Great Books and Stories

Core books and stories:

• Aesops Fables

  • “The Lion and the Mouse”

  • “The Grasshopper and the Ants”

  • “The Dog and His Shadow”

  • “The Hare and the Tortoise”

  • And others

• Creation Stories across cultures

  • Pan Gu (Chinese creation story)

  • Genesis 1-2

  • A cow licks the world out of a block of ice (Norse creation story)

  • And others

• “Gilgamesh the King,” “The Revenge of Ishtar,” “The Last Quest of Gilgamesh” (Ludmila Zeman)

• “The Children’s Book of Virtues” [Selections] (William Bennett)

• “The Velveteen Rabbit” (Margery Williams)

• “Jack and the Beanstalk”

• “Hansel and Gretel” (Grimm)

• The Tale of Peter Rabbit [vol 1-5] (Beatrix Potter)

• “Cinderella” (Charles Perrault)

• “Sheep Beauty” (Chinese folktale; Li Jian)

• “The Empty Pot” (Chinese folktale)

• The Sticky-Sticky Pine” (Japanese folktale; ed. Florence Sakade)

• “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”

• “Mother Goose Nursery Rhythms”

• “Little Red Riding Hood” (Grimm)

• “Momotaro: Peach Boy” (Japanese folktale)

• “The Ugly Duckling” (Hans Christian Andersen)

Supplemental books and stories:

• “How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have?” (African folktale)

• “It Could Always Be Worse” (Yiddish folktale)

• “The Legend of Jumping Mouse” (Native American: Northern Plains legend)

• “The Little Red Hen” (Paul Galdone)

• “The Little Engine that Could” (Watty Pipeman)

• “Zen Shorts” (Jon Muth)

• “Bear Has a Story to Tell” (Philip Stead)

• “The Rainbow Fish” (Marcus Phister)

• “Ferdinand the Bull” (Munro Leaf)

• “Tom Thumb”

• “Chicken Little” (also known as “Henny-Penny”)

• “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”

• “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”

• “The Grateful Statues” (Japanese folktale; ed. Florence Sakade)

• “Silly Saburo” (Japanese folktale; ed. Florence Sakade)

Core Books and Stories:

• “Charlotte’s Web” (E.B. White)

• “Three Tales of My Father’s Dragon” (Ruth Stiles Gannett)

• Aesop’s Fables

  • “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”

  • “The Dog in the Manger”

  • “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”

  • “The Maid and the Milk Pail”

  • “The Goose and the Golden Eggs”

  • And others

• Greek (and Mediterranean) Myths:

  • “Prometheus” (the bringing of fire)

  • “Pandora’s Box”

  • “Echo and Narcissus”

  • “Oedipus and the Sphinx”

  • “Theseus and the Minotaur”

  • “Daedelus and Icarus”

  • “Arachne the Weaver”

  • “Demeter and Persephone”

  • “Labors of Hercules”

  • “Zeus and the Golden Apple”

  • The Trojan Horse (adapted from Virgil)

  • Odysseus and the Cyclops (from Homer)

  • Dido and the bull’s hide

• “Frog and Toad are Friends” (Arnold Lobel)

• “A Bargain for Francis” (Russell Hoban)

• “The Boy at the Dike” (folktale from Holland)

• “The Tales of Peter Rabbit” [vol 6-10] (Beatrix Potter)

• “Anansi the Spider” stories (West African folktale)

• “How the Kiwi Lost Its Wings” (Maori legend)

• “Three Little Pigs”

• “Wenceslas” (Geraldine McCaughrean)

• “A House is a House for Me” (Mary Ann Hoberman)

• “Rapunzel”

• “Sleeping Beauty”

• “The Bremmen Town Musicians”

• Tales of Br’er Rabbit (recommended tales: “Br’er Rabbit Gets Br’er Fox’s Dinner”; “Br’er Rabbit Tricks Br’er Bear”; “Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby”)

• “Just So Stories” ([Selection] Rudyard Kipling)

• “Butterfly dream” (Zhuangzi)

• “Little Red Riding Hood” (Grimm)

• “Lon Po Po” (Chinese folktale)

• “Issun Boshi” or “One-Inch Boy” (Japanese folktale)

• “The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal” (Indian fairytale;, ed. Haviland & Rosenberry)

• “The Jade Rabbit” (Chinese / Buddhist folktale)

• “Stone Age Boy” (Kitamura)

• “The Golden Rule” (Ilene Cooper)

Supplemental Books & Stories

• “The Boxcar Children” (Gertrude Chandler Warner)

• “The Quiltmaker’s Gift” (Jeff Grumbeau)

• “The Cricket in Times Square” (George Selden)

• “The Polar Express” (Chris Van Allsburg)

• “A Visitor for Bear” ( Philip Stead)

• “The Great Kapok Tree”(Lynne Cherry)

• “Frog and Toad Together” (Arnold Lobel)

• “Frog and Toad All Year” (Arnold Lobel)

• “Cinderella”

• “Yen-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China” (Chinese folktale)

• “The Egyptian Cinderella” (Shirley Climo)

• “The Butterfly Lovers” (Chinese fairytale)

• Magic Treehouse / Merlin Missions Series (Mary Pope Osborne) –(Recommended stories include “Mummies in the Morning” and “Day of the Dragon King”)

• “The Story of Ping” (Marjorie Flack)

• The Handsome Little Signet” (Matthew Mehan)

• “Paddington Bear” (Michael Bond)

Core Books and Stories:

• The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)

• The Brothers Lionheart (Astrid Lindgren)

• Journey to the West (Wu Cheng’en; adapted for children by Debbie Chen [vol. 2 & 3])

• The Golden Key (George MacDonald)

• The Stone Fox (John Reynolds Gardiner)

• Aesop’s Fables

  • The Fox and the Crow

  • The Owl and the Cricket

  • The Tortoise and the Hare

  • The Fox and the Lion

  • And others

• King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

  • “How Arthur Became King”

  • “The Sword in the Stone”

  • “The Sword Excalibur”

  • “Merlin and the Lady of the Lake”

  • “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”

• Ancient Greek and Roman myths

  • “Jason and the Golden Fleece”

  • “Perseus and Medusa”

  • “Cupid and Psyche”

  • “The Sword of Damocles”

  • “Androcles and the Lion”

  • “Horatius at the Bridge”

  • “King Midas and the Golden Touch”

• “St. George and the Dragon” (Margaret Hodges)

• “The Blind Men and the Elephant” (Indian folktale)

• “Pookie Puts the World Right” (Ivy Wallace)

• “The Fisherman and His Wife” (Grimm)

• “The Little Match Girl” (Hans Christian Andersen)

• “How the Camel Got His Hump” and other “Just-So” stories (Rudyard Kipling)

• Iktomi stories (legends of the Plains Indian trickster figure, such as “Iktomi Lost His Eyes”, “Iktomi and the Berries”, “Iktomi and the Boulder)

Supplemental Books and Stories:

• Beowulf: A Hero’s Tale (James Rumford)

• The Reluctant Dragon (Kenneth Grahame)

• Tanglewood Tales: A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

• The Roman Mysteries: The Thieves of Ostia (Caroline Lawrence)

• Because of Winn-Dixie (Kate DiCamillo)

• The Bad Children’s Book of Beasts (Hilaire Belloc)

• Strega Nona Treasury (Tomie DePaola)

• Madeline (Ludwig Bemelmans)

• “Beauty and the Beast”

• “Marcus Aurelius: The Boy Who Would Be King” (Ryan Holiday)

• “Epictetus: The Girl Who Would Be Free” (Ryan Holiday)

• Magic Treehouse / Merlin Missions Series (Mary Pope Osborne) (Recommended stories include “Dragon of the Red Dawn,” “Vikings at Sunrise,” “Hour of the Olympics,” “Warriors in Winter,” Knight at Dawn,” “Christmas at Camelot,” “Season of the Sandstorms (Baghdad’s House of Wisdom),” “Stallion by Starlight”

Core Books and Stories

• Pinocchio (Carlo Collodi)

• The Snow Queen (Hans Christian Andersen)

• Prince Caspian (C.S. Lewis)

• Farmer Giles of Ham (Tolkien)

• Tales of Peter Rabbit [vol 11 - 15] (Beatrix Potter)

• Selections from Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne)

• Bruce and the Spider (James Baldwin or other telling)

• The Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Andersen)

• The Hunting of the Great Bear (Iroquois legend)

• The Magic Brocade (Chinese fairy tale)

• Stories from Shakespeare (Charles & Mary Lamb) OR Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare (Edith Nesbit)

• One Thousand and One Nights [Selections]:

  • Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

  • Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

• Norse Mythology:

  • Asgard (home of the gods)

  • Valhalla

  • Hel (underworld)

  • Odin

  • Thor

  • trolls

Supplemental Books and Stories:

• The Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder)

• The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling)

• The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle (Hugh Lofting)

• Trumpet of the Swan (E.B. White)

• The Princess and the Goblin (George MacDonald)

• The Husband Who Was to Mind the House (a Norse/English folktale, also known as “Gone is Gone”)

• The Blue Book of Fairy Stories [Selections] (Andrew & Nora Lang)

• Twilight Land [Selections] (Howard Pyle)

• Magic Treehouse / Merlin Missions Series (Mary Pope Osborne) (Recommended stories include “Night of the Ninjas,” “Stage Fright on a Summer Night,” “Moonlight on the Magic Flute,” “Monday With a Magic Genius “

Core Books and Stories:

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis)

• Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carol)

• The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame)

• The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

• Le Petit Prince / The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

Supplemental Books and Stories:

• The Whipping Boy (Sid Fleischman)

• The Winged Watchman (Hilda Van Stockum)

• Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)

• The Courage of Sarah Noble (Alice Dagliesh)

• The Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

• Pollyanna (Eleanor Porter)

• The Wizard of Oz (Frank Baum)

• Black Beauty (Anna Sewell)

Core Books and Stories:

• Black Ships Before Troy (Homer, adapted by Rosemary Sutcliff)

• The Wanderings of Odysseus (Homer, adapted by Rosemary Sutcliff)

• The Epic of Gilgamesh (Geraldine McCaughrean)

• The Golden Goblet (Eloise Jarvis McGraw)

• Plutarch’s Lives for Children (W.H. Weston)

• Prometheus Bound (Aeschylus; adapted by Cullum) OR

  Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare)

• The Gift of the Magi (O Henry)

• The Sniper (Liam O’Flaherty)

• The Money’s Paw (W.W. Jacobs)

• The Telltale Heart (Edgar Allan Poe)

• Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome:

  • “Zeus and the Golden Apple”

  • “Jason and the Golden Fleece”

  • “Perseus and Medusa”

  • “Cupid and Psyche”

  • “The Sword of Damocles”

  • “Damon and Pythias”

  • “Androcles and the Lion”

  • “Apollo and Daphne”

  • “Orpheus and Eurydice”

  • “Narcissus and Echo”

  • “Pygmalion and Galatea”

Supplemental Books and Stories

• Mara, Daughter of the Nile (Eloise Jarvis McGraw)

• Eagle of the Ninth (Rosemary Sutcliff)

• At the Back of the North Wind (George MacDonald)

• The Call of the Wild (Jack London)

• Anne of Green Gables (Lucy Maud Montgomery)

Core Books and Stories:

• The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)

• Beowulf the Warrior (Serraillier)

• King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (Howard Pyle / R.L Green) OR

  The Boy’s King Arthur (John Steinbeck)

• The Adventures of Robin Hood (R.L. Green or Core Knowledge edition)

• The Giver (Lois Lowry)

• The Lady or the Tiger (Frank Stockton)

• To Build a Fire (Jack London)

• The Lottery (Shirley Jackson)

• Plays (choose at least one of the following):

  • Julius Caesar (Shakespeare)

  • Henry IV - part I (Shakespeare)

  • Henry V (Shakespeare)

  • Twelfth Night (Shakespeare)

Supplemental Books and Stories:

• The Pied Piper of Hamelin (Robert Browning)

• Don Quixote of La Mancha (Parry)

• Heidi (Johanna Spyri)

• Joan of Arc (Mark Twain)

• The Fellowship of the Ring (JRR Tolkien)

• Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift)

• Around the World in 80 Days OR

  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)

• A Christmas Carol (Dickens)

• The Emperor’s New Clothes (Hans Christian Andersen)

• Rikki Tikki Tavi (Rudyard Kipling)

• Genesis: A story from Wolf Willow (Wallace Stegner)

• Plays (choose at least one of the following):

  • Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare)

  • The Tempest (Shakespeare)

  • Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare)

Supplemental Books and Stories

• The Two Towers (JRR Tolkien)

• The Return of the King (JRR Tolkien)

• Lieutenant Hornblower (C.S. Forester)

• Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)

• Watership Down (Richard Adams)

• Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

• Swiss Family Robinson (Johann David Wyss)

• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)

• A Child's History of England [Selections] (Charles Dickens)

Core Books and Stories

• Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)

• Who Has Seen the Wind (W.O. Mitchell)

• Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)

• The Scarlet Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy)

• Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

• Oresteia (Aeschylus)

• The Veldt (Ray Bradbury)

• The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Ursula K. Le Guin)

Supplemental Books and Stories

• Great Expectations (Dickens)

• The Count of Monte Cristo [abridged] (Alexandre Dumas)

• Lost in the Barrens (Farley Mowat)

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson)

• To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

• The Good Shepherd (C.S. Forester)