Good Books List

"The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts."  

-Rene Descartes

I learned from the book "The Great Conversation" (a book everyone should read - I'm sure it's at almost every library) that there is a 3000 year old conversation of ideas going on even now.  People who have read the classics can take part in the conversation because they are familiar with the ideas of the great minds of the past.

The "Great Books of the Western World" (the link takes you to a list of a 10 year reading plan for the Great Books) is a compilation of the most important of these classics (it's very similar to The Harvard Classics).  In order to be able to read these Great Books, it is helpful to have read books that have sparked our imagination and ideas.  A classicist professor named John Senior compiled a list of "Good Books" that every child (and adult) should read, that will also prepare them for reading the Great Books.  I decided to start on this list with the kids.

(I just realized this is a picture of Little Miss with a

work book, but the kids do often like to read their

books while they eat - it's funny to watch.)

 One great thing is that these books are "Classics" which means their ideas have withstood the test of time and can be read again and again.  This not only makes them worthwhile to read, but they're also on the internet since they are no longer under copyright.  I downloaded almost every book on this list to my e-reader for free!


Here is the list:
(the letters in parenthesis are the initials of the people in the family who were old enough to understand the book when it was read - this way I can keep track of who read what)
* means we're reading it right now

Nursery (7 Books)

The Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit (all 23 little books) by Beatrix Potter

A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Language of Flowers by Kate Greenaway

Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose Coloring Book by Kate Greenaway

The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (see my comments)

The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Preschool (9 Books)

The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne

The Complete Poems of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne

The Lilac Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Nonsense Poems by Edward Lear

The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Anderson's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson

The Olive Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Ride a Cock-Horse and other Rhymes and Stories by Randolph Caldecott

Kindergarten (10 Books)

A Treasury of Mother Goose (c,w,j)

Perrault's Complete Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (mcwj)

*Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Dr. Dolittle: A Treasury by Hugh Lofting

The Orange Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

The Green Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Favorite Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris

The Brown Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm

First Grade (10 Books )

The Aesop for Children by Aesop

The Story of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Water Babies by Charles Kingsley

*Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

The Kate Greenaway Birthday Book by Kate Greenaway

The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (for older children - too scary for younger ones)

The Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

The Pied Piper of Hamlin by Robert Browning

Second Grade (12 Books )

Arabian Nights edited by Andrew Lang

Smoky by Will James

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder (I think the love story in these last ones in the series is for more older readers)

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgeson Burnett

Third Grade (12 Books )

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss

Log of the Cowboy by Andy Adams

Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott

Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Verses by Hilaire Belloc

The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald

Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb

Fourth Grade (17 Books )

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott

Captain's Courageous by Rudyard Kipling

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle

Around the World in80 Days by Jules Verne

The Boy Knight by G. A. Henty

Kidnapped by Robert Lois Stevenson

The John Carter Mars Collection by Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Knight of the White Cross by G. A. Henty

Story of a Bad Boy by Thomas Bailey Aldrich

The Cat of Bubastes by G. A. Henty

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (there is one scene in here that I skipped over with the kids where two women get burned at the stake - it is not for children)

A Tale of the Western Plains by G. A. Henty

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Call of the Wild by Jack London   (I remember starting to read this with the kids, but it got too violent for their sensitive natures.  It's been a while though so I don't know what I would think of it now for older children).

Fifth Grade (18 Books )

An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

20,000 leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne

From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne

Hans Brinker by Mary Mapes Dodge

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan: The Beasts of Tarzan, the Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Jungle Tales of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott

The Dash for Khartoum by G. A. Henty

The Ranch on the Beaver by Andy Adams

The Chessman of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Wells Brothers: the young Cattle Kings by Andy Adams

Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott

Bonnie Prince Charlie by G. A. Henty

In Freedom's Cause by G. A. Henty

Sixth Grade (22 Books )

Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott

Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott

Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley

Sketchbook by Washington Irving

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Moods by Louisa May Alcott

The Dragon and the Raven by G. A. Henty

Work by Louisa May Alcott

In the Reign of Terror by G. A. Henty

Won by the Sword by G. A. Henty

Under Drake's Flag by G. A. Henty

Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

The Lion of St. Mark by G. A. Henty

Main-Travelled Roads by Hamlin Garland

Son of the Middle Border by Hamlin Garland

Facing Death by G. A. Henty

Michael O'Halloran by Gene Stratton-Porter

With Wolfe in Canada by G. A. Henty

Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

Beric the Briton by G. A. Henty

A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter

Seventh Grade (22 Books )

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Wulf the Saxon by G. A. Henty

Winning his Spurs by G. A. Henty

The Young Carthaginian by G. A. Henty

For the Temple by G. A. Henty

The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson

Two Years before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (There were a couple of deaths described that were not for little kids.  I skipped them when I read it to them, but for seventh grade they might be okay).

Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare

Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter

The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper

The Lion of the North by G. A. Henty

The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

By Pike and Dyke by G. A. Henty

With the Lee in Virginia by G. A. Henty

Across the Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson

In the Heart of the Rockies by G. A. Henty

Penrod by Booth Tarkington

The Complete Stalky and Co. by Rudyard Kipling

Eighth Grade (22 Books)

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

A Daughter of the Land by Gene Stratton-Porter

At the Foot of the Rainbow by Gene Stratton-Porter

The Two Admirals by James Fenimore Cooper

The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper

St. Bartholomew's Eve by G. A. Henty

The Ways of the Hour by James Fenimore Cooper

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Pilot: A Tale of the Sea by James Fenimore Cooper

The Wing-the-Wing by James Fenimore Cooper

Chainbearer by James Fenimore Cooper

The Prairie by James Fenimore Cooper

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott

The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper

Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott

Mr. Midshipman Easy by Frederick Marryat

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This post is part of my thoughts on educating the kids