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

I taught a literature class in my homeschool co-op using two Steps Literature Guides, Sherlock Holmes stories and The Time Machine. The Literature Guides are very easy to use. The lesson structure made scheduling and assigning homework very simple. We used the lesson questions to stimulate class discussion and I was impressed with the contributions that the students made during class. I look forward to continuing to use Steps products!  L.F., Homeschool Teacher
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Quoth the Raven... Nevermore."

The works of Edgar Allan Poe, written over 150 years ago, continue to amaze, thrill, and haunt readers the world over. Few writers have ever written with more skill or passion. Few have been able to create a mood as Poe did. Few used words with more power and creativity. And few writers had the impact on literature that Poe did. The father of the horror story, the inventor of the detective story, and one of the first ever to write stories that could be considered science fiction, Edgar Allan Poe may be the most influential writer in the history of American literature!

Here's a complete guide that will help your student, ages 9-adult, understand five of Poe's works, as few readers ever do. Included are:

• The Tell-Tale Heart
• The Cask of Amontillado
• The Masque of the Red Death
• The Fall of the House of Usher
• The Raven

The history of the period of time is explained, so that the student understands why Poe wrote as he did, and what he was trying to say to his readers about their time (and ours). Poe's history is also explored, and the student relates what he's learned about Poe's life to the story, and how Poe's own experience helped to create his great works. The history of his books, their publishing success or failure, is considered.

Important tools of writing are explored and explained, such as the message of a piece (the idea the author wishes to communicate), plotting, characterization, conflict, language, irony, and the use of surrogate characters in the stories that represent the author and his views. The student then uses his knowledge of the tools of good story-telling to analyze and understand the story.

No additional materials are needed. The entire text for every story is contained in the course. Before reading each tale, 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. ( WARNING – This course does require some serious literacy. The student's vocabulary is bound to grow, given the number of terms defined. The Poe course is particularly difficult in terms of vocabulary, and hundreds of words are defined. ) 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 story or chapter, 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 pieces being studied!

This is a complete study guide, one that will bring these works to life, and which should help interest the student in literature, and in the great works of Edgar Allan Poe.