Journey Into Shadows and Shining Armor is a free curriculum that offers everything you need for a complete year of world-class literature studies, with a primary focus on mystery stories and medieval legends. It is intended for use by advanced 7th graders, but is entirely suitable for 8th or even 9th grade studies.
Help Your Child Journey Into Literature
This beautiful three-volume set is the 7th grade entry in our Journey Into Literature series. Filled with enigmatic mysteries, quests of adventure and intrigue, desperate feats of battlefield valor, selfless acts of loyalty and courtly love, and impossible struggles against mighty dragons, young readers will delight in this rich collection of beloved classics. With extensive annotations, helpful background information, and insights into the narrative tools employed by skilled authors, Journey Into Shadows and Shining Armor will guide your student into a deep understanding of complex literary masterpieces.
Rigorous Education
Our curriculum is intended to be challenging. It’s also meant to be entirely achievable to students who are willing to put in a bit of effort; we go to great lengths to equip them to handle everything within. We’ve added thousands of footnotes to explain unfamiliar words and build vocabulary skills, and have written numerous explanations of key concepts and background information. In the case of the hardest works – the poetry of Edmund Spenser and Lord Alfred Tennyson – we first provide simplified adaptations in prose, and only afterwards introduce students to the original verses. Your child will be a vastly more confident reader upon completing our curriculum, and you’ll have every reason to be a proud parent.
A Quality Reading Experience
Journey Into Shadows and Shining Armor might look a bit different from other curricula you’ve seen. A typical literature textbook takes the form of an intimidating behemoth that makes reading unpleasant through shear unwieldiness. Our books, by contrast, are designed to be read in comfort. Rather than publishing one massive tome, we’ve divided Journey Into Shadows and Shining Armor into three convenient volumes that are filled with hundreds of evocative illustrations. We want your child to view reading as an enticing summit to be climbed, not an onerous chore.
No Busywork
This curriculum respects your time and your child’s time. Unlike traditional textbooks, we don’t add unnecessary discussion questions that break the flow of reading, or assign tedious projects that take excessive amounts of time while offering little academic value. Like any good teacher, we offer as much guidance as necessary, and then move out of the way. The vast majority of your child’s time with this curriculum will be spent reading literature – as it should be.
Available in Several Formats
Journey Into Shadows and Shining Armor is available in three formats: as free PDFs (see below for the download links), as Kindle eBooks, and as printed physical copies.
Contents
The following works are included in this curriculum:
- When Knights Were Bold (historical information about knights)
- The Song of Roland (simplified version)
- Ogier the Dane
- The Tale of the Cid
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
- The Gateway to Spenser
- The Little Hunchback
- The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
- The Art of War
- An Ideal Husband
- Warriors of Old Japan
- The Adventures of Don Quixote (simplified version)
- Arsène Lupin
- Henry IV (simplified version of two Shakespearean plays)
- Henry V (simplified version)
- The Musgrave Ritual
- The Reluctant Dragon
- The Great Mining Swindle
- Sexton Blake’s Xmas Truce
- The Red-Headed League
- The Coin of Dionysius
- The Book of Arthur
- The Hound of the Baskervilles
- The Great Pegram Mystery
- The Hour and the Man
- The Gateway to Tennyson
Full Video Description
If you’d like more information about Journey Into Shadows and Shining Armor, we suggest you take a look at the video below, in which we describe every component of the curriculum in detail.
Terms of Use
The downloadable files on this page include materials that are in the public domain within the United States. They may not be in the public domain in other countries. If you are located outside the United States, please consult any relevant copyright laws before downloading, and compare against the works listed in the acknowledgements below. Of special note, two books included in Volume 1 are known not to be in the public domain in some countries: The Murder of Roger Akroyd by Agatha Christie, and Lionel Giles’ translation of The Art of War. We have included an “International” version of Volume 1 that does not include these works; this version is believed to include only works that are in the public domain in a majority of countries. Compare the contents of each volume against your local laws, and only download if the included works are in the public domain in your territory.
These files are made available for personal use only, and may not be distributed elsewhere.
Download Links
Full downloads of all three volumes are available below. For easy access in the future, we suggest you save the PDFs to your computer (this can be done in most browsers by right-clicking the download button and then clicking “Save link as…”).
Purchase Links
Our entire Journey Into Literature curriculum is available for sale from numerous online bookstores. You can purchase Kindle versions from Amazon. Hardback copies are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and other online retailers. These versions are currently only available in America.
Acknowledgements
Volume 1
- Illustrations and text for When Knights Were Bold are from: When Knights were Bold. Eva March Tappan; Houghton Mifflin Co. (Pub.). 1911.
- Illustrations for The Song of Roland are from: The Book of Romance. Leonora Blanche Alleyne; H. S. C. Everard; H. J. Ford (Ill.); Andrew Lang (Ed.); Houghton Mifflin Co. (Pub.). 1902.
- Text for The Song of Roland is from: The Story of Roland & the Peers of Charlemagne. James Baldwin; The Ballantyne Press (Ill.); George G. Harrap & Co. (Pub.). 1910.
- Text for Ogier the Dane is from: The Gateway to Romance. Emily Underdown; William George Simmonds (Ill.); Henry Charles Innes Fripp (Ill.); Thomas Nelson and Sons (Pub.). 1909.
- Illustrations and text for The Tale of the Cid are from: The Red Romance Book. Leonora Blanche Alleyne; H. J. Ford (Ill.); Andrew Lang (Ed.); Longmans, Green and Co. (Pub.). 1921.
- Illustrations and text for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd are from: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Agatha Christie; Grosset & Dunlap (Pub.). 1926.
- Text and some of the illustrations for The Gateway to Spenser are from: The Gateway to Spenser. Emily Underdown; F. C. Papé (Ill.); Thomas Nelson and Sons (Pub.). 1913.
- Some of the illustrations for The Gateway to Spenser are from: Stories from the Faerie Queene. Mary MacLeod; A. G. Walker (Ill.); Gardner, Darton & Co. (Pub.). 1900.
- Text for The Little Hunchback is from: The Arabian Nights Entertainments. Andrew Lang; H. J. Ford (Ill.); Longmans, Green & Co. (Pub.). 1918.
- Illustrations for The Little Hunchback are from: Dalziels’ Illustrated Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. Henry William Dulcken; Edward Dalziel (Ill.); Thomas Dalziel (Ill.); Arthur Boyd Houghton (Ill.); Sir John Everett Millais (Ill.); George John Pinwell (Ill.); Sir John Tenniel (Ill.); John Dawson Watson (Ill.); Ward, Lock, and Co. (Pub.). 1865.
- Text for The Adventure of the Copper Beeches is from: Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle; Sidney Edward Paget (Ill.); Harper & Brothers (Pub.). 1892.
- Illustrations for The Adventure of the Copper Beeches are from: The Adventure of the Copper Beeches [The Strand Magazine, vol. 3, no. 18]. Arthur Conan Doyle; Sidney Edward Paget (Ill.). 1892.
- Text for The Art of War is from: The Art of War. Sun Tzŭ; Lionel Giles (Trans.); Luzac & Co. (Pub.). 1910.
Volume 1, International Version
- The cover image is from: Spenser for Children. M. H. Towry; Walter J. Morgan (Ill.); Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly (Pub.). 1885.
- Illustrations and text for When Knights Were Bold are from: When Knights were Bold. Eva March Tappan; Houghton Mifflin Co. (Pub.). 1911.
- Illustrations for The Song of Roland are from: The Book of Romance. Leonora Blanche Alleyne; H. S. C. Everard; H. J. Ford (Ill.); Andrew Lang (Ed.); Houghton Mifflin Co. (Pub.). 1902.
- Text for The Song of Roland is from: The Story of Roland & the Peers of Charlemagne. James Baldwin; The Ballantyne Press (Ill.); George G. Harrap & Co. (Pub.). 1910.
- Text for Ogier the Dane is from: The Gateway to Romance. Emily Underdown; William George Simmonds (Ill.); Henry Charles Innes Fripp (Ill.); Thomas Nelson and Sons (Pub.). 1909.
- Illustrations and text for The Tale of the Cid are from: The Red Romance Book. Leonora Blanche Alleyne; H. J. Ford (Ill.); Andrew Lang (Ed.); Longmans, Green and Co. (Pub.). 1921.
- Text for The Gateway to Spenser is from: The Gateway to Spenser. Emily Underdown; Thomas Nelson and Sons (Pub.). 1913.
- Illustrations for The Gateway to Spenser are from: Stories from the Faerie Queene. Mary MacLeod; A. G. Walker (Ill.); Gardner, Darton & Co. (Pub.). 1900.
- Text for The Little Hunchback is from: The Arabian Nights Entertainments. Andrew Lang; H. J. Ford (Ill.); Longmans, Green & Co. (Pub.). 1918.
- Illustrations for The Little Hunchback are from: Dalziels’ Illustrated Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. Henry William Dulcken; Edward Dalziel (Ill.); Thomas Dalziel (Ill.); Arthur Boyd Houghton (Ill.); Sir John Everett Millais (Ill.); George John Pinwell (Ill.); Sir John Tenniel (Ill.); John Dawson Watson (Ill.); Ward, Lock, and Co. (Pub.). 1865.
- Text for The Adventure of the Copper Beeches is from: Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle; Sidney Edward Paget (Ill.); Harper & Brothers (Pub.). 1892.
- Illustrations for The Adventure of the Copper Beeches are from: The Adventure of the Copper Beeches [The Strand Magazine, vol. 3, no. 18]. Arthur Conan Doyle; Sidney Edward Paget (Ill.). 1892.
Volume 2
- The cover image is modified from a work by Utagawa Yoshitora.
- Text for An Ideal Husband is from: An Ideal Husband. Oscar Wilde; Methuen & Co. Ltd. (Pub.). 1912.
- Text for Warriors of Old Japan is from: Warriors of Old Japan. Yei Theodora Ozaki; Shusui Okakura (Ill.); Houghton Mifflin Co. (Pub.). 1909.
- Text for The Adventures of Don Quixote is from: The Adventures of Don Quixote. W. M. Thackeray; Thomas Nelson and Sons (Pub.). 1912.
- Images for The Adventures of Don Quixote are from: The History of Don Quixote. Miguel de Cervantes; J. W. Clark (Ed.); Gustave Dore (Ill.); Cassell and Company (Pub.). 1892.
- Some text for Arsène Lupin is from: The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-burglar. Maurice Leblanc; George Morehead (Trans.). 1907.
- Some text for Arsène Lupin is from: Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes. Maurice Leblanc; George Morehead (Trans.). 1910.
- Illustrations and text for Henry IV and Henry V are from: Stories from Shakespeare. M. Surtees Townesend; M. Surtees Townesend (Ill.); Frederick Warne & Co. (Pub.). 1899.
- Text for The Musgrave Ritual is from: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle; Sidney Edward Paget (Ill.); Harper & Brothers (Pub.). 1894.
- Illustrations for The Musgrave Ritual are from: The Musgrave Ritual [The Strand Magazine, vol. 5, no. 29]. Arthur Conan Doyle; Sidney Edward Paget (Ill.). 1893.
- Text for The Reluctant Dragon is from: Dream Days. Kenneth Grahame; Maxfield Parish (Ill.); Grosset & Dunlap (Pub.). 1902.
- Text for The Great Mining Swindle is from: The Great Mining Swindle [The Boys’ Friend Library, 228]. George Hamilton Teed. 1913.
- Text for Sexton Blake’s Xmas Truce is from: Sexton Blake’s Xmas Truce [The Union Jack, 1105]. George Hamilton Teed. 1924.
Volume 3
- Illustrations and text for The Red-Headed League are from: The Red-Headed League [The Strand Magazine, vol. 2, no. 8]. Arthur Conan Doyle; Sidney Edward Paget (Ill.). 1891.
- Text for The Coin of Dionysius is from: Max Carrados. Ernest Bramah; Methuen & Co., Ltd. (Pub.). 1914.
- Illustrations and text for The Book of King Arthur are from: The Story of King Arthur and his Knights. Howard Pyle; Howard Pyle (Ill.); Charles Scribner’s Sons (Pub.). 1903.
- Some illustrations and text for The Hound of the Baskervilles are from: The Hound of the Baskervilles [The Strand Magazine, vol. 22, no. 128-132]. Arthur Conan Doyle; Sidney Edward Paget (Ill.). 1901.
- Some illustrations and text for The Hound of the Baskervilles are from: The Hound of the Baskervilles [The Strand Magazine, vol. 23, no. 133-136]. Arthur Conan Doyle; Sidney Edward Paget (Ill.). 1901.
- Text for The Great Pegram Mystery is from: The Face and the Mask. Robert Barr; Frederick A. Stokes Company (Pub.). 1894.
- Illustrations and text for The Hour and the Man are from: Revenge!. Robert Barr; Lancelot Speed (Ill.); Stanley Llewellyn Wood (Ill.); George Henry Grenville Manton (Ill.); Frederick A. Stokes Company (Pub.). 1896.
- Illustrations and text for The Gateway to Tennyson are from: The Gateway to Tennyson. Alfred Tennyson; Leonora Blanche Alleyne; Norman Little (Ill.); Thomas Nelson and Sons (Pub.). 1910.
