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Adventures in Fantasy
This is for those of you with children who want to create some serious writing in the realm of fantasy. It references several “classic” fantasy works like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Eragon by Christopher Paiolini, and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, among others. I highly recommend perusing the Table of Contents pages on our website to get an idea of this instructional volume’s scope. Whereas author John Gust had to literally fight for time and resort to subversive tactics to use this approach in his classroom (due to all of the mandated, test-driven material he had to cover), you can blissfully submerge yourselves in working through this “epic” material. You can use this approach as a “write of passage” (Mr. Gust’s words), working through the entire project and allowing your student to become really involved in the process, or you can use selected lessons and handouts; kind of a fantasy “light.” You will still be way ahead with this book; I’ve seen little on the market with anywhere near the coverage offered here. Mark would have absolutely loved this book. I remember him doing much the same thing on his own time – even developing a new language for his created world.
Here you will study what constitutes a fantasy, the various types of fantasy, and learn about all of the individual elements that combine to make a fantasy great. There are many details and much imagination required to write a story in an entirely different setting or world than the one we are all familiar with! Details need to be carefully considered and crafted to make the world real for the reader. Many student handouts are included in the volume among with ample teacher instruction and photographs of Mr. Gust’s class happily engaged in their inventions. The author’s enthusiasm for this project is contagious, also, helping you to get caught up in the adventure that awaits. This might be a good project to jump in on and create a fantasy world of your own….who knows – you might be the next Tolkien!
