My girls and I love to read and with two of them being only a year apart we enjoy reading and discussing the same books. This year we have been studying high school level American History and wanted to study American writers at the same time using American Literature: A Study of American Writers from Train Up a Child Publishing, LLC.

American Literature: A Study of American Writers is a 78-page spiral bound high school course that covers seven reading selections plus additional honors reading materials. There are Teacher's Notes that discuss the assignments, group activities, honors credit, writing assignments, and presentations, as well as how to evaluate the assignments. For each book, there is a list of objectives, a literature summary, preparatory reading assignments, literature assignments to be completed prior to reading, as you read, and following reading, along with additional honors assignments. The extensive appendix contains an editing checklist, plot map, graphic organizers, resources, grading rubrics, vocabulary lists for each book, evaluating tips for the teacher, and instructions on how to use Microsoft Word's editing tools to correct and grade the student's writings.

It is recommended that the student has already completed Train up a Child Publishing Essays Styles for High School either before completing American Literature or complete the two together. You will also need to obtain the reading selections for the course. The exact editions are available from Train Up a Child Publishing and there are links in the appendix where you can find the short stories free online. The student will also need to read selected chapters from the How to Read a Book prior to reading the literature selection. The assignments also include more research on the authors, time periods, or certain events that can easily be found online or in an encyclopedia.

I have two high school students this year which makes studying literature more interesting. We all like how this book is set up and how easy it is to use. All the notes about grading, and selecting assignments are in the front, next is the specific pages for each book, with the checklists, plot map organizers, and grading rubrics in the back. It would have been nice if the suggested vocabulary lists were included with the assignments for each literature selection. The assignments don't contain a list of questions to answer instead the way it is set up it will actually help the student learn how to study any literature selection. For example, your assignments include further research of the author, the genre, the time period, writing essays, and creating timelines.

This American Literature course demonstrates American character and some history through further research even though it mainly covers literature and writing. Each author has been chosen to reveal the qualities of American authors and poets.

-Product review by Lisa McClanahan, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, May, 2017