous in his own right for heroes, villains, dragons, and direwolves, offers his rationale for why viewers should vote for J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings with its elves, wizards, and hobbits as part of the Great...

Sixteen lessons make up a unit all about the book, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. Using plot points and details from the story, scholars examine real versus fantasy, complete character webs, draw settings, compose friendly letters, and...

Enthusiastic readers take part in a book club unit that focuses on genre, particularly historical fiction, fantasy, and adventure. Over the course of 10 days, groups read a variety of stories and choose leveled activities from a learning...

Best known as the author of the  Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien may have used some of his trench warfare experiences to create Middle Earth. While the trilogy is not entirely autobiographical, many scholars agree that...

Compare and contrast popular works of fantasy literature with an in-depth reading comprehension unit. Language arts learners study the theme of good versus evil, fantastical characters and symbols, and the value of a visual...

Nothing beats a good cliffhanger. Using a study guide for the novel The Girl Who Drank the Moon, readers look closely at the role cliffhangers play in the story. Additionally, they answer reading comprehension questions, define key...

Sarah-Kate has a charming elf village with tiny stick houses hiding in her backyard, and it's just waiting to be explored! With the Afternoon of the Elves novel study, scholars answer questions and acquire new vocabulary. They also...

The second instructional activity in a five-instructional activity theatre arts unit focuses on developing a grade level appropriate understanding of dramatic text elements, of theater history, and of the purposes of theater performance.

The Borrowers is a story about a family of tiny people who live beneath the floorboards of a house and borrow from human beans for survival. With the literature study, scholars answer questions about the fantasy novel and create an...

Imagine a place where airships are the primary mode of transportation and where some flying creatures spend their entire lives in the air. Scholars become immersed in a fantasy world with the Airborn novel study as they answer questions...

History inspires fantasy. That idea forms the basis of an informational video about the genre. Through the video, viewers learn about different subgenres of fantasy and discover its key characteristics. The video discusses many popular...

Caspian uncovers secrets about the real Narnia in Prince Caspian, part of the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. An interactive puzzle game helps readers uncover a secret of their own: a picture related to the book. Can they...