Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Beowulf and Scott Foresman's Handbook for Writers

T-minus twenty-four days till school starts and I'm still working on my first unit of study -- Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf. Frankly, I'd never much cared for Beowulf till I read Heaney's translation. The poem reads as a poem, not a stilted translation. If you're in the mood to read some early English epic poetry, pick it up sometime.

This year, we've added a grammar/writing handbook to the curriculum. My vote was for two books -- the Warriner's handbook for grammar and the MLA Handbook for writing. I was also interested in adding Strunk and White's Elements of Style. All three are classic texts for writers/students/teachers.

Warriner's is out-of-print. (Shocking...or not, when one considers the current state of grammar instruction!) Nobody else agreed with me on the MLA. (Philistines.) And Strunk and White was dismissed as too advanced for the ninth and tenth grades. (I'll concede that point.)

The compromise position is the Scott Foresman Handbook for Writers. I was instantly turned off when I saw it -- the cover features a cutesy graphic of an apple sculpture being constructed. However, the adage that one cannot tell a book by its cover has held true, and thus far I'm satisfied with the content. I still think that my eleventh grade students will need the MLA when they write their research papers in the spring, but for now this book will serve them well.

Back to marking key passages in Beowulf...