Grade 7 classic readings

When young John of Wycliffe arrives at Oxford University, he finds it a fascinating and perilous place. With his friend, Sebastian Ayleton, John experiences the terrible plague called the "Pestilence" (the Black Death), and he becomes involved in clashes between university factions as well as riots among the townspeople. Whenever he can find time away from his studies, John's favorite place is the inn of the Kicking Pony. There he and his companions discuss the political and religious issues of the day, and it is with his friends that he first shares his growing vision of an English Bible for all Englishmen to read. In the darkness of medieval England, John's pursuit of truth gleams like a solitary star: the morning star that promises the sunrise to come. He paved the way for the theologians of the next century and opened hearts in preparation for the great Reformation itself.

Bubbling potions can be bad for your health!  Just ask Dr. Jekyll.  By day, he's a kind doctor.  But by night, he's the merciless kill Mr. Hyde.  And all because of a magic formula.  Will anybody find out the horrible secret of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

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No child should miss out on the adventures of headstrong Kate, a girl from Budapest who spends summers with her cousin Jancsi on his father's ranch in Hungary. Horseback races across the plains, country fairs and festivals, a dangerous run-in with gypsies, and the chores and the joys -- and the colorful cultural trappings -- of daily life in pre-war Europe create a vivid, unforgettable world.

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Tom Barton and his Uncle Jack live on the edge of danger, smuggling goods under the very nose of the king's searchers. Shrewd, brave, desperate at times, they make run after run across the Channel, braving rough seas, heavy winds, and a growing restlessness among their countrymen. All Europe is aflame with the writing and preaching of Martin Luther.

Tom and his uncle come into contact with another man, William Tyndale, whose work and prayer is to put an English Bible into the hands of the common people. While Uncle Jack sees only the profit in a religious Reformation, it is Tom who sees in Tyndale's work the dawning of a new age and a new way of life for himself and England.

William Tyndale was the hawk that dare not hunt by day. Hunted, hated by many, a fugitive in several countries, this humble man's pen changed the course of history. For modern Christians, he is the symbol of scholarship and courage, determination and meekness. For Tom Barton, he was father and friend, teacher and comforter, and the first true testimony of Christ in a godless age.

The Baronet's Song is George MacDonald's enchanting story of the destitute orphan, "wee Sir Gibbie" who, although he is unable to speak, lives a life of innocent love, goodness, and truth.

One of the top 50 books that have shaped evangelicals (Christianity Today, 2006) "After 2,000 years, no question is going to bring Christianity crashing." Do science and Scripture conflict? Are miracles possible? Is Christian experience real? Why does God allow suffering and evil? These are just a few of the twelve most common intellectual challenges to faith that Paul E. Little encountered during his twenty-five years of speaking and teaching in the university. These questions need solid answers, and that's what a million people have already found in this clear and reasonable response to the toughest questions posed to Christian belief. Sprinkling in a few "sure-fire jokes" and other humorous illustrations, Little uses these questions to jog readers' thinking and help them examine their present worldviews, ranging from scientific determinism to rabid existentialism. By thinking through the most common challenges to Christian faith, believers will be prepared to answer others out of the wellspring of their own certainty. This edition, revised and updated by Marie Little in consultation with experts in science and archaeology, provides twenty-first-century information and offers solid ground for those who are willing to search for truth. Including a study guide for individuals or groups, Know Why You Believe is the classic answerbook on Christian faith.

What does Christianity have to do with anything? What does the Christian faith teach about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit? What do I need to know about angels, Satan and demons? What place should the Bible or a church have in my life? By exploring these and other core questions, bestselling author Paul E. Little leads you into a greater appreciation of a God who has done great things to bring you into a relationship with him through Jesus Christ. He presents ten bottom-line, non-negotiable truths of Christianity using humorous, anecdotal illustrations gathered from years of experience helping believers share their faith with not-yet Christians. Expanded and updated throughout by Paul's wife Marie, this contemporary edition is packed with illuminating answers to questions and misconceptions about the Christian faith, with study questions for each chapter.

The final book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which includes Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, That Hideous Strength concludes the adventures of the matchless Dr. Ransom. The dark forces that were repulsed in Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra are massed for an assault on the planet Earth itself. Word is on the wind that the mighty wizard Merlin has come back to the land of the living after many centuries, holding the key to ultimate power for that force which can find him and bend him to its will. A sinister technocratic organization is gaining power throughout Europe with a plan to "recondition" society, and it is up to Ransom and his friends to squelch this threat by applying age-old wisdom to a new universe dominated by science. The two groups struggle to a climactic resolution that brings the Space Trilogy to a magnificent, crashing close.

The second book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which also includes Out of the Silent Planet and That Hideous Strength, Perelandra continues the adventures of the extraordinary Dr. Ransom. Pitted against the most destructive of human weaknesses, temptation, the great man must battle evil on a new planet -- Perelandra -- when it is invaded by a dark force. Will Perelandra succumb to this malevolent being, who strives to create a new world order and who must destroy an old and beautiful civilization to do so? Or will it throw off the yoke of corruption and achieve a spiritual perfection as yet unknown to man? The outcome of Dr. Ransom's mighty struggle alone will determine the fate of this peace-loving planet.

The first novel in C.S. Lewis's classic sci-fi trilogy which tells the adventure of Dr Ransom who is kidnapped and transported to Mars In the first novel of C.S. Lewis's classic science fiction trilogy, Dr Ransom, a Cambridge academic, is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet's treasures and plan to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there. Ransom discovers he has come from the 'silent planet' - Earth - whose tragic story is known throughout the universe...

In 1607 a fifteen-year-old boy joins the expeditionary force that hopes to establish a permanent English colony in Virginia.

Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous follows fifteen year old Harvey Cheyne Jr through his trials and tribulations. As the son of a wealthy railroad tycoon, Harvey is spoiled and largely unaware of the ways of the world. When he is stranded on the shore of the Grand Banks after having been washed overboard from his transatlantic steamship, he meets the Captain of We're Here and has no choice to accept a position on his ship. Harvey's adventures on the ship teach him about industry and consideration for others while Kipling weaves in themes of class differences and humility.

At the end of the 13th century, the people of Scotland suffered cruelty under the heavy hand of their English ruler, Edward Longshanks. This stirring tale recounts their valiant struggle for freedom under the legendary leadership of William Wallace and Robert Bruce. Time has burnished the feats of these great Scots heroes to mythic proportions, but both were real people, and this gripping tale of courage, loyalty, and ingenuity places its fictional protagonist alongside Wallace and Bruce within an accurate historical context. The extreme popularity of Mel Gibson's portrayal of Wallace in the film Braveheart ensures an eager audience for this inspiring story.

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The more than 600 stories written by O. Henry provided an embarrassment of riches for the compilers of this volume.  The final selection of the thirty-eight stories in this collection offers for the reader's delight those tales honored almost unanimously by anthologists and those that represent, in variety and balance, the best work of America's favorite storyteller.  They are tales in his most mellow, humorous, and ironic moods.  They give the full range and flavor of the man born William Sydney Porter but known throughout the world as O. Henry, one of the great masters of the short story.

A classic tale that has enchanted millions of readers worldwide, Mrs. Mike brings the fierce, stunning landscape of the Great North to life—and masterfully evokes the tender, touching moments that bring a man and a woman together forever.

Recently arrived in Calgary, Alberta after a long, hard journey from Boston, sixteen-year-old Katherine Mary O'Fallon never imagined that she could lose her heart so easily—or so completely. Standing over six feet tall, with “eyes so blue you could swim in them,” Mike Flannigan is a well-respected sergeant in the Canadian Mounted Police—and a man of great courage, kindness, and humor. Together, he and his beloved Kathy manage to live a good, honest life in this harsh, unforgiving land—and find strength in a love as beautiful and compelling as the wilderness around them…

June 1808, somewhere west of Nicaragua-a site suitable for spectacular sea battles. The Admiralty has ordered Captain Horatio Hornblower, now in command of the thirty-six-gun HMS Lydia, to form an alliance against the Spanish colonial government with an insane Spanish landowner; to find a water route across the Central American isthmus; and "to take, sink, burn or destroy" the fifty-gun Spanish ship of the line Natividad or face court-martial. A daunting enough set of orders-even if the happily married captain were not woefully distracted by the passenger he is obliged to take on in Panama: Lady Barbara Wellesley.

In 1743, thirteen-year-old Marguerite Ledoux travels to Maine as the indentured servant of a family that regards her as little better than the Indians that threaten them, but her strength, quick thinking and courage surprise them all.

The story of this man--medical missionary, explorer, scientist, and above all, friend of mankind--is more amazing than fiction. His explorations from the southern tip of Africa for thousands of miles to the north literally opened up a continent that was then unknown. He was the first to bring Christianity and medical science to hundreds of native tribes. He was the first ever to cross Africa from sea to sea, discovering new water routes into the interior....

D'Artagnan, arriving in Paris from Gascony with no horse and few worldly goods wishes to join the King's Guards. He finds himself in the company of three musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, the most renowned fighters of their day. The adventures they share, fighting for the honour of the Queen against the machinations of 'Milady', are rich in drama, colour and romance, which is why "The Three Musketeers" has remained so popular since its first serialisation in 1844.

Nicholas Nickleby is one of Dickens's early novels, a popular melodrama with a rich list of characters. When his father dies penniless, Nicholas Nickleby, his mother and his sister Kate are thrown on the mercy of his corrupt uncle Ralph Nickleby. Sent away to teach at the infamous Dotheboys Hall, run by the sadistic Wackford Squeers, Nicholas eventually absconds, but not before rescuing the poor abused Smike. He returns home just in time to save his sister from the unwanted attentions of Sir Mulberry Hawk, and eventually his family's fortunes are restored. Illustrated by H K Browne 'Phiz', with an Afterword by David Stuart Davies.

This science classic by Paul de Kruif chronicles the pioneering bacteriological work of the first scientists to see and learn from the microscopic world.

 

Paul de Kruif's Microbe Hunters is a timeless dramatization of the scientists, bacteriologists, doctors, and medical technicians who discovered microbes and invented the vaccines to counter them. De Kruif reveals the now seemingly simple but really fundamental discoveries of science—for instance, how a microbe was first viewed in a clear drop of rain water, and when, for the first time ever, Louis Pasteur discovered that a simple vaccine could save a man from the ravages of rabies by attacking the microbes that cause it.

THE HOUSE OF SIXTY FATHERSTien Pao is all alone in enemy territoy. Only a few days before, his family had escaped from the Japanese army, fleeing downriver by boat. Then came the terrible rainstorm. Tien Pao was fast asleep in the little sampan when the boat broke loose from its moorings and drifted right back to the Japanese soldiers. With only his lucky pig for company, Tien Pao must begin a long and dangerous journey in search of his home and family.

'A vividly realistic story of China during the early days of the Japanese invasion [which tells of young Tien Pao's journey to find his family].' —C.'Valuable as enrichment literature for elementary students involved in Chinese studies.' —Scholastic Teacher.