Junior+Great+Books

Junior Great Books is an inquiry-based program that gives students many opportunities to interact with thought-provoking stories as they develop their reading, writing, oral communication, and critical-thinking skills. Because of the Curriculum's emphasis on discussion and its focus on interpretation, all students-whether or not they are reading at grade level-will be able to contribute, and will grow in their ability to read and enjoy challenging literature.

The Junior Great Books Curriculum develops students' reading comprehension in the context of thinking about genuine problems of meaning. Its interpretive activities enable students to become more aware of their reactions as they read, develop a sensitivity to language, value their own curiosity about a text, and explore new ideas through writing. Through Junior Great Books, students practice many reading and thinking skills:recalling and organizing details from the story; drawing inferences; analyzing characters' motives; and finding the main idea of a passage or the text as a whole.