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Timeless Classics - a Reading ListAn old Chinese proverb says, "A book is like a garden in the pocket." Many of us who have valued reading in our early years derive enjoyment from reading to our children, and now, as I do, to our grandchildren. Books are voyages of discovery and transforming instruments to all of us.A few years ago, the National Endowment for the Humanities asked schools around the country to send reading lists of their favorite books. Noticing how often books that other generations have enjoyed appear on these lists, we decided to make this compilation of tried-and-true titles. The works herein, published in 1960 or earlier, have delighted generations of readers. Some have asked, "Is the book dead?" as we move into new computer technologies. Not at all. Print text will co-exist with these new mediums. As concerned parents, educators, and counselors, we must continue to emphasize the importance of access to good reading in order to shape our students' learning process, enhance their understanding of American heritage, and open up a new world of self-fulfillment. As Aldous Huxley said, "The proper study of mankind is books." There are some excellent older books that are missing from the list, because they appeared too infrequently in the school selections: Kate Douglas Wiggin's Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, for example; Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales; Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Despite the absences, we hope this compilation will nevertheless bring hours of pleasure and enlightenment. The titles presented for suggested extracurricular reading provide a solid foundation and hours of enjoyment for students and scholars of all ages. We at NEH hope that the "Timeless Classics" booklist will continue
to be a rich source of material for everyone. "Books are humanity in print" ...Barbara Tuchman "Literature is an investment of genius which pays dividends to all subsequent times." ...John Burroughs "All that mankind has done, thought, gained, or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books." ...Thomas Carlyle ### Kindergarten through Grade 6 ###Adamson, JoyBorn Free Aesop Fables* Alcott, Louisa MayLittle Women Andersen, Hans ChristianFairy tales Atwater, Richard and FlorenceMr. Popper's Penguins* Bailey, Carolyn SherwinMiss Hickory
Barrie, J.M.Peter Pan Baum, L. FrankThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz Bemelmans, LudwigMadeline series* Bond, MichaelA Bear Called Paddington Boston, L.M. The Children of Green Knowe Brink, Carol RyrieCaddie Woodlawn Brown, Margaret WiseGoodnight, Moon* Brunhoff, Jean deThe Story of Babar* Burnett, Frances HodgsonThe Secret Garden Burton, Virginia LeeMike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel* Butterworth, OliverThe Enormous Egg Clark, Ann NolanSecret of the Andes Cleary, BeverlyHenry Huggins series Coatsworth, ElizabethThe Cat Who Went to Heaven Dalgliesh, AliceThe Bears on Hemlock Mountain* The Courage of Sarah Noble* De Angeli, MargueriteThe Door in the Wall De Jong, MeindertThe House of Sixty Fathers The Wheel on the School Dodge, Mary MapesHans Brinker, or the Silver Skates Du Bois, William PeneThe Twenty-One Balloons Edmonds, Walter D.The Matchlock Gun Estes, EleanorGinger Pye Moffats series Farley, WalterThe Black Stallion Field, RachelHitty, Her First Hundred Years Fritz, JeanThe Cabin Faced West Gilbreth, Frank B. andErnestine G. Carey Cheaper By the Dozen Gipson, FredOld Yeller Godden, RumerThe Mousewife* Grahame, KennethThe Reluctant Dragon* The Wind in the Willows f Gray, Elizabeth JanetAdam of the Road Grimm, Jacob and WilhelmGrimm's Fairy Tales Hawes, Charles The Dark Frigate Haywood, CarolynBetsy series* Henry, MargueriteKing of the Wind Misty of Chincoteague Keith, HaroldRifles for Watie Kelly, EricThe Trumpeter of Krakow Kipling, RudyardCaptains Courageous Just So Stories for Little Children* The Jungle Books Kjelgaard, JimBig Red Knight, EricLassie Come Home Krumgold, Joseph...and Now Miguel Onion John LaFarge, OliverLaughing Boy Lamb, Charles and Mary Tales from Shakespear Latham, Jean LeeCarry on, Mr. Bowditch Lawson, RobertBen & Me Rabbit Hill Leaf, MunroThe Story of Ferdinand* Lear, EdwardBook of Nonsense* Lenski, LoisStrawberry Girl Lewis, C.S.Chronicles of Narnia series Lindgren, AstridPippi Longstocking series Lofting, HughDoctor Doolittle series London, JackThe Call of the Wild White Fang MacDonald, BettyMrs. Piggle-Wiggle* MacGregor, EllenMiss Pickerell series McCloskey, RobertBlueberries for Sal* Homer Price Make Way for Ducklings* McSwigan, MarieSnow Treasure Meigs, CorneliaInvincible Louisa Milne, A.A.The House at Pooh Corner* Now We Are Six* When We Were Very Young* Winnie-the-Pooh* Minarik, Else HolmelundLittle Bear Montgomery, L.M.Anne of Green Gables Mukerji, Dhan GhopalGay-Neck, the Story of a Pigeon Norton, MaryThe Borrowers series O'Hara, MaryMy Friend Flicka Pearce, Philippa Tom's Midnight Garden Perrault, CharlesCinderella* Potter, BeatrixThe Tale of Peter Rabbit* Pyle, HowardThe Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Rey, H.A.Curious George series* Richter, ConradThe Light in the Forest Selden, GeorgeThe Cricket in Times Square* Seuss, Dr.The Cat in the Hat* Sewell, AnnaBlack Beauty Sorenson, VirginiaMiracles on Maple Hill Speare, Elizabeth George The Witch of Blackbird Pond Sperry, Armstrong Call It Courage Spyri, JohannaHeidi Steinbeck, John The Red Pony Stevenson, Robert LouisA Child's Garden of Verses* Kidnapped Treasure Island Travers, Pamela L. Mary Poppins series Van Loon, Hendrik The Story of Mankind White, E.B.Charlotte's Web Stuart Little Wilder, Laura IngallsLittle House series Williams, MargeryThe Velveteen Rabbit* Wyss, JohannSwiss Family Robinson Zion, GeneHarry the Dirty Dog* ### Grades 7 and 8 ###Alcott, Louisa MayLittle Men Bagnold, EnidNational Velvet Blackmore, Richard D. Lorna Doone Boulle, PierreThe Bridge over the River Kwai Bradbury, RayDandelion Wine Fahrenheit 451 The Illustrated Man Martian Chronicles Buchan, JohnThe Thirty-Nine Steps Bunyan, JohnThe Pilgrim's Progress Carroll, LewisAlice's Adventures in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass Clark, WalterThe Ox-Bow Incident Cooper, James FenimoreThe Deerslayer The Last of the Mohicans Curie, EveMadame Curie: A Biography Dana, Richard HenryTwo Years before the Mast Day, ClarenceLife with Father Defoe, DanielRobinson Crusoe Dickens, CharlesA Christmas Carol Douglas, Lloyd C.The Robe Doyle, Arthur ConanAdventures of Sherlock Holmes Dumas, AlexanderThe Count of Monte Christo The Three Musketeers Du Maurier, DaphneRebecca Edmonds, Walter D.Drums along the Mohawk Ferber, EdnaCimarron Forbes, EstherJohnny Tremain Forester, C.S.The African Queen The Hornblower series Frank, AnneDiary of a Young Girl Frost, RobertPoems Gallico, PaulThe Snow Goose Gunther, JohnDeath Be Not Proud Guthrie, A.B.The Big Sky Haggard, H. RiderKing Solomon's Mines Hansberry, LorraineRaisin in the Sun Hemingway, ErnestThe Old Man and the Sea Hersey, JohnA Bell for Adano Hiroshima The Wall Heyerdahl, ThorKon-Tiki Hilton, JamesGoodbye, Mr. Chips Lost Horizon Hudson, W.H.Green Mansions Hughes, RichardA High Wind in Jamaica Hugo, VictorThe Hunchback of Notre Dame Irving, WashingtonThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow Keller, HelenStory of My Life Kennedy, John F.Profiles in Courage Kipling, RudyardKim Knowles, JohnA Separate Peace Lee, HarperTo Kill a Mockingbird London, JackThe Sea Wolf Lord, WalterA Night to Remember Malory, Sir ThomasLe Morte d'Arthur Maxwell, GavinRing of Bright Water McCullers, CarsonMember of the Wedding Michener, JamesThe Bridges at Toko-Ri Mitchell, MargaretGone with the Wind Nordhoff, Charles and J.N. HallMutiny on the Bounty O'Dell, ScottIsland of the Blue Dolphins Orczy, Baroness EmmaThe Scarlet Pimpernel Paton, AlanCry, the Beloved Country Pyle, HowardMen of Iron Rawlings, Marjorie KinnanThe Yearling Renault, Mary The King Must Die Roberts, KennethNorthwest Passage Saint-Exupery, Antoine deThe Little Prince Wind, Sand and Stars Saki Stories Schaefer, JackShane Scott, Sir WalterIvanhoe Shelley, MaryFrankenstein Smith, BettyA Tree Grows in Brooklyn Steinbeck, JohnThe Pearl Tortilla Flat Stevenson, Robert LouisThe Black Arrow The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Stoker, BramDracula Thurber, JamesThe Thurber Carnival Tolkien, J.R.R.The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings Twain, MarkThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Tom Sawyer A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Innocents Abroad Life on the Mississippi The Prince and the Pauper Verne, JulesAround the World in Eighty Days Journey to the Center of the Earth Mysterious Island 20,000 Leagues under the Sea Wallace, LewisBen-Hur Washington, Booker T.Up from Slavery Wells, H.G.The Time Machine War of the Worlds Wharton, EdithEthan Frome Wilder, ThorntonThe Bridge of San Luis Rey Wister, OwenThe Virginian Yates, ElizabethAmos Fortune, Free Man ### Grades 9 through 12 ###Agee, JamesA Death in the Family Anderson, SherwoodWinesburg, Ohio Austen, JaneEmma Northanger Abbey Pride and Prejudice Sense and Sensibility Baldwin, JamesGo Tell It on the Mountain Balzac, Honore dePere Goriot Beckett, SamuelWaiting for Godot The Bible Old Testament New Testament Bolt, RobertA Man for All Seasons Bronte, CharlotteJane Eyre Bronte, EmilyWuthering Heights Browning, RobertPoems Buck, PearlThe Good Earth Butler, SamuelThe Way of All Flesh Camus, AlbertThe Plague The Stranger Cather, WillaDeath Comes for the Archbishop My Antonia Cervantes, MiguelDon Quixote Chaucer, GeoffreyThe Canterbury Tales Chekhov, AntonThe Cherry Orchard Chopin, KateThe Awakening Collins, WilkieThe Moonstone Conrad, JosephHeart of Darkness Lord Jim The Secret Sharer Victory Crane, StephenThe Red Badge of Courage Dante The Divine Comedy Defoe, DanielMoll Flanders Dickens, CharlesBleak House David Copperfield Great Expectations Hard Times Oliver Twist A Tale of Two Cities Dickinson, EmilyPoems Dinesen, Isak Out of Africa Dostoevski, FyodorBrothers Karamazov Crime and Punishment Dreiser, TheodoreAn American Tragedy Sister Carrie Eliot, GeorgeAdam Bede Middlemarch Mill on the Floss Silas Marner Eliot, T.S.Murder in the Cathedral Ellison, RalphInvisible Man Emerson, Ralph WaldoEssays Faulkner, WilliamAbsalom, Absalom! As I Lay Dying Intruder in the Dust Light in August The Sound and the Fury Fielding, HenryJoseph Andrews Tom Jones Fitzgerald, F. ScottThe Great Gatsby Tender Is the Night Flaubert, GustaveMadame Bovary Forster, E.M.A Passage to India A Room with a View Franklin, BenjaminThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Galsworthy, JohnThe Forsyte Saga Golding, WilliamLord of the Flies Goldsmith, OliverShe Stoops to Conquer Graves, RobertI, Claudius Greene, GrahamThe Heart of the Matter The Power and the Glory Hamilton, EdithMythology Hardy, ThomasFar From the Madding Crowd Jude the Obscure The Mayor of Casterbridge The Return of the Native Tess of the D'Urbervilles Hawthorne, NathanielThe House of the Seven Gables The Scarlet Letter Hemingway, ErnestA Farewell to Arms For Whom the Bell Tolls The Sun Also Rises Henry, O.Stories Hersey, JohnA Single Pebble Hesse, HermannDemian Siddhartha Steppenwolf Homer The Iliad The Odyssey Hughes, LangstonPoems Hugo, VictorLes Miserables Huxley, AldousBrave New World Ibsen, HenrikA Doll's House An Enemy of the People Ghosts Hedda Gabler The Master Builder The Wild Duck James, HenryThe American Daisy Miller Portrait of a Lady The Turn of the Screw Joyce, JamesPortrait of the Artist As a Young Man Dubliners Kafka, FranzThe Castle Metamorphosis The Trial Keats, JohnPoems Kerouac, JackOn the Road Koestler, ArthurDarkness at Noon Lawrence, D.H.Sons and Lovers Lawrence, Jerome and Robert E. LeeInherit the Wind Lewis, SinclairArrowsmith Babbitt Main Street Llewellyn, RichardHow Green Was My Valley Machiavelli The Prince MacLeish, ArchibaldJ.B. Mann, ThomasBuddenbrooks The Magic Mountain Marlowe, ChristopherDr. Faustus Maugham, SomersetOf Human Bondage McCullers, CarsonThe Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Melville, HermanBilly Budd Moby-Dick Typee Miller, ArthurThe Crucible Death of a Salesman Monsarrat, NicholasThe Cruel Sea O'Neill, EugeneThe Emperor Jones A Long Day's Journey into Night Mourning Becomes Electra Orwell, GeorgeAnimal Farm 1984 Pasternak, BorisDoctor Zhivago Poe, Edgar AllanShort stories Remarque, ErichAll Quiet on the Western Front Rolvaag, O.E.Giants in the Earth Rostand, EdmondCyrano de Bergerac Salinger, J.D.The Catcher in the Rye Sandburg, CarlAbraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years Abraham Lincoln: The War Years Saroyan, WilliamThe Human Comedy Sayers, DorothyThe Nine Tailors Shakespeare, WilliamPlays and sonnets Shaw, George BernardArms and the Man Major Barbara Pygmalion Saint Joan Sheridan, Richard B.The School for Scandal Shute, NevilOn the Beach Sinclair, UptonThe Jungle Sophocles Antigone Oedipus Rex Steinbeck, JohnEast of Eden The Grapes of Wrath Of Mice and Men Stowe, Harriet BeecherUncle Tom's Cabin Swift, JonathanGulliver's Travels Thackeray, William M.Vanity Fair Thoreau, Henry DavidWalden Tolstoy, LeoAnna Karenina War and Peace Trollope, AnthonyBarchester Towers Turgenev, IvanFathers and Sons Twain, MarkPudd'nhead Wilson Updike, JohnRabbit Run Vergil The Aeneid Voltaire Candide Warren, Robert PennAll the King's Men Waugh, EvelynBrideshead Revisited A Handful of Dust Wharton, EdithAge of Innocence White, T.H.The Once and Future King The Sword in the Stone Wilde, OscarThe Importance of Being Earnest The Picture of Dorian Gray Wilder, ThorntonOur Town Williams, TennesseeThe Glass Menagerie A Streetcar Named Desire Wolfe, ThomasLook Homeward, Angel Woolf, VirginiaMrs. Dalloway To the Lighthouse Wouk, HermanThe Caine Mutiny Wright, RichardBlack Boy Native Son |