K-4 READING Copyright 1999 by the author. Please do not reproduce. This material is adapted from The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home.
Jessie WiseChoose reading assigments from among the following names. This list is merely a starting place. There are many other authors and books worth reading, and you'll discover them as you explore your library. Read these in chronological order, and we suggest that you read them in this order. In most cases, you can use any version of these stories. We have suggested a few specific editions that we particularly like.
Ancients, 5000 BC-400 AD (first grade). Work through these in the following order:
Look for stories and poems by, about, or from:
The Bible
Homer (The Iliad and the Odyssey)
Hutton, Warwick. The Trojan Horse. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1992.
McCaughrean, Geraldine. The Odyssey (illus. Victor G. Ambrus). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Greek and Roman myths
Fisher, Leonard Everett. Theseus and the Minotaur. New York: Holiday House, 1989.
__________. The Olympians. New York: Holiday House, 1984.
__________. Cyclops. New York: Holiday House, 1991.
Geringer, Laura. The Pomegranate Seeds. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
Hutton, Warwick. Theseus and the Minotaur. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1989.
__________. Perseus. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1993.
McCaughrean, Geraldine. Greek Myths. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1993.
Aesop's Fables
Plato
Aristotle
Egyptian myths
Indian folk-tales
Turnbull, E. Luica. Fairy Tales of India. Scranton, PA: Criterion Books, 1960.
African folk-tales
Courlander, Harold. The King's Drum and Other Stories. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1962.
Confucius
Chinese and Japanese folk-tales
Ancient Chinese and Japanese poetry
Bishop, Clair. The Five Chinese Brothers. New York: Coward-McCann, 1938.
Cicero
Virgil
English, Irish, and Welsh fairy tales
Bennet, Richard. Little Dermot and the Thirsty Stones, and Other Irish Folk Tales. New York: Coward-McCann, 1953.
Steel, Flora Ann. English Fairy Tales (illus. Arthur Rackham). New York: Macmillan, 1962.Medieval/Early Renaissance, 400-1600 (second grade). Work through these books and authors in the following order:
Look for stories and poems by, about, or from:
St. Augustine
Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Hastings, Selina. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (illus. Juan Wijngaard). New York: Morrow, 1981.
___________. Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady (illus. Juan Wijngaard). New York: Morrow, 1987.
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
McCaughrean, Geraldine. The Canterbury Tales (illus. Victor G. Ambrus). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Edmund Spenser, The Fairy Queen
Hodges, Margaret. Saint George and the Dragon (illus. Trina Schart Hyman). New York: Little, Brown, 1984.
William Shakespeare, all the plays
A Shakespeare Coloring Book. Santa Barbara: Bellerophon, 1995.
Beneduce, Ann Keay. William Shakespeare: The Tempest (illus. Gennady Spirin). New York: Philomel Books, 1996.
Birch, Beverly. Shakespeare's Stories series. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1998.
Comedies: Twelfth Night, Midsummer Night's Dream, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest.
Histories: Richard the Third, Henry the Fourth, Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra.
Tragedies: King Lear, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet.
Burdett, Lois. Macbeth for Kids. Buffalo, NY: Black Moss Press, 1996.
___________. Twelfth Night for Kids. Buffalo, NY: Black Moss Press, 1994.Coville, Bruce. William Shakespeare's The Tempest (illus. Ruth Sanderson). New York: Doubleday, 1994.
Lamb, Charles and Mary. Tales from Shakespeare. New York: Puffin Classics, 1994.Dante, The Inferno
Thomas Malory, L'Morte d'Arthur. Look for retellings of the Arthur legend, most of which are based on Malory.
Gross, Gwen. Knights of the Round Table: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random, 1993.
Erasmus
Martin Luther
John Calvin
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Sir Thomas More
John Knox
Rene DescartesLate Renaissance/Early Modern, 1600-1850 (third grade). Work through these books and authors in the following order:
Look for stories and poems by, about, or from:
John Milton
French fairy tales. Many were collected by Charles Perrault, 1628-1703.
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels
Riordan, James. Gulliver's Travels (illus. Victor G. Ambrus). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress
Victor Hugo
Hugo, Victor and Marc Cerasini. The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random, 1995.
Hugo, Victor and Monica Kulling. Les Miserables: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random, 1995.
Alexandre Dumas
Dumas, Alexandre and Deborah G. Felder. The Three Musketeers: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random, 1994.
William Blake, Songs of Innocence
William Wordsworth, collected poems
Jane Austen
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Robert Browning, The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Grimm's Fairy Tales
Charles Dickens
Dickens, Charles and Monica Kulling. Great Expectations: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random House, 1996.
___________. Oliver Twist: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random House, 1994.
Dickens, Charles. The Magic Fishbone (illus. Louis Slobodkin). New York: Vanguard Press, 1953.
Edward Lear, nonsense poetry
Christina Rossetti, all the poetry
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
Mark Twain, all the stories
Twain, Mark and Monica Kulling. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random, 1995.
James Fenimore Cooper, all the novels
Jules Verne, all the novels
Verne, Jules and Gino D'Achille. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random, 1994.
Verne, Jules, et al. A Journey to the Center of the Earth: Troll Illustrated Classics. Mahway, NJ: Troll, 1990.
Norwegian folktales
Asbjrnsen, Peter, et al. East of the Sun and West of the Moon: 59 Norwegian Folk-Tales. New York: Dover, 1970.
Herman Melville, Moby DickModern, 1850-present (fourth grade). We suggest the following; ask your librarian for more suggestions. We also suggest the following:
Look for stories by, about, or from:
Robert Louis Stevenson, all the novels
Stevenson, Robert Louis and Lisa Norby. Kidnapped: Bullseye Step into Classics. New York: Random House, 1994.
Stevenson, Robert Louis and Paul Wenzel. Treasure Island: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random House, 1993.
Stevenson, Robert Louis and Earle Hitchner. Treasure Island: Troll Illustrated Classics. Mahway, NJ: Troll, 1990.
Arthur Conan Doyle
Doyle, Arthur C. and Judith Conaway. Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random, 1994.
Johanna Spyri, Heidi
Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio
Collodi, Carlo. The Adventures of Pinnocchio: Story of a Puppet (trans. Nicolas J. Perella). Berkeley: UC Press, 1991.
H.G. Wells, all the novels
Wells, H. G. The Time Machine: Troll Illustrated Classics. Mahway, NJ: Troll, 1992.
Louisa May Alcott, all the novels
Andrew Lang (1844-1912), collected tales
Lang, Andrew. The Blue Fairy Book (illus. John Lawrence and Henry Ford). New York: Dover Publications, 1975.
_________. The Orange Fairy Book (illus. Henry Ford). New York: Dover Publications, 1975.
_________. The Violet Fairy Book (illus. Henry Ford). New York: Dover Publications, 1990.
Frances Hodgson Burnett, all the novels
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. New York: Yearling Classics, 1990.
James Barrie, Peter Pan and all the plays
Barrie, James and Jean Zallinger. Peter Pan: Bullseye Step Into Classics. New York: Random House, 1994.
Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories and The Jungle Books
Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book: Troll Illustrated Classics. Mahway, NJ: Troll Associates, 1992.
Beatrix Potter, all the stories
Laura Ingalls Wilder, all the novels
Walter De la Mare, collected poems
Carl Sandburg, collected poems
John Ciardi, collected poems
Ciardi, John. You Read to Me, I'll Read to You (illus. Edward Govey). New York: HarperTrophy, 1987.
T. S. Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Eliot, T. S. Growltiger's Last Stand (illus. Erroll Le Cain). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990.
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