Dante's Divine Comedy as told for young people

I finished Dante's Divine Comedy as told for young people yesterday. What a ride! If you have never read Dante and are somewhat intimidated by a traditional version this is the one for you. The "as told for young people" part of the title is subjective, I think. This is probably not a book you want to read to really young children.

Between being sick (see side bar) and reading this while also reading the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series it has made for some interesting dreams. I have a very vivid imagination that likes to run wild at night.

That being said, I truly enjoyed this book. It is very readable. The Inferno portion is graphic and might be disturbing for sensitive readers. But I wouldn't stop there, the Purgatory and Paradise versions balance out the images from the Inferno.

Z will be twelve when we do this as a read aloud next fall. I made many notes throughout the book and look forward to having some amazing discussions with him. This is not a book I would simply hand to a student and have them read without parental interaction. I would also pre-read at least the Inferno part if there is any question about whether this content is appropriate for your family.

I also think this book would make a nice balance if you are having your student read the "adult" version of Dante's Inferno. It gives a nice, quick summary even if you don't plan on reading the remaining traditional sections.

This book has earned a spot beside our other versions of the classics done for children including
Black Ships before Troy, The Wanderings of Odysseus, and In Search of a Homeland.

Science Matters, 2nd Edition

Science Matters is the book we are using as our spine for science for next fall. It is part of the LCC recommendations for 8th grade. Now Z isn't going into 8th grade but he has a wonderful comprehension of all things science. I have the first edition of this book and we read a couple of chapters this spring as a trial run, it was a major hit. A 2nd edition was just released and was laid in my hot little hands (hot from being on the UPS truck) about five minutes ago.

Here are the author notes on the update to 2nd edition. He mentions a few of the updates that have taken place since the first edition was released and then states... "Accordingly, every chapter has been significantly updated, we have added only a single new chapter on the explosion of advances in biotechnology. We conclude that the experience of the past two decades underscores the value of the great ideas approach to achieving scientific literacy."

The ISBN on the new edition is 9780307454584.

Even if you are not using an LCC approach to science I believe this book is a must read for students and parents alike. It felt invigorating to read about quantum mechanics and actually understand it, and that was in the old edition. I can't wait to dig into the new one this summer for me, this fall together.