Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lesson plans for the stories of Sherlock Holmes


| Biography and Background | | Online Texts | | The Hound of the Baskervilles | | Other Stories |

Biography and Background

Arthur Conan Doyle
Biography and criticism from the Internet Public Library.

The Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A website for enthusiasts, with a wide variety of information.

Sherlock Holmes on the Web: the Sherlockian.Net Holmepage
Links to the stories and novels, background information and biography, even a link to "How to write a term paper."

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A brief biography. Click the "watch video" link to hear Conan Doyle explain his inspiration for Holmes.

Queen Victoria's Scrapbook
Artifacts and insights related to the life and reign of Queen Victoria.

Online Texts of Stories and Novels

The Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
Text of the stories in multiple formats: MP3, PDF, web page. Some stories include student learning activities.

Arthur Conan Doyle
Biography and links to e-texts of the 4 novels. Click on "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" for links to e-texts of twelve short stories.

Classic Short Stories
Links to 6 short stories. Access requires MS-Word or compatible application.

The Original Stories
Links to texts of the short stories and the novels.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Click here : Sherlock, Watson, and these lesson plans have moved to their own page.

Other Stories

It's A Mystery To Me
Students look at Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," Doyle's "The Red-Headed League," and Christie's And Then There were None . They work collaboratively and cooperatively to learn vocabulary and the elements of the detective genre, to analyze character, and to write. This extensive page includes background information, vocabulary, and other resources.

Sherlock Holmes: Teaching English Through Detective Fiction
This unit plan uses "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," "The Adventure of the Final Problem," "The Return of Sherlock Holmes," and "The Adventure of the Man with the Twisted Lip." Students also read a dramatic adaptation of "The Adventure of the Second Stain" and view Young Sherlock Holmes . This page includes a biography of Doyle and reading questions for "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." This unit is designed for 9th grade remedial students.

Some Vocabulary from "The Red Headed League"
10 words, with definitions and sentences. Students who complete this activity with 100% accuracy are directed to an online copy of the story.

A Teacher's Guide to the Core Classics Edition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Selected Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Extensive support for five stories: "The Speckled Band," "The Red-Headed League," "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," and "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches." This document includes study questions, vocabulary practice, literature circle guides, practice with sentence structure and parts of speech, and ideas for projects. The document is 92 pages long and requires Adobe Reader for access. Consider saving it to your computer and printing only the pages that you need.

What a Character! Comparing Literary Adaptations
Students consider numerous portrayals of the same character to examine what gives characters lasting power and why and how they evolve over time. This lesson refers specifically to Sherlock Holmes but could easily be adapted to other works that have more than one movie version.