Writing and Rhetoric Book 1: Fable (Audio)

One semester course for grades 3 or 4

The Writing & Rhetoric series method employs fluent reading, careful listening, models for imitation, and progressive steps. It assumes that students learn best by reading excellent, whole-story examples of literature and by growing their skills through imitation. Each exercise is intended to impart a skill (or tool) that can be employed in all kinds of writing and speaking. The exercises are arranged from simple to more complex. What’s more, the exercises are cumulative, meaning that later exercises incorporate the skills acquired in preceding exercises. This series is a step-by-step apprenticeship in the art of writing and rhetoric.

Fable, the first book in the Writing & Rhetoric series, teaches students the practice of close reading and comprehension, summarizing a story aloud and in writing, and amplification of a story through description and dialogue. Students learn how to identify different kinds of stories; determine the beginning, middle, and end of stories; recognize point of view; and see analogous situations, among other essential tools. The Writing & Rhetoric series recovers a proven method of teaching writing, using fables to teach beginning writers the craft of writing well. This is the first in a series of twelve books that will train students over six years, starting in grades three or four and up.


The Fable Audio Files accompany Writing & Rhetoric Book 1: Fable.These audio files allow students to engage their sense of hearing and their listening intelligence as Dr. Christopher Perrin, along with his wife, author and poet Christine Perrin, deliver the fables aloud in a thoughtful manner.