Teachup Serial Stories

Our newest serial: Freehand

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Christopher Baldwin (color/b&w)
9 chapters

Freehand is set in Northern New York during the War of 1812, between the Battle of Ogdensburg in February, 1813, and the Battle of Sackets Harbor the following May. Place names are as they would have been during that period.

Caleb MacCrimmons loves to draw, but he keeps his sketchbook hidden in the straw of the barn. Whenever his stepfather sees him drawing, he punishes him severely for not concentrating on his chores. It doesn’t help that his stepbrother, Alex, is content to pretend to work and let Caleb look bad.

When a group of soldiers pass by the trading post, retreating from the defeat in Ogdensburg en route to the military base at Sackets Harbor, they offer Caleb the chance to escape his abusive homelife and join the adventure of the war, though Alex tags along at the last minute. Caleb’s ability to draw quick, accurate sketches attracts General Jacob Brown's attention, because good mapmakers are valuable to the army.

Later, when their friends in the regular army join General Zebulon Pike’s assault on the Niagara, Caleb and Alex must stay behind with Gen. Brown’s militia and work to foil the British attempt on Sackets Harbor.

From his experience in battle, and from General Brown -- who was once a school teacher and a surveyor -- Caleb learns the value of channeling his talent and courage in positive directions, and builds a career for himself in peacetime America.

(This shorter serial is priced at two-thirds our standard price. You may purchase two shorter serials for the price of a single standard-sized serial.)

Download FreehandGuide

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Hooch

 

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Christopher Baldwin (color/b&w)
9 chapters

Our newest serial is set on America's northern border in the days of Prohibition. Kenny Rascoe's father died in the World War, his mother in the influenza epidemic. Now his chief influences are his uncles: Raymond, the strait-laced customs officer who took over much of his father's role, and George, who Kenny discovers is a bootlegger. Raymond is a source of security and good advice, but George has a flashy roadster and exciting friends. Kenny's classmates are impressed that he knows famous gangster Eddie Nickels and his beautiful flapper girlfriend, but the fun ends when someone close to Kenny has a violent encounter with rumrunners.

(This shorter serial is priced at two-thirds our standard price)

Download Hooch Teaching Guide

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Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales

adapted by Mike Peterson
with H.J. Ford’s original 19th century illustrations
21 modular installments - adapt to your schedule!

Here’s a serial that meets our standards of quality and your need for flexibility. These stories are taken from the beloved collections of folklorist Andrew Lang, whose fairy tale books have been charming young readers and their parents for 125 years. Add the exquisite period illustrations and you’ve got a serial package that will delight kids, parents and teachers. (Think the kids already know these classic tales? Sadly, you’d be wrong!)

Download the Teaching Guide here (.pdf)

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Anna's Story

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Christopher Baldwin (color/b&w)
9 chapters

In this sequel to "Tommy and the Guttersnipe," (see below), a brave, resourceful girl triumphs over abuse and the near-slavery of tenement child labor to find her way west on the Orphan Trains, where she teams with Tommy and Jake to rescue her adoptive family's life savings from a land swindler. This short serial may be purchased at two-thirds our normal rate or combined with "Tommy" and purchased as a single serial at that rate.

Download Teacher's Guide (pdf)

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Ariadne and the Magic Thread

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Marina Tay (color/b&w)
14 chapters -- also available in Spanish

Princess Ariadne has the task of caring for her father’s monster, the Minotaur, to whom young Greeks are sacrificed each year. When a dashing hero comes to Crete, she helps him slay the beast and end the murderous tradition. Then, having betrayed her father and her nation, she flees Crete only to discover that handsome Theseus is a different kind of monster. A thrilling adventure and a thought-provoking story of abusive relationships and self-discovery.

Download Ariadne Guide

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The Crown and the Colliers

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Clio Chiang (color/b&w)
14 chapters

A bi-racial boy finds himself between two hostile factions in a 16th Century kingdom -- His father’s people, the short, dark mountain peasants, and his mother’s, the tall, fair-haired people who rule the nation. He also finds himself caught up in political intrigue, a pawn of the Queen, who seeks to find, and kill, the girl who lives with the Short rebels and their allies, the reclusive colliers. This is a “Treasure Island”- style action thriller,  with lessons about tolerance and diversity, historic notes on the period, and a teaching guide that emphasizes note-taking.

Download Teacher's Guide (pdf)

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Fables and Folk Tales

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Marina Tay (color/b&w)
14 modular installments -- adapt to your schedule!

This collection of stories from various nations and cultures combines fantasy, multi-culturalism and lessons in character development. Authentic stories from Nigeria, Wales, Denmark, Japan, Ireland and elsewhere around the world are sometimes touching, sometimes funny, sometimes chilling, but always have a moral that has stood the test of time. Marina Tay’s striking anime illustrations give this series appeal beyond elementary classrooms!

Download the Teacher's Guide (pdf)

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Katharine Lee Bates’ Fairy Tales

edited by Mike Peterson, with the original watercolors of Margaret Evans Price
15 modular installments -- adapt to your schedule!

Building on the popularity of our Andrew Lang collection, we present this gentle re-telling of classic fairy tales by Katharine Lee Bates, the poet and English professor who wrote “America the Beautiful,” and illustrated with watercolors by Margaret Evans Price, who would later become the first art director of Fisher/Price toys. Little-known stories like “Furball” and “The Goose Girl,” along with a five-part “Beauty and the Beast” that will allow young readers to compare this faithful re-telling of the original with the Hollywood version!

Download the Teaching Guide here (.pdf)

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The Legend of Perseus

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Christopher Baldwin
14 chapters -- also available in Spanish

This serial combines suspense, action and solid moral values in a story young readers will love! A young mother is cast out to perish with her infant son by one tyrant and sexually harassed by another. Her son, as he comes of age, tries to protect her, but loses his temper and accepts a dare that could prove fatal: To bring back the head of the horrible Medusa. Through his quest, Perseus learns responsibility and the nature of true heroism.

Download the Teaching Guide (.pdf)

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Old Man Stories

by Frank Lindeman, edited by Mike Peterson
 illustrated by Christopher Baldwin - 13 modular chapters

Authentic Blackfoot, Chippewa and Cree legends of the trickster, clown and hero Old Man, told in the traditional manner by a writer who lived among the people of the Northern Plains in the 19th century, before turning his hand to journalism. These stories are not only the real thing, but we donate 30% of gross sales to Rocky Boy Elementary School on the Chippewa/Cree reserve in northern Montana that is home to the children for whom they were created. The teaching guide includes materials to help your teachers approach American Indian culture with sensitivity but without losing the fun of the stories.

Download the Teaching Guide (.pdf)

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Stories in the Stars

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Dylan Meconis
14 modular installments -- adapt to your schedule!

Our most ambitious serial, "Stories in the Stars" combines both the mythology and the astronomy behind some of our most well-known constellations. Written with the assistance of Dr. Sherwood Harrington of De Anza College, author and science writer Brian Fies and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, this serial tells the stories behind each constellation and then points out its most interesting astronomical features. This is a beautifully illustrated serial with a teaching guide that combines literature and science.

Download the Teaching Guide (.pdf)

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Stories in the Stars has its own support site!

Tales of the Ancient World

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Dylan Meconis
14 modular installments -- adapt to your schedule!

Cultural literacy combines with engaging fantasy in these classic stories of the ancient world. Read about Arachne, the proud weaver who was changed into a spider, Echo’s hopeless love for the self-absorbed Narcissus, Diana’s terrible revenge upon a voyeur, the timeless love story of Cupid and Psyche, the heartwarming tale of Philemon and Baucis, the kidnapping of Proserpina and other cornerstone tales of our culture. Great illustrations add interest to these classic stories!

Download the Teaching Guide (.pdf)

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Tommy and the Guttersnipe

by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Christopher Baldwin
8 chapters -- plus a Christmas sequel chapter

Historical fiction in the style of Horatio Alger, Jr., "Tommy and the Guttersnipe" partners Tommy, who struggles to help feed his mother and infant sister, with Baby Jake, a tough homeless kid from the streets of New York, as they make their way in a heartless world and, along the way, help to break an arson gang.

This shorter serial may be purchased for two-thirds our normal rate, or can be combined with its nine-chapter sequel, "Anna's Story," as if they were a single serial at our usual rate.

Download the Teacher's Guide (.pdf)

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Voices of America

Oral Histories from the Federal Writers Project
21 modular installments - adapt to your schedule!

An African-American soldier in the trenches of WWI, an itinerant peddler on the Great Plains, a stonecutter’s young widow in Vermont, a cowpuncher from Texas and other real-life witnesses to our nation’s past tell their stories in this series of oral histories from the Federal Writers Project. Extend this serial by publishing oral histories collected by students in your own community.

Download the Teaching Guide (.pdf)

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Woman of the World: The Story of Nellie Bly

  based on Brooke Kroeger’s “Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist”
by Mike Peterson - illustrated by Christopher Baldwin
14 chapters -- also available in Spanish

By far our best-selling serial, “Woman of the World: The Story of Nellie Bly” is a biography of an American journalist who changed the face of newspapers. This serial combines an exciting, inspiring story for young readers with well-documented nonfiction that teachers will appreciate. Artist Christopher Baldwin applied painstaking research to make sure the illustrations for this serial are as historically accurate as the text. Written with the resources and advice of Brooke Kroeger, Nellie Bly’s biographer. Teaching guide includes journalism-based writing prompts.

Visit the support site for this serial

Download the Teacher's Guide (pdf)

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