If you are like me, you are recovering from an anemic school experience that failed to offer you the best education. Sure, you might have learned from a few good teachers, and perhaps even read some classic works, but likely you were not challenged to grow intellectually, morally, and spiritually in your reading choices. Good news: you can start now! Working your way through books in the Providence curriculum offers numerous benefits: thinking the thoughts of great authors; working the brain’s muscle in productive ways absent of a screen; conversing with your son or daughter about the big ideas from ancient or modern classics that offer rich and abundant fodder for our own academic growth and spiritual sanctification.
Below are seven books in the Providence curriculum that parents too are encouraged to pursue. As an extra bonus, parents may count their reading time in any of the books below toward their 24-25 Parent Partnership Hours! NOTE: Part II will contain seven recommended non-fiction books in the Providence curriculum.
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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor – Ranked the best Newbery book ever written by one amateur scribe (Top 100 Newbery Rankings), Taylor weaves the saga of the Logan family in the time of the Depression as they struggle against Mississippi racism, attempting to keep their family land against those who desire to steal it by any means necessary. Taylor’s use of symbolic language, description, and character development are all top rate.
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The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien – I’m guessing most of us have seen the movies, but how many of us have read the books? Reading Tolkien is a sheer delight, an escape where the good guys are great, and the bad guys truly evil. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are books that get better with each reading.
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To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee – Classic story with a protagonist, Atticus Finch, who embodies courage and integrity in the face of trial and wisdom modeled for his family during circumstances that would push us all to our limits. Some tough lessons, though with a redemptive conclusion.
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The Odyssey, Homer – C.S. Lewis wrote that often reading from a primary source is more accessible than reading commentaries. “The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism. It has always therefore been one of my main endeavors as a teacher to persuade the young that first-hand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than second-hand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.”
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Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky – A gripping psychological book where the reader is absorbed into the psyche of the power of sin and conscience. Dostoyevsky possesses the rare ability to describe sin in all its awfulness without straying into gratuitousness – a trait from which many modern authors can learn.
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Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury – One of the kings of the science fiction genre, this is one of Bradbury’s best. While some view the book’s theme as one of anti-censorship, the real focus is on what happens to a culture absent of imagination, ideas, poetry, and books.
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A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories, Flannery O’Connor – We only have time to read the title story in our curriculum, but O’Connor blends humor, deeply flawed and often grotesque characters, and spiritual themes that always end in the grace that often wounds before it heals. O’Connor’s writing is jarring but redemptive, and perhaps she said it best: “All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless and brutal.” Read O’Connor and judge for yourself.
