Classic Reading List (pre-1900)

A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.”

– C.S. Lewis

Classics are books that have stood the test of time and have been loved from generation to generation. They have lessons for all ages. You can read Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings in 4th grade and read it again at 40. The age groups here are mostly a suggestion. Most of the plays on this list have been made into movies (the benefit of being a classic) and should be watched rather than read. We indicate authors who are also poets, as well as suggest specific anthologies.

How we made the list: We consulted many classic book lists to pick the most accessible for K-12.

Early Elementary School

Folk tales all children should know: try to look for retellings at your child’s reading level.

  1. Aesop. Aesop’s Fables

  2. Joel Chandler Harris. The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus 1881.

  3. Arabian Nights / 1,001 Nights.

  4. Bible Stories.

  5. Greek Myths.

  6. Hans Christian Anderson. Fairy Tales.

  7. Brother’s Grimm. Fairy Tales.

  8. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

  9. Robin Hood (original in old English by Howard Pyle).

Late Elementary School

  1. Lewis Carrol. Alice in Wonderland 1865. The Jabberwock and other Poems 1871.

  2. Rudyard Kipling. The Jungle Book 1894. 

  3. Johana Spyri. Heidi 1880.

  4. Wu Cheng Eng. Monkey King: Journey to the West 1592.

Poetry Anthologies

  1. Poetry for the Grammar Stage.

  2. Heroes, Horses, and Harvest Moons Illustrated Reader: A Cornucopia of Best Loved Poems

Middle School

  1. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women 1868.

  2. Confucius. The Analects of Confucius 1533.

  3. Stephen Crane. The Red Badge of Courage 1895.

  4. Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe 1719.

  5. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist 1838. Great Expectations 1861. Tale of Two Cities 1859. David Copperfield 1850. A Christmas Carol 1843.

  6. Alexander Dumas. The Three Musketeers 1844. The Man in the Iron Mask 1850.

  7. Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter 1850.

  8. Hector Malot. Nobody’s Boy 1878.

  9. Edgar Allan Poe. The Telltale Heart and Other Writings: 1843 short stories and poems.

  10. Plutarch. Parallel Lives 100AD.

  11. Edmond Rostand. Cyrano De Bergerac 1897. 

  12. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein 1818.

  13. Robert Louis Stevenson. Treasure Island 1883. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1886.

  14. Bram Stoker. Dracula. 1897

  15. Jonathan Swift. Gullivers Travels 1726. A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works.

  16. Mark Twain. Prince and the Pauper 1881. Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1884.

  17. Francoise Voltaire. Candide 1759.

  18. H.G. Wells. The Time Machine 1895.

  19. Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest 1895. Word-for-word movie version.

High School

High school students can still enjoy books we recommend for the Middle School level. However, they are now ready to tackle more complex language and mature topics.

  1. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice 1813. Emma 1815.

  2. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre 1847.

  3. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Don Quixote 1605.

  4. Julius Cesar. The Gallic Wars ~50 BC.

  5. Daniel Defoe. Moll Flanders 1722.

  6. Fyodor Dostoevsky. Crime and Punishment 1866. Demons 1873. Brothers Karamazov 1880.

  7. James Fennimore Cooper. The Complete Leather Stocking Tales 1823 (includes Last of the Mohicans).

  8. Alexander Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo 1844.

  9. George Elliot. Middlemarch 1871. The Mill on the Floss 1860. Daniel Deronda 1876

  10. Homer. The Odyssey ~700BC. The Illiad ~700BC.

  11. Gilbert and Sullivan. (Plays) HMS Pinafore 1878. Mikado 1885. Pirates of Penzance 1879. We do not recommend any filmed theater performances of Gilbert and Sullivan because the fast dialogue is hard to hear. The 1983 Pirates of Penzance movie with Kevin Kline was actually filmed as a movie. See our local resources for local Gilbert and Sullivan societies that regularly stage performances - it is well worth the trip.

  12. Henry James. Portrait of a Lady 1881.

  13. Sir Thomas Mallory. Le Morte d’Arthur 1485.

  14. Herman Melville. Moby Dick 1851.

  15. William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet 1597. Macbeth 1606. Hamlet 1599. 12th Night 1602. Then read the Sonnets. Folios published 1623

  16. William Makepeace Thakery. Vanity Fair 1848.

  17. Lev Tolstoy. Anna Karenina 1877. War and Peace 1867.

  18. Sun Tzu. The Art of War ~400BC.

  19. Jules Verne. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 1870. Around the World in 80 Days 1872.

  20. Virgil. The Aeneid 19BC.