The River Quintet: A Teacher's Guide for the Middle School Curriculum

The Guide is designed to help teachers implement a series of novellas set in the 1600s called The River Quintet: Young Lives in a Changing World by Ray E. Phillips. As the subtitle may suggest, these stories are about young adults learning to understand their abilities and goals and to adapt to the ever-evolving societies around them. The main characters are Native American, Dutch and English, all with various levels of talents and flaws. As the books proceed from 1-5, the plots and the problems become more complicated. The seventh grader might find Books 1 and 2 to be the "easiest" in those terms, while the following ones present situations that an older reader might better appreciate. Seen in their entirety, all five books should prove enjoyable to read as well as informative.

The seventeenth century indigenous culture of the "New World" is contrasted with the mercantile and well-defined societies of Holland and England. History, medicine, nature, navigation, science and technology, too, are well represented in the stories and in the carefully researched reference notes. The diverse aspects of the series make clear that The River Quintet offers a unique interdisciplinary contribution to the middle school curriculum.

The Teacher's Guide presents practical instructional information. Key aspects of the stories as they pertain to the Social Studies and the English Language Arts curricula are offered, as well as a sampling of reading comprehension questions, classroom projects and activities, and websites. There is also a timeline showing the events in the stories in relationship to actual history.

The Five Books of The River Quintet: Young Lives in a Changing World