Nutritive Words for the Bibliovorous Youth
[under construction]
- owen cyclops recommends picture books
(find more lists of his?)
The Story of the Root-Children
The Duchess Bakes a Cake - Virginia Kahl
Timmy the Dug - Jim Downer and Ted Hughes
A Visit to William Blake's Inn - Nancy Willard
Lion - William Pene du Bois
Martin Leman - Comic & Curious Cats
- graded readings from curricula
FIRST GRADE
Leveled by Scholastic <300L Standard
220L-500L Stretch
SECOND GRADE
140L-500L Standard
450L-620L Stretch
THIRD GRADE
330L-700L Standard
550L-790L Stretch
FOURTH GRADE 445L-810L Standard
770L-910L Stretch
FIFTH GRADE
565L-910L Standard
860L-980L Stretch
SIXTH GRADE
665L-1000L Standard 950L-1040L Stretch
Hop on Pop - Seuss
The Foot Book - Seuss
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - Seuss
The Cat In The Hat - Seuss
Are You My Mother - Eastman
The Horse in Harry's Room - Hoff
Harry and the Lady Next Door - Zion Little Bear - Minarik
The Adventures of Snail at School - Stadler
Julius - Hoff
Little Bears Friend - Minarik
Morris Goes To School - Wiseman
Bread and Jam For Frances - Hoban There’s a Wocket in My Pocket - Seuss Days With Frog and Toad - Lobel
Big Max and the Mystery of the Missing Giraffe - Platt
Green Eggs and Ham - Seuss
Frog and Toad All Year - Lobel
Mouse Soup - Lobel
The Fire Cat - Averill
Frog and Toad Together - Lobel
A Kiss for Little Bear - Minarik
Arthurs Prize Reader - Hoban
Frog and Toad Are Friends - Lobel
Grasshopper on the Road - Lobel
Owl at Home - Lobel
Fox in Socks - Seuss
A Bargain For Frances - Hoban
Moose - Miles
Mouse Tales - Lobel
Little Bears Visit - Minarik
Danny and the Dinosaur - Hoff
Arthur's’ Honey Bear - Hoban
Dust For Dinner - Turner
The Magic Fish - Littledale
The Big Balloon Race - Coerr
Arthurs Funny Money - Hoban
Dr. Seuss’s ABC - Seuss
Prairie School - Avi
Bedtime For Frances - Hoban
A Birthday for Frances - Hoban
The Tale of Peter Rabbit - Potter
First Flight - Shea
Frederick- Lionni
Dinosaur Hunters - McMullan
Emperor’s New Clothes - Andersen
Sherlock Holmes: The Red Headed League - Sir Doyle * (2.3)
Curious George - Rey (2.4)
Dr. DeSoto - Steig (2.5)
Nate the Great and the Lost List - Weinman (2.5)
The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto - Standiford and Cook (2.5)
Caps for Sale - Slobodkina (2.9)
Long Way Westward – Sandin (2.9)
Madeline - Bemelmans (2.9)
Amelia Bedelia - Parish (3.0)
A New Coat for Anna - Ziefert (3.1)
Make Way for Ducklings - McCloskey (3.1) Miss Nelson is Missing - Allard (3.1)
A Chair for My Mother - William (3.3)
Blaze and the Lost Quarry - Anderson (3.5) Glorious Flight - Provensen (3.5)
Biggest Bear - Ward (3.7)
Little House - Burton (3.8)
Tut’s Mummy Lost and Found - Donnelly and Watling * (3.9)
Stories from Grandma’s Attic - Richardson More Stories from Grandma’s Attic -
Richardson
Still More Stories from Grandma’s Attic - Richardson
Billy and Blaze - Anderson
Bears on Hemlock Mountain - Dagliesh
Mummies in the Morning - Osborne
Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile – dePaola Ox Cart Man - Hall and Cooney (4.2)
Little House in the Big Woods - Wilder (4.2) (930L)
Courage of Sarah Noble - Dalgliesh (4.4)
ANCILLARY
Box Car Children Series (490L-550L)
Chalk Box Kid - (270L)
Nate the Great Series (130L-400L)
Flat Stanley Books (550L-650L)
Little House in the Prairie Series (630L)
Aesop for Children (NP)
Cleopatra - Stanley (730L)
Flip in the Morning
The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel The Ugly Duckling (390L)
Magic Treehouse Series (240L-350L)
Amelia Bedelia Books (80L-400L)
American Girl Series (500-800L)
If only I had a Green Nose (530L)
Charlotte’s Web - White (680L)
Fantastic Mr. Fox - Dahl (600L)
Follow My Leader - Garfield (670L)
Henry Huggins - Cleary (670L)
Hour of the Olympics - Osborne (380L) Misty of Chincoteague - Henry (750L) Mr. Popper’s Penguins - Atwater (910L) Stuart Little - White (500L)
The Big Wave - Buck (790L)
The Chocolate Touch - Catling (770L) The Family under the Bridge - Carlson (680L)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Lewis (940L)
The Trojan Horse - Little
The Trumpet of the Swan - White (750L) Vacation under the Volcano - Osborne (410L)
Velveteen Rabbit - Williams (4.2)
Winnie the Pooh - Milne (790L)
ANCILLARY
Because of Winn-Dixie - DiCamillo (610L) Black Stallion - Farley (680L)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch - Latham (570L) Classic Myths to Real Aloud - Russell Conqueror and Hero: The Search for Alexander - Krensky
Courage of Sarah Noble - Dalgliesh (4.4) Detective in Togas - Winterfield (700L) Dr. Doolittle - Lofting
Eureka! It’s an Airplane! - Bendick (4.2) Goat in the Garden - Baglio (630L)
If Wishes Were Horses - Kelly (630L) In Search of Troy - Ventura
James and the Giant Peach - Dahl (870L) Joel, A Boy of Galilee - Johnston
Little Pilgrim’s Progress - Bunyan
Miracles at the Plate - Christopher (630L) Mouse and the Motorcycle - Cleary (4.1) (860L)
Murder My Tweet - Spinelli (610L)
Piclemania - Farley (680L)
Pippi Longstocking - Lindgrin (5.2)
Ralph S. Mouse - Cleary (860L)
Sarah Plain and Tall - MacLachlan (4.2) (560L)
The Children’s Homer - Colum
The Hundred Dresses - Estes (870L) The Long Winter - Wilder (790L)
Beorn the Proud - Polland
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Dahl (810L)
From the Mixed Up Files from Mrs. Basil – Frankwiler (700L)
Joan of Arc - Ross
My Side of the Mountain - George (810L) The Borrowers - Norton (780L)
The Cricket in Times Square - Selden (780L)
Where the Red Fern Grows - Rawls (700L)
ANCILLARY
Airborne - Oppel (760L)
Call it Courage - Sperry (830L)
Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of Cheaper by the Dozen - Gilbreth (890L) Facts and Fictions of Minna Pratt -
MacLachlan (650L)
France - Church
Henry Huggins - Cleary (670L)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Pyle (850L)
Strawberry Girl - Lenski (650L)
The Book of Three - Alexander (770L) The Bronze Bow - Speare (770L)
The Contest: Everest - Korman (690L) The Cricket Winter - Holman (790L) The Door in the Wall - Angeli (990L) The Great Brain Series - Fitzgerald (790L 850L)
The Lost Baron - French
The Misadventures of Maude March - Couloumbis (810L)
The-Not-Just-Anybody Family - Byars (690L)
The Penguins Peril - Miles (740L)
The Perilous Road - Steele (750L)
The Quest Begins: Seekers - Hunter (840L)
The Tower Treasure - Dixon (740L)
Tuck Everlasting - Babbitt (770L)
Wheel on the School - DeJong (710L)
Blood on the River - Carbone (820L) Johnny Tremain - Forbes (840L)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH -
O’Brien (780L)
The Bridge to Terabithia - Patterson (810L)
The Princess and the Goblin - MacDonald (1030L)
The Secret Garden - Burnett (820L) Witch of Blackbird Pond - Speare (850L)
ANCILLARY
39 Clues Series - Riordan (550-730L) Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Twain (750L) Bud, Not Buddy - Curtis (950L)
Caddie Woodlawn - Brink (890L)
Goddess Girls Series - Holub (700-750L) Guardians of Ga’Hoole Series - Lasky (750-850L)
Hatchet - Paulsen (1020L)
Holes - Sachar (660L)
I Survived Series - Tarshis (590-620L) Indian in the Cupboard - Banks (780L) Inkheart Trilogy - Funke (780-890L)
Little Princess - Burnett (930L)
Matilda - Dahl (840L)
Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg - Philbrick (950L)
Number the Stars - Lowry (670L)
Percy Jackson Series - Riordan (590- 740L)
Pollyanna - Porter (870L)
Princess and Curdie - MacDonald (1120L) Redwall - Jacques (800L)
Return of the Indian - Banks (740L)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Taylor (920L)
Shiloh - Naylor (890L)
The BFG - Dahl (720L)
The Cabin Faced West - Fritz (870L) The Canning Season - Horvath (870L) The Landing of the Pilgrims - Daugherty (990L)
The Saturdays - Enright (820L)
The Tale of Despereaux - DiCamillo (670L)
Thimble Summer - Enright (810L)
Voyage of Dr. Dolittle - Lofting (660L) Wind in the Willows - Grahame (920L)
Across Five Aprils - Hunt (1100L)
Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery (990L)
Swiss Family Robinson - Wyss (820L) The Red Badge of Courage - Crane (920L)
White Fang - London (970L)
You Come Too - Frost
ANCILLARY
Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin To White House (NL)
Abel’s Island - Steig (920L)
Amos Fortune, Free Man - Yates (1090L) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Stevenson (1040L)
Hans Brinker: The Silver Skates - Dodge (1020L)
Homer Price - McCloskey (1000L)
Island of the Blue Dolphins – O’Dell (1000L)
Jacob’s Rescue: A Holocaust Story (NL) James and the Giant Peach - Dahl (870L) Lassie, Come Home - Knight (780L) Marie Curie - MacLeod (960L)
Miracles on Maple Hill - Sorensen (750L) Number The Stars - Lowry (670L)
Pippi Longstocking - Lindgren (870L) Rabbit Hill - Lawson (1050L)
Stories of Great Americans - Eggleston (560L)
The Neverending Story - Ende (930L) The Pepins and their Problems - Horvath (920L)
The Phantom Tollbooth - Juster (1000L) The Rescuers - Sharp (880L)
The Sign of the Beaver - Speare (770L) The Yearling - Rawlings (750L)
Pre-Grammar 1 (1st Grade)
Amelia Bedelia, Parish
Blaze and the Lost Quarry, Anderson
Blueberries for Sal, McCloskey
Caps for Sale, Slobodkin
Cat in the Hat, Seuss
Cat in the Hat Comes Back, Seuss
Chester’s Way, Henkes
Chicken Soup with Rice, Sendak
Curious George, Rey
Floss, Lewis
Frog and Toad are Friends, Lobel
Green Eggs and Ham, Seuss
Henry and Mudge, Rylant
Hop On Pop, Seuss
If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Numeroff
Josefina Story Quilt, Coerr
Keep the Lights Burning, Abby, Roop
Little Bear’s Visit, Minarik
Madeline, Bemelman
Magic Fish, Littledale
Mouse Soup, Lobel
Mouse Tales, Lobel
Mr. Putter and Tabby series, Rylant
Nate the Great & the Lost List, Sharmot
New Coat for Anna, A, Ziefert
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Seuss
Sounds of Laughter
Sounds of Numbers
Stone Soup, McGovern
There’s a Wocket in My Pocket, Seuss
Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak
PG1 Read Aloud Books
The Voyages of Dr Doolittle, Lofting
Snow Treasure, McSwigan
One Wintry Night, Graham
Stellaluna, Cannon
Owl Moon, Yolen
The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad, Burgess
Pre-Grammar 2 (2nd Grade)
Aesop’s Fables, Aesop
Biggest Bear, The, Draw
Boxcar Children #1, Warner
Chair for My Mother, A, Williams
Corduroy, Freeman
Country Mouse, City Mouse, Wallner
Courage of Sarah Noble, Dagliesh
Dr. Desoto, Stieg
Emperor’s New Clothes, Gross
Little House, Burton
Little House in the Big Woods, Wilder
Little Mermaid and Fairy Tales, Andersen
Make Way for Ducklings, McCloskey
Miss Nelson is Missing, Allard
My Father’s Dragon, Gannett
Ox-Cart Man, Hall
Peter Rabbit and 11 other Fairy Tales, Potter
Ugly Duckling and Fairy Tales, Andersen
Velveteen Rabbit, Williams
PG2 Read Aloud Books
Black Ships Before Troy, Sutcliffe
Pinocchio, Collodi
Pompei
Secret Garden, Burnett
Trojan Horse
Tuts Mummy
Winnie the Pooh, Milne
Grammar 1 (3rd Grade)
Chanticleer and the Fox, Cooney
Charlotte’s Web, White
Empty Pot, Demi
Fables, Lobel
Farmer Boy, Wilder
Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Grimm
Helen Keller, Sullivan
Homer Price, McCloskey
Joan of Arc
Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis
Little House on the Prairie, Wilder
Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Atwater
Minstrel in the Tower, Skurzinsky
Sword in the Tree, Bulla
Robin Hood, Ingle
Prince Caspian, Lewis
Saint George and the Dragon
The Apprentice, Llorenti
Making of Knight, O’Brien
Breaking Into Print, Krensky
Door in the Wall, De Angeli
Grammar 2 (4th Grade)
American Tall Tales, Stoutenburg
Big Red, Kjelgaard
Black Beauty, Sewell
Caddie Woodlawn, Brink
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl
Cricket in Times Square, Selden
Dangerous Journey
Emil and the Detectives
Indian in the Cupboard, Reid
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H., O’Brien
Old Yeller, Gipson
Sign of the Beaver, Speare
Twenty-One Balloons, DuBois
Misty of Chincoteague, Henry
Alice in Wonderland, Carroll
Wind in the Willows, Grahame
Grammar 3 (5th Grade)
Summer of the Monkeys, Rawls
Escape from Warsaw, Serraillier
Phantom Toll Booth, Juster
Number the Stars, Lowry
Tuck Everlasting, Babbitt
Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Frankweiler, Konignsburg
Lamb’s Shakespeare (1st - 3rd stories)
Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Shadow of a Bull, Wojciechowska
Rifles for Watie
Iron Scouts of the Confederacy, McGriffin
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Adventures of Robin Hood, Vivian
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Latham
Detectives in Togas, Winterfeld
House of Sixty Fathers, DeJong
Rolf the Viking, French
Rowan of Rin, Rodda
Sounder, Armstrong
Wheel on the School, DeJong
The Boy at the Alamo, Cousins
Swiss Family Robinson, Wyss
Grammar 4 (6th Grade)
Adam of the Road, Gray
A Christmas Carol, Dickens
Archimedes and the Door of Science, Bendic
Beowulf, Heaney (ed.)
Golden Goblet, McGraw
God’s Smuggler, Brother Andrew
Where the Red Fern Grows, Rawls
Morning Star of the Reformation, Thompson
Johnny Tremain, Forbes
Jungle Book, Kipling
Endless Steppe, Hautzig
King Arthur & Knights of Round Table, Green
Tales from Shakespeare, Lamb
Tom Sawyer, Twain
Trial and Triumph, Hannula
Bronze Bow, Speare
Cedar Tree Curriculum Guide (Rev. 9/1/24) – page 283
UPPER SCHOOL LITERATURE LIST
LOGIC 1 (7th Grade)
Around the World in Eighty Days, Verne
By Right of Conquest, Henty
The Scarlet Pimpernel, Orczy
Endurance, Lansing
Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
Aesop’s Fables
O. Henry Short Stories
Treasure Island, Stevenson
Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales
LOGIC 2 (8th Grade)
Robinson Crusoe, Defoe
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle
The Complete Father Brown, Chesterton
Great Expectations, Dickens
The Tempest, Shakespeare
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving
More than Dates & Dead People, Mansfield
Top 500 Poems
Where Wagons Could Go, Drury
Red Badge of Courage, Crane
The Human Comedy, Saroyan
Watership Down, Adams
The Chosen, Potok
Kindergarten Literature
1. Treasure Tree by Gary Smalley
2. Treasury for Children by James Herriot
3. Sammy and His Shepherd by Susan Hun
5. Spunky’s Diary by Janette Oke
6. Great Children’s Stories, A treasured Collection
7. The World of Pooh by A.A. Milne - Lunch Time
8. Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting – Lunch Time
9. A Child’s Look at the Twenty-Third Psalm by Lauren Jarrett
First Grade Literature
1. Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
2. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle
3. Pinocchio by Carllo Collodi
4. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
5. The Tales of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
2nd Grade Literature
1. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. Carolina’s Courage by Elizabeth Yates
3. River of Danger by Denise Williamson (Opt.)
4. Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
5. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
6. Boxcar Children #1 by Gertrude Chandler Warner
3rd Grade Literature
1. A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
2. Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
3. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
4. Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting
5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (Novel Study)
6. The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
7. (Little) Pilgrim’s Progress by Helen L. Taylor (based on John Bunyan’s classic)
Audio Books
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl
The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl
Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
Ribsy by Beverly Cleary
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
4th Grade Literature
1. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
2. Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks
3. Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsberg
4. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rauls
5. 21 Balloons by William Pene du Bois
6. Hard Gold by Avi
7. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
8. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’brien
9. Horse and his Boy by: C.S. Lewis
5th Grade Literature
1. Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson
2. Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
3. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
4. Summer of the Monkey’s by Wilson Rawls
5. Prince Caspien by: C.S. Lewis
Audio Books
BFG by Roald Dahl
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
6th Grade Literature
1. Trojan War by Bernard Evslin
2. The Pages of History by Bruce Etly & Alexia Detweiler – Books 1 & 2
3. Voyage of the Dawn Trader by C.S. Lewis
4. Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
5. The Black Ships Before Troy – The Story of the Iliad by Rosemary Sutcliff
Audio Books
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
1st grade
Billy and Blaze Madeline
Dr. DeSoto Nate the Great
Frog and Toad Are Friends Nate the Great and the Lost List
Frog and Toad All Year Miss Nelson is Missing
Frog and Toad Together A New Coat for Anna
Days with Frog and Toad Stone Soup
A Chair for My Mother Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea
Harry the Dirty Dog Henry and Mudge
Corduroy Little Bear
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Little Bear’s Friend
Floss Bread and Jam for Frances
The Biggest Bear The Bears on Hemlock Mountain
Cappyboppy Ice Wreck
Cecily G. and the Nine Monkey The Courage of Sarah Noble
The Egg A Pocket for Corduroy
The Little House If You Take a Mouse to School
Maybelle the Cable Car Blaze and the Gray Spotted Pony
There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon Henry and Mudge Puddle Trouble
Peter Rabbit Dr DeSoto
Amelia Bedelia
2nd
Boxcar Children, book and Teacher Guide Golden Goblet
Now We Are Six Animal Folk Tales of America
Winnie the Pooh Danny and the Dinosaur
Random House Book of Fairy Tales Beatrix Potter, Timmy Tiptoes
The Classic Treasury of Aesop’s Fables Beatrix Potter, Johnny Townmouse
Velveteen Rabbit Beatrix Potter, Tom Kitten
A Child’s Garden of Verses Beatrix Potter, Flopsy Bunnis
Favorite Poems for Children Coloring Book Mouse Soup
Little House on the Prairie, book and TG Prairie School
Tirzah
3rd
Charlotte's Web Misty of Chincoteague
Homer Price Detectives in Togas
The Horse and His Boy The Magician’s Nephew
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
4th -
Prince Caspian Joan of Arc
Voyage of the Dawn Treader Michelangelo
Silver Chair The Magician’s Nephew
Luther the Leader Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales*
Augustine, the Farmer’s Boy of Tagaste Robin Hood
The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow Dangerous Journey
Song of Roland/Robin Hood Plays*
Fifth -
Swiss Family Robinson
Amos Fortune: Free Man
By Right of Conquest
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Pilgrim’s Progress
The Hobbit
Tales of Shakespeare
Johnny Tremain
Seaman: Lewis and Clark
Treasure Island
Carry on, Mr. Bowditch
Phantom Tollbooth
- Simply Charlotte Mason
BOOK LISTS FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS (GRADES 1–4)
BOOK GROUP 1
The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne (contains both Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner)
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan
Caleb’s Story by Patricia MacLachlan
More Perfect Than the Moon by Patricia MacLachlan
Grandfather’s Dance by Patricia MacLachlan
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater
BOOK GROUP 2
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Wondrous Rex by Patricia MacLachlan
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Minstrel in the Tower by Gloria Skurzynski
BOOK GROUP 3
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
BOOK GROUP 4
The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis
Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis
Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis
The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis
The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis
BOOK LISTS FOR MIDDLE STUDENTS (GRADES 5–8)
BOOK GROUP 1
The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
Bambi: A Life in the Woods by Felix Salten
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
BOOK GROUP 2
Little Britches by Ralph Moody
Man of the Family by Ralph Moody
The Home Ranch by Ralph Moody
Mary Emma and Company by Ralph Moody
The Fields of Home by Ralph Moody
Shaking the Nickel Bush by Ralph Moody
(Be on the alert for some coarse “cowboy language” in the first book of the series and some swearing in the others. You can easily skip it as you read aloud.)
BOOK GROUP 3
Laddie: A True Blue Story by Gene Stratton-Porter
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
BOOK GROUP 4
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
BOOK LISTS FOR OLDER STUDENTS (GRADES 9–12)
BOOK GROUP 1
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
BOOK GROUP 2
Watership Down by Richard Adams
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
BOOK GROUP 3
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Beowulf by Anonymous (A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
BOOK GROUP 4
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore
The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
-
Audiobook Epics (besides the bible) to have on repeat over the years of upper elementary for building vocabulary:
Lord of the Rings
Shakespeare
Beowulf
Homer
Dante
Tolstoy
Dostoevsky
Count of Monte Cristo
Faerie Queene
Herodotus
Plutarch
Kalevala
The Song of Roland
The Prose Edda
- Other
I Am The Seed That Grew The Tree - A nature poem for every day of the year
- Specific Encyclopedias
Racinet's History of Costume
Racinet's History of Ornament
-
Picture Books and Very Young Readers:
Tomie De Paola
P.D. Eastman
Frog and Toad
Babar
Madeline - Bemelmans
Harry the Dirty Dog - Gene Zion
Corduroy (and other bear stories) by Don Freeman
Mike Mulligan & His Steam Shovel; The Little House - Virginia Lee Burton
Jumanji, Polar Express - Chris van Allsburg - really incredible artwork.
Scupper the Sailor Dog
Crictor, Three Robbers - Tomi Ungerer (French)
Swimmy - Leo Lionni
(underrated) Bertil Almquist - Stone Age Kids Discover America
Moomin - Tove Jansson
Pet at the Met - Lydia Freeman
Charles Schulz
Alice E. Goudey - Houses from the Sea
The Griffin and the Minor Canon - Stockton, Sendak
The Runaway Bunny - Margaret Wise Brown
Katie Morag Delivers the Mail
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses
The Giant Jam Sandwich
Little Old Mrs. Pepperpot
Borka: The Adventures of A Goose with No Feathers - John Burningham
Le Petit Nicholas
My Father's Dragon
Pippi Longstocking
Miffy - Dick Bruna
Flat Stanley
The Little Wooden Horse (1938)
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Max and Moritz
The Mousewife - Rumer Godden
The Bear and the People - Reiner Zimnik
d'Aulaires books - Greek Myths; Norse Myths; Abraham Lincoln; Benjamin Franklin; Leif the Lucky; George Washington
Wee Gillis - Munro Leaf
Three Ladies Beside the Sea - Rhoda Levine (and others); Harrison Loved His Umbrella
The Man Who Lost His Head - Clare Hutchet Bishop
The Crane - Reiner Zimnik
Ounce Dice Trice - Alastair Reid
The Mysteries - Bill Watterson
Brookie and Her Lamb
The Frog In The Well - Alvin Tresselt
The Elephant Who Liked To Smash Small Cars - Jean Merill
Seabird - Holling Clancy Holling
Cremation of Sam McGee (1986) Service poem; Harrison paintings - https://archive.org/details/cremationofsammc00serv
Seeker of knowledge : the man who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs - by Rumford, James
Ludmila Zeman - Gilgamesh the King (cool art)
Mary Azarian - The Tale of John Barleycorn
Byrd Baylor - The Way to Start a Day
Harold Berson - Barrels to the Moon; Pop Goes the Turnip
The Magic Sled - Mel Furukawa
JAPAN CHILDREN'S BOOKS
NORTH AMERICA
1800s:
Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey - Boys and Girls of Colonial Days
Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates
Twain - Tom Sawyer; Huck Finn
Five Little Peppers - Margaret Sidney
? What Katy Did
? Tanglewood Tales - Nathanael Hawthorne
Davy and the Goblin - Charles E. Carryl
Uncle Remus - Joel Chandler Harris
Early 20th:
James Baldwin - Sampo ; https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1982
Anne of Green Gables
Emblemland - cool over the garden wall americana feel to this alice knock-off
Wild Animals I Have Known - Ernest Thompson Seton (animal stories by boy scouts founder)
Midcentury:
Edith Hamilton's Mythology - THE classic myths collection.
13 Clocks - James Thurber
Phantom Tollbooth
E.B. White - Trumpet and the Swan is overlooked! but obviously Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Beyond the Pawpaw Trees - Palmer Brown
A Wrinkle In Time series - Madeleine L'Engle
The Door in the Wall is a 1949 novel by Marguerite de Angeli that received the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1950.[1]
The Princess Bride
Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
Earthsea - Le Guin * philosophy of magic themes
?the house of four seasons by roger duvoisin
Elizabeth George Speare - Witch of Blackbird Pond; lots of other historical adventure fiction in America
Eloise McGraw - Mara, Daughter of the Nile; other historical adventure stories
The Hidden Treasure of Glaston - Eleanore Myers Jewett
Jeanne Bendick - Archimedes and teh Door of Science; Galen; Galileo; Herodotus
Genievieve Foster's "Horizontal History" Biographes - Augustus Caesar's World; George Washington; Abraham Lincoln; The World of Columbus and Sons; The World of Captain John Smith; William Penn; Year of the Horseless Carriage
The Royal Road to Romance - Richard Halliburton
Holling Clancy Holling - Paddle-to-the-Sea (great lakes indian)
! Two Are Better than One - Carol Ryrie Brink (1900s Moscow Idaho); Caddie Woodlawn
Bronto - Hetty Burlingame Beatty
Lorna Doone Beers - The Crystal Cornerstone
! The painted Cave - Harry Behn
Contemporary:
Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli
Holes; Wayside School
Rick Riordan - The Lightning Thief (loved this as a kid; the goofiness holds up extremely well - he's actually very knowledgeable about classics.
Lemony Snicket - A Series of Unfortunate Events - some of them are hilarious and others are not as good - * morbid, odd storytelling, inconclusive ending
Anna of Byzantium is a historical novel by Tracy Barrett
BRITAIN
Poetry:
Jane and Ann Taylor - poems for infant minds
Milne - When We Were Very Young
1800s:
Alice; Through the Looking Glass
George MacDonald - The Princess and the Goblin; The Lost Princess; many others
The Blue and Red Fairy Books - Andrew Lang
A Child's Garden of Verses - RLS
Dickens
Jungle Book; Captains Courageous - Kipling
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle
The Reluctant Dragon - Kenneth Grahame
? Moonfleet - J. Meade Falkner (smuggler story)
The king of the Golden River - John Ruskin
Cautionary Tales for Children - Hilaire Belloc
! The Coral Island - Ballantyne (seen as too imperialist); The Gorilla Hunters
The Wise Little Donkey - Sophie Segur
The Happy Prince and Other Stories - Oscar Wilde
(forgotten but beloved) Juliana Horatia Ewing
Mary Louisa Molesworth
! From Nowhere to the North Pole - Tom Hood (Alice in Wonderland imitation - rad!!)
! St. Winifred's - Frederic Farrar (what school was like in 1870s)
! The Children of the New Forest - Marryat (English Civil War)
The Lamb Tales From Shakespeare
! Belloc - The Bad Child's Book of Beasts
Mopsa the Fairy
A New Alice in the Old Wonderland - Anne Matlack Richards
HUgessen's Stories for my Children (1869) - criticized for being macabre
Alice Corkran - Down the Snow Stairs (alice-like)
Roger Lancelyn Green - Myths of the Norsemen
Early 20th:
Edith Nesbit - Treasure Seekers; Five Children and It
Swallows and Amazons
~ Farrow's Wallypug of Why
John Masefield - The Midnight Folk; The Box of Delights
Midcentury:
The Hobbit
Narnia
Wind in the Willows
Wolves of Willoughby Chase
The Wind on the Moon - Eric Linklater
Animal Farm
Roald Dahl
Watership Down
Madeline
Uncle - J.P. Martin
The Little Grey Men - B.B.
The Provensen Book of Fairy Tales
Eilis Dillon
Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry
by Fry, Rosalie K
! Rosemary Sutcliff (cool ancient BC historical fiction)
The Trojan War - Olivia Coolidge; Greek Myths, Legends of the North,
Sheila Burnford - The Incredible Journey; BelRia
Jennifer Westwood and Pauline Baynes (great illustrations) - Medieval Tales - https://archive.org/details/medievaltales00west
Tales and Legends - https://archive.org/details/taleslegends0000west/page/n15/mode/2up
Contemporary:
Howl's Moving Castle
? Charmed Life - Diana Wynne Jones
Redwall series
Harry Potter
Out of the Dust - Karen Hesse
Poems -
Back by midnight by Mole, John (1994)
ELSEWHERE
Jules Verne
The Mysterious Island (conquering the wilderness with science)
Jean-Henri Fabre - The Story Book of Science; Book of Insects; Life of the Spider
Heidi - Spyri
Tales from Moominville
The Neverending Story - Michael Ende
Tintin (comic)
The Little Prince - Exupery
Aesop's Fables
Italian Folk Tales - Italo Calvino * there are hundreds, not sure if all are equally child friendly
Russian Folk Tales - Afanasyev
Grimm
Andersen
? Celtic
? Finnish
? Nordic
Guerber's Myths of the Norsemen; myths of the greeks
- might be hard to find in english but worth investigating getting a translation done
Emilio Salgari - Corsair
Jules Renard - Poil de Carotte
Sophie's Misfortunes - Countess of Segur
Sans Famille - Hector Malot
Otfried Pruesler
Celia, lo que dice - Elena Fortun
Carmen Bravo-Villasante - ANthology of children's literature in spanish (1962) and other similar ones; popular tales of latin america; History and anthology of Ibero-American children's literature
Carmen Kurtz (Spanish)
The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical Adventures Paperback – May 4, 2015
by Malba Tahan - perfect both for math and for iraq geography, full of references to both - set in the islamic world, so characters praise allah
RHETORIC 1 (9th Grade)
The Aeneid, Virgil
Oresteia, Aeschylus
The Best Things in Life, Kreeft
The Early History of Rome, Livy
Gilgamesh Epic
The Histories, Herodotus
The Iliad, Homer
Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare
The Last Days of Socrates, Plato
Narnia Stories, Lewis
The Odyssey of Homer, Homer
Hammurabi’s Code
Plutarch's Lives, Plutarch
The Screwtape Letters, Lewis
Theban Trilogy, Sophocles
Till We Have Faces, Lewis
The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius
Death on the Nile, Christie
Eagle of the Ninth, Sutcliffe
RHETORIC 2 (10th Grade)
Beowulf
The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer
Confessions, Augustine
Ecclesiastical History of English People, Bede
Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius
The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien
Henry V, Shakespeare
The Hobbit, Tolkien
Boy Knight, Henty
Inferno, Dante
Macbeth, Shakespeare
The Nine Tailors, Sayers
On the Incarnation, Athanasius
The Return of the King, Tolkien
Rule of St. Benedict, Benedict
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tolkein (tr.)
The Song of Roland
The Two Towers, Tolkien
RHETORIC 3 (11th Grade)
Abraham Lincoln’s Speeches and Writings,
The Anti-Federalist Papers
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Christianity and Liberalism, Machen
Of Plymouth Plantation, Bradford
Animal Farm, Orwell
The Bondage of the Will, Luther
Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway
Death of a Salesman, Miller
The Communist Manifesto, Marx
Tale of Two Cities, Dickens
The Federalist Papers
Finney's Autobiography, Finney
Foundational American Documents
Frankenstein, Shelley
The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald
Gulliver's Travels, Swift
Killer Angels, Shaara
Little Women, Alcott
Mein Kampf, Hitler
The New Foxes Book of Martyrs, Foxe
The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan
The Pit and the Pendulum, Poe
Postmodern Times, Veith
How Shall We Then Live? Schaeffer
Pride and Prejudice, Austen
Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke
The Social Contract, Rousseau
Tom Sawyer, Twain
Treaty of Versailles and WWI documents
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe
To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee
RHETORIC 4 (12th Grade)
The Universe Next Door, Sire
Naming the Elephant, Sire
Mere Christianity, Lewis
Romanticist Poets: Blake, Wordsworth,
Coleridge)
My Name is Asher Lev, Potok
Huckleberry Finn, Twain
The Stranger, Camus
Brave New World, Huxley
Paradise Lost, Milton
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson
The Prince, Machiavelli
Hamlet, Shakespeare
The Abolition of Man, Lewis
Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury
The Great Divorce, Lewis
- Older Students - More mature themes (violence, etc.) and length or just generally more mature in a good way
Beowulf
Wodehouse
Ender's Game
Lord of the Flies
Jane Austen
Sabriel; Abhorsen - Garth Nix
Tom Brown's School Days - Thomas Hughes
An Episode of Sparrows - Rumer Godden
Lord of the Rings
Fahrenheit 451
Call of the Wild / White Fang
Sherlock Holmes Stories
King Arthur - Roger Lancelyn Green
The Nonexistent Knight; the Cloven Viscount - Italo Calvino
Horatio Hornblower
Tarka the Otter
The War of the Button
Around the World in 80 Days; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne
Count of Monte Cristo; Three Musketeers - Dumas
Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Picnic at Hanigng Rock - Joan Lindsay
! The Letter for the King - Tonke Dragt
? Prisoner of Zenda - Anthony Hope
? Stars of Eger - Geza Gardonyi - hungarian youth epic
? Captain Fracasse - Theophile Gautier (1600s)
? Heart - Edmondo De Amicis (italian unification)
? A Girl of the Limberlost - Gene Stratton-Porter
? La Medeleni - Ionel Teodoreanu
? My side of the Mountain - Jean George
? The Pigman - Zindel (? too realistic teenagers)
? Marianne Dreams
? Sophie's World
? Time of Trial - historical fiction
? The Twelve and the Genii - Pauline Clarke
? Pastures of the Blue Crane - Hesba Fray Brinsmead
! Gentle Ben - Walter Morey
? The Otterbury Incident
? Owl Service - Alan Garner (sounds rad)
? The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton (violence, strong language)
? A Kestrel for a Knave
! The Wool-pack Cynthia Harnett
? Chocky - Wyndham (weird sci-fi?)
? Seven Little Australians - Ethel Turner
? Hear
? A Pack of Lies
? Switchers - Kate Thompson (maybe kind of new agey, transformations
? The Ghost Drum - Susan Price (cruelty)
? Brother in the Land (british apocalypse)
? Scarecrows; The Machine Gunners - Robert Westall
? Westing Game
? THunder and Lightnings - Jan Mark
? Walk to Moons - Sharon Creech
? Carrie's War - Nina Bawden
? The Nargun and the Stars - Patricia Wrightson
? Juli eof the Wolves - [sexual assault]
? The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
? Flambards - K.M. Peyton
- Comics
Tintin
St. Trinian's
Nausicaa
Calvin & Hobbes (comic)
- i need to check out or review
wildwood
** Hatchet - Gary Paulsen
The Borrowers
? Millions - Boyce
Tale of Despereaux - Kate DiCamillo
City of the Beasts Isabel Allende
Kensuke's Kingdom - Morpurgo
? Cirque du Freak
? Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Rushdie
? Whale Rider - Witi Ihimaera
? Snow Spider - Nimmo (Welsh mythology)
? The Indian in the Cupboard
? Bridge to Terebithia
? Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
The Min-Min (australian)
? The Ghost of Thomas Kempe
Crusade in Jeans - Thea Beckman
? The Stone Book Quartet - Alan Garner
? Sarah, Plain and Tall - MachLachlan
? The Hounds of Morrigan
? Haroun - Rushdie
? The Story of Tracy Beaker - Jacqueline Wilson (foster kid)
? The View from Saturday - Konigsberg
Catherine Called Birdy; Midwife's Apprentice - Karen Cushman
Fire, Bed, and Bone - Henrietta Branford - 1381 Peasant's Revolt
Skellig - David Almond
The Sterkarm Hanshake - Susan Price
? The God Beneath the Sea - Leon Garfield; Smith - Leon Garfield; Bostock and Harris
? A Traveller in Time - Allison Utley
Charlotte Sometimes - Penelope Farmer
Homeless Bird - Gloria Whelan
- stories set in certain places
Spain / Portugal -
Shadow of a Bull - Wojciechowska
He Went With Vasco de Gama - Louise Andrews Kent ; Columbus, Marco Polo, John Paul Jones, Champlain
Alhambra - Madeleine A. Polland (1971)
Scandinavia -
Beorn the Proud - Madeleine A. Polland (viking raiders of ireland?)
China -
Mission to Cathay - Madeleine A. Polland (missionary to china)
Fiji -
Inoke Sails the South Seas
- Atlases
Atlas of the year 1000
by Man, John, 1941-
https://archive.org/details/atlasofyear10000000manj_c9x7 - very cool essays
Atlas of British history
by Gilbert, Martin, 1936-2015
https://archive.org/details/bwb_W8-BIR-356 - awesome maps
- want to check out but haven't yet been able to flip through
John and Patricia Beatty - midcentury historian writer couple
Herbert Best - Garram of the Hill Tribes (1934 about nigerian boy)