Read-Aloud Plays: The Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid
Three Classics Adapted Into Engaging Plays
Plus Background and Activities Just for Middle Schoolers
By Gwen Minor
Friendship, suffering, betrayal, adventure, themes that motivate middle schoolers to read, take center stage in three plays that capture the most widely read epics by Homer and Virgil. This resource has everything teachers need to introduce each classic story: a short play written for middle-school readers, background information, vocabulary, activities, and quizzes. Each play contains more than twenty speaking parts, giving all students an opportunity to participate.
Peter with his new book. Click for video.
Jaya’s Golden Necklace
by Peter Linenthal
Little Jaya lives along the Silk Road in the first century CE and uses the powers of Greek, Persian, and Indian gods to gain courage to deliver a statue of the Buddha to the Kushan King Kanishka. Through the beauty of ancient coins, this spirited Gandaran tale highlights the spread of religious and artistic ideas in Central Asia.
I worked on this book with Peter, a long-time friend and children’s book author/illustrator. We’ve worked together over many years, attending conferences and workshops together as this book was developing. Jaya truly is fearless and her interesting historical setting deserves its place beside the other great empires of the ancient world.
