• Complete, ready to use!
• Book included inside the course!
• Makes reading fun!
• Develops literacy, vocabulary!
• Introduces some history, geography!
• Develops critical thinking!

The Little Mermaid. The Snow Queen (think “Frozen”) The Emperor's New Clothes (think “The Emperor's New Groove”) The Red Shoes. The Princess & The Pea...

Few if any writers for children have had their stories more sung, more filmed, more read and more loves than Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Here are over 20 of his most famous and beloved tales.

Here's a truly complete guide that will help your Step 2-3-4 student, ages 7-adult, understand these tales as few readers ever do. (Some younger children can be walked through the story with some help, though younger than 7 should probably skip most of the exercises and materials outside of the book itself, and just focus on reading skills.)

The history of the period of time is explained, so that the student understands why Andersen wrote each tale, and what he was trying to say to his readers about their time (and ours). Andersen's personal history is also explored, and the student relates what he's learned about Andersen's' life to the story, and how Andersen's' own experience helped to create this masterpiece. The history of the book itself, its publishing successes is considered.

Important devices in writing are explored and explained, such as the message of a piece (the idea the author wishes to communicate and earn agreement for), plotting, characterization, conflict, language, irony, the use of surrogates (characters representing the author and his/her point of view within the story), and other tools. New understandings of the tools of good story-telling are then used by the student to analyze and understand the story.

No additional materials are needed. The entire book is contained in the course, broken into chapters.

Before reading each chapter, the student looks though the simple, single definition that applies, for every key or difficult word used in that chapter. This will allow the student to understand what he reads the first time he reads it. Locations mentioned in each chapter are also listed before the reading starts, and they are located by the student on maps or globes. In this way, the student will know where those places are in the world when encountering them in the story.

After each reading section, the student is provided numerous exercises which demand cognitive and critical thinking on the student's part. The exercises help make the story more relevant to the student, and increase his understanding of the story and its unique values.

We even provide some links to film and/or other presentations of the piece being studied!

This is a complete study guide, one that will bring these great tales to life, and which should help interest the student in literature. (By the way, older students are likely to enjoy the book, as well! Few writers have written with a clear moral sense, or with so much passion.)