Classic Literature Every Home Should have in their Home Library
These book lists are created from both the founders of Thomas Jefferson Education and of my own.
Young Children
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Aesop’s Fables
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Andersen’s Fairy Tales
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Beauty and the Beast
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The Besty-Tacy Series
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The Bible (click here for suggested passages for young children)
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The Blind Men and the Elephant
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“Casey at the Bat”
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Charlotte’s Web
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Chicken Little
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A Christmas Carol (can be scary–use discretion or paraphrase as needed)
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Cinderella
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Dinotopia Series
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Dr. Seuss books
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The Emperor’s New Clothes
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The Story Of The Other Wise Man
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The Gift of the Magi
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The Giving Tree
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“God Save the Flag”
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Goldilocks and the Three Bears
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The Goose that Laid Golden Eggs
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Grimm’s Fairy Tales
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“The Highwayman”
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Hansel and Gretel
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Jack and the Beanstalk
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
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“Lincoln, The Man of the People”
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Little Boy Blue
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The Little Engine That Could
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The Little House Series
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The Little Red Hen
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Little Red Riding Hood
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McGuffey’s Readers
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Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
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“Paul Revere’s Ride”
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Perloo The Bold
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Peter Pan
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Peter Rabbit
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The Pied Piper of Hamelin
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Pinocchio
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Pollyanna
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The Princess and the Pea
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Puss in Boots
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Rapunzel
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Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
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Rip Van Winkle
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Robin Hood
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Rumpelstiltskin
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Rudyard Kiplng’s Just So Stories
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Sleeping Beauty
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The Song of Hiawatha
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Snow White
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Tales from the Arabian Nights
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The Three Billy Goats Gruff
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The Three Little Pigs
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The Ugly Duckling
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Tom Thumb
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‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
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The Wind in the Willows
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Winnie-the-Pooh
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Young Readers Classics
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Alice In Wonderland, Carroll
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Animal Farm, Orwell
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Asimov on Numbers, Asimov
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The Anne of Green Gablesseries, Montgomery
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“Battle Hymn of the Republic“, Julia Ward Howe
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Ben-Hur, Wallace, Johnson
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The Bible (click here for a list of passages itemized by story/content)
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Brighty: Of the Grand Canyon, Henry
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Black Beauty, Sewell
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The Black Stallion series, Farley
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The Chronicles of Narnia series, Lewis
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“The Concord Hymn“, Emerson
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The Constitution of the United States
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David Copperfield, Dickens
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Davy Crockett Legends
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The Diary of a Young Girl, Frank
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Don Quixote, Cervantes
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson
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The Education of Henry Adams, Adams
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Eight Cousins, Alcott
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“In Flanders Fields“, McCrae
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Flatland, Abbott
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The Foundation series, Asimov
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Frankenstein, Shelley
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“The Gettysburg Address,” Lincoln
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“The War Inevitable”, Henry
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The Great Brain series, Fitzgerald
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Gulliver’s Travels, Swift
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Mythology, Hamilton
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“Hamlet,” Shakespeare
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Heidi, Spyri
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The Hiding Place, Boom
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History Reborn, Anderson
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“I Have A Dream,” King
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Ivanhoe, Scott
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The Hobbit, Tolkein
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Island of the Blue Dolphins, O’Dell
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Joan of Arc, Twain
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Jo’s Boys, Alcott
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“Julius Caesar,” Shakespeare
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The Jungle Book, Kipling
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Laddie, Porter
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The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper
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“Let America Be America Again,” Hughes
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The Little Britchesseries, Moody
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Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett
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Little Men, Alcott
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Little Women, Alcott
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The Lonesome Gods, L’Amour
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The Lord of the Rings series, Tolkein
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“The Man with the Hoe,” Markham
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Mathematicians Are People, Too (2 volumes), Reimer
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Moby-Dick, Melville
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National Velvet, Bagnold
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Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of the English Language; see also: Online 1828 Dictionary
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North to Freedom, Holm
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“O Captain! My Captain!,” Whitman
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“Old Ironsides,” Holmes
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Old Yeller, Gipson
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Oliver Twist, Dickens
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The Phantom Tollbooth, Juster
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“The Present Crisis,” Lowell
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“The Road Not Taken,” Frost
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The Real Benjamin Franklin, Allison
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The Real George Washington, Parry
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The Real Thomas Jefferson, Allison
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The Robe, Douglas
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Robinson Crusoe, Defoe
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The Sackett Series, L’Amour
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Saxon Mathseries
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The Secret Garden, Burnett
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Soldiers, Statesmen & Heroes, Parry
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Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers, Kavanaugh
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Stuart Little, White
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Summer of the Monkeys, Rawls
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Tom Sawyer, Twain
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Treasure Island, Stevenson
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The Trumpet of the Swan, White
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The Doctor Dolittleseries, Lofting
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White Fang, London
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The story of William Tell
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Where the Red Fern Grows, Rawls
Other Book Resources