My name is Amelia Harper. I live in the country outside of a small town in North Carolina. I have a B.A. degree in English from Bob Jones University and have taught at three private schools and a community college and sometimes teach local English tutoring courses in my local area. In addition, I have homeschooled my own kids for over 18 years.  All of them are absolutely brilliant (of course), in my own humble opinion. The older kids now correct MY grammar, which is one of the chief dangers of educating your children.

    My oldest is 23 years old, which is amazing since I was sure that I was only 30. However, my driver's license indicates my age at 46, and the government is never wrong, so I must be older than I feel. Jonathan, my number one son, has just graduated college with a degree in Bible and was married this past summer.

    My next son, Thomas, is 21 now attends college where he is studying History and (shhh!) Political Science. You can't win them all.... :)  He is enjoying attending college where he can escape from my younger children, which include...

    Bradley, who is 18 and the giant of the family. He now stands at well over six feet tall, but is growing by the minute, so he may be seven feet tall by the time you read this. Bradley is the also perfectionist of the family who, since he is doomed to reside with an imperfect mother and siblings, suffers daily, but manages to endure us all except for...

    Andrew, his 9 year old brother, who, I am informed, is a pest. But I think he is merely an adorable, lively, and talkative third grader who came unequipped with a pause button or a volume control knob. Andrew loves to play with his younger sister,...

    Keren, who finally arrived after four more males were introduced into the world. Keren, age 7,  is sweet, angelic, and delightful, despite her brother's constant attempts to draw her to the dark side of boyish play. So she draws a sword occasionally upon a baby doll and demands surrender and also cares for a pet clump of moss named Mossy. These things happen in the best of families, don't they?

    My husband, Bill, is the pastor of an Independent Baptist church here and a wonderful preacher and father. He loves to plant huge gardens so that we can spend our precious summers canning and freezing veggies. He claims this builds character. My kids think they have enough character already.

    I also tutor secondary level English classes for some home school students. Some of my students think that I am obsessed with The Lord of the Rings merely because we celebrate Frodo's birthday, the Gondorian New Year, and the Coronation of King Ellesar. I think, however, that these are perfectly legitimate excuses for a party and that obsession is a very relative term.

    I am a Tolkien and Lewis scholar (which simply means that I study them!) I am privileged to be a contributor to the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia which is due to be published by Routledge Reference in the fall of 2006. I also recently presented an academic paper on "The Role of Fantasy in Conveying Truth" at a C.S. Lewis conference in Nashville, TN and was able to interview Douglas Gresham, the stepson of C.S. Lewis.

    In my spare time (I hear you homeschool moms rolling on the floor laughing), I write for a weekly newspaper where I write occasional feature articles and cover town meetings where the worst of human nature is displayed. I am also Media Editor for the Old Schoolhouse Magazine, a really great national quarterly homeschool publication, and I do free-lance writing and speaking as well. I also occasionally write poetry and am working on my own fantasy novel in the time I waste at stoplights.

     For almost two years, I worked diligently on a literature curriculum about Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, a book which I adore. Fortunately, some other smart people have helped me with that project and have helped edit my work, providing great suggestions for improvement, and making sure that it is educationally sound.

    If you want to more about the creation of this project, check out this interview in Eclectic Homeschool Online. Here are some of the important people who aided in this project.

    The first of these is Sharon Mack. Sharon introduced me to The Lord of the Rings when I was fifteen and changed my life. This was one the books that inspired me to want to study English Literature and to someday be a writer. Sharon and I spent many long hours discussing and debating the book during the torture we endured while working summer jobs together as teenagers. Now, she has a B.A in Education. When I began this project, I asked her to help, since she was the only person I know who has read the book almost as many times as I have (I stopped counting at 25). I was delighted to find that she was still an enthusiastic Tolkien-lover. In fact, she has invented her own personal Lord of the Rings Trivia Game! She now teaches music and strings in a public school district in Pennsylvania. In addition to her many other talents, she is a professional composer and has written several pieces inspired by Middle Earth. Sharon has offered valuable insight on the book and has been of enormous help in checking my facts and literary insights, as well correcting orc-droppings (grammar errors of a typographical nature). which are occasionally slipped in by some ill-intentioned servants of the Nameless One.

Senior Editor Rachel Pannell has a AA in Secondary Education from Lorain County Community College, OH, a BA in English from Meredith College, NC, and a Masters in Middle Grades Education from NCSU.  Since then, she has worked professionally as a proofreader, editor, and as a literature and writing instructor. She currently homeschools her son, Jon.
 

    Lisa Leech has a M.A. in Medieval Legal History and Literature. She  actually knows how to read Old English and has been of enormous help in checking my facts about Linguistics, Old English, and Middle English Literature. She is a delightful cat-lover and a true Renaissance Woman. Since she seldom has Medieval clients to defend, she spends most of her time teaching violin and viola lessons.

    Diane Scudder has a M.A. in Reading Instruction. She had helped edit the book  and made suggestions on how to make it easier for students (and parents) to use. Diane has home-schooled for many years. She is also the busy wife of a pastor of an inner-city church in Philadelphia. Without her valuable help, this book would not be possible.

Michelle Smith (who assures me her name is not an alias) is a homeschool mom of 3. Prior to becoming a homeschool mom, Michelle earned  B.A. degrees in English, German, and Secondary Education. After teaching for a short time in public school junior high, she went back to the university to work on her master's degree in English. Michelle studied English at the graduate level in the early 1990's, studying such diverse topics as epic literature, the history of the English language, Shakespearean studies, and western American literature. Michelle now educates her children according to the classical Christian homeschooling method, and she participates in or co-moderates a few classical homeschooling email loops.

    I would like especially to express my appreciation to renowned Tolkien artist, John Howe. Mr. Howe has produced several Tolkien calendars and was one of the art directors for the award-winning New Line Cinema movie version of The Lord of the Rings. He has been very supportive and has graciously allowed me to use some of his powerful artwork in the book and for the beautiful cover design. You can see more of his artwork here.

   I am truly excited about this project and hope to get to know you soon. May God bless you. If you want to contact me, please email me at homescholarbooks@cs.com and I will try to respond as soon as I can. 

Amelia Harper

©  2003 by Amelia Harper. All rights reserved