Study Guide / Field Guide for Middle School – High School Students
Written by Ellen Gaines & BJ McElderry
The Adventures of Elliott Clinton Rat, III:
My Journey on the Merrimack and Concord Rivers
And
Elliott’s Life in the Woods, its sequel
Today marked an important turning point in my life. I announced to Mama that brother Bew and I would begin our journey. As dreams are the touchstones of our characters, it was time for us to strike out on our own and do this thing that we have planned and hoped for so long.
Elliott’s first entry into his journal portends the adventure that lies ahead for him and his brother. They leave Lowell and navigate the convergence of the Merrimack and Concord rivers in a raft, seeking a place where they hope to embrace a simpler existence. Simplify, simplify, simplify…
Elliott’s story is inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, a recounting of the journey taken by him and his brother John. In its sequel, Elliott’s Life in the Woods, Elliott has arrived at his destination and joins Henry in his “experiment” of living simply at Walden Pond. No longer on the rivers, Elliott takes up residence by the pond and experiences a year of observing in Nature, ruminating on human existence, and meeting the profound thinkers of the 19th Century, Henry’s friends and philosophical counterparts in the Transcendental Movement. Elliott’s journal, like Henry’s Walden, reflects his emerging understandings about life and how to live, Nature and how to see, and friendship and how to engage in meaningful relationships.
Themes and Topics for an integrated study of these two examples of young adult historical fiction include, but are not limited to, the following:
Henry David Thoreau and Other Transcendentalists
Henry David Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and Walden
Nature Studies
Journal Writing and Illustrating in Nature
Memoir and the American Landscape / “Mentor Text” for Writing Style
The “Journey” Motif in Literature & Writing
Historical Fiction and Research
19th Century American Studies: Transcendentalism & Major Figures in the Movement
Science and Technological Advancements: The American Industrial Revolution and its Effects
(A study in the growth of commerce & industry in 19th Century New England)
Resources: Available on the internet are the following reputable sites for information about Henry David Thoreau, his writing, Transcendentalism, and 19th Century history. (This is a selection that can easily be broadened; look for .org/ .edu / university sites.)
Life and Legacy | The Thoreau Society
Henry David Thoreau – The Walden Woods Project
Henry David Thoreau – Poet | Academy of American Poets
The [Henry David] Thoreau Reader – EServer
US History – Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy
Mass Moments – Transcendentalism
UPenn Online Book Store – The Dial
History of Massachusetts Blog – Industrial Revolution
Other Resources:
Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind, Robert D. Richardson
The Days of Henry Thoreau, A Biography, Walter Harding
Eden’s Outcasts, John Matteson
The Daring Ladies of Lowell, Kate Alcott
The Lowell Mill Girls: Life in the Factory, Perspectives on History Series, 2nd Edition
Thoreau Society Publications (Thoreau Society Shop at Walden):
Essays & Journals of Henry David Thoreau (Available on-line & in the Shop at Walden)
The People of Concord; American Intellectuals and Their Timeless Ideas, Paul Brooks
Thoreau at Walden, John Porcellino
Quotable Thoreau, Jeffrey S. Cramer
Meditations of Henry David Thoreau: A Light in the Woods, Chris Highland
Thoreau’s New England, Stephan Gorman
Walden Then and Now, Michael McCurdy
Historical Guide to Henry David Thoreau, William E. Cain
October, or Autumnal Tints, Robert D. Richardson
Reading the Forested Landscape, Tom Wessels
Heaven Is Under Our Feet, Don Henley
Sibley’s Birding Basics, David Allen Sibley
Field Guide to Your Own Backyard, John Hanson Mitchell
Passions for Nature, Rochelle L. Johnson
Peterson Field Guides
Authors of Children’s Literature and Illustration About Thoreau:
Marilynne K. Roach, Down to Earth at Walden and The Mouse and the Song
D.B. Johnson Series of Children’s Illustrated Books
Julie Dunlap and Marybeth Lorbiecki, Louisa May & Mr. Thoreau’s Flute
Editor Steven Schnur and Illustrator Peter Fiore, Henry David’s House
Thomas Locker, Walking with Henry
Cal Armistead, Being Henry (Fiction for Young Adults)
Claiborne Dawes, A Different Drummer, Thoreau and Will’s Independence Day
(and other pamphlets and paperback books for young readers at the Walden Shop)
For Writers:
Modern American Memoirs, Edited by Annie Dillard and Cort Conley
I Am a Pencil, Sam Swope
You Can Write Children’s Books, Tracey E. Dils
The Writer’s Mentor, Secrets of Success from the World’s Great Writers, Edited by Ian Jackman
Finding Your Writer’s Voice, A Guide to Creative Fiction, Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall
For Teachers:
Environment, Glenn Adelson, James Engell, Brent Ranalli, K.P. Van Anglen
Approaches to Teaching Thoreau’s Walden and Other Works, Richard J. Schneider