Description
Who Dun It Literature and Composition Who Dun It Literature and Composition is a fun course for 9-12th graders and advanced 8th graders who want to write their own mystery novel!
Who Dun It Literature and Composition is a perfect class for those who like to curl up and read a cozy mystery.
Get ready for a year of creating clues, red herrings, quirky detectives, and plots with a twist ending!
Though it’s an out-of-the-box course, Who Dun It is a full one-credit English course with classic literature and fiction writing.
Students explore cozy mysteries starting with the Golden Age writers like Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and G.K. Chesterton.
As we read for enjoyment and lively book club discussions, we will also examine how the authors create characters, settings, and plotlines, tricking the reader into suspecting the wrong person!
While we read, we will be writing too–completing a short novel by the end of the year—a murder mystery, of course! At the beginning of the year, we will create detectives, red herrings, clues, settings, sidekicks, and other important ingredients of a who-dun-it. Mid-year, we will write a short story following clear, easy-to-follow guidelines to create your own cozy mystery.
The second half of the year will be spent writing a cozy novel.
As we write, we will read our writings aloud, give positive input, and help each other improve our writing!
We will also watch TV detective shows on our own and examine them to create scenes, building suspense and leaving a trail of red herrings and clues.
Required Materials:
Who Dun It Murder Mystery Literature & Writing by Meredith Curtis – you can purchase a print copy of Who Dun It from Amazon, but the E-book is available too!
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (A Scandal in Bohemia, The Red-Haired League, The Adventures of the Speckled Band, The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb, The Final Problem, The Adventure of the Empty House) by Sir Conan Doyle
- Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
- Favorite Father Brown Stories (The Blue Cross, The Sins of Prince Saradine, The Sign of the Broken Sword, The Man in the Passage, The Perishing of the Pendragons, The Salad of Colonel Cray) by G.K. Chesterton
- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
- What Mrs. McGuillicuddy Saw by Agatha Christie (OPTIONAL for Extra Credit)
- Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers
- Where are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark (or As Time Goes By by Mary Higgins Clark)
- The Roman Hat by Ellery Queen (OPTIONAL for Extra Credit)
- Choose 1 Children’s book from Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, Trixie Beldon, Boxcar Children, Mandie Mysteries, OR Sugar Creek Gang
Short Stories: “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Ordinary Hairpins,” “The Archduke’s Tea,” and “A Singular Abduction.”—these are all included in Who Dun It Murder Mystery Literature & Writing in the back of the Who-Dun-It textbook!
Additional Requirements
- Ability to attend online classes, discuss books read outside of class, and read writing assignments done outside of class aloud
- Ability to watch at least one classic detective TV show a month and discuss it in class
Full Year Course – 1 Credit: Your True North Homeschool Academy teacher will teach and grade the class.
The coursework your child will complete in this high school level course is equal to one credit hour, which may be awarded by your homeschool upon completion of the course. If you need help determining your students’ credits or creating a transcript, check out our Academic Advising.
Pair this unique Literature and Composition class with Physics, Government, Economics, and Psychology for a robust year of learning!
Krista R –
My daughter is a freshman this year and has always had a dream to write her own novel, but had no prior experience with putting together a complete book. She loves murder mysteries and when I saw this course I knew she would love it. She has already grown so much in her writing, character development and understanding of the components needed to develop a novel, and it’s only the first semester. Meredith’s course is a dream come true for her, and I can not recommend it enough. It is a solid course with a strong balance between education and enjoyment, and Meredith has done a terrific job of engaging the students and motivating them to put the effort into the course. I am very impressed!