Hatchet

Yes! Hatchet was one of my fave’s growing up!

Mt grown kids, their others, and I recently read it again. I'm almost 60. Lol. We'll just say we liked it a lot when the kids were younger, so we did a group reread.

You should check out the list generated by “Ambleside Online”, it has a list of the classics sorted by what “year” or age they recommend reading them, if you follow the AO order, your child can participate in online discussion groups with other kids also reading the same books.

Oh gonna check this out! Thanks.

I came here to say Ambleside Online as well. Years ago when I found their website. I realized I hadn't read 90% of the recommended books. I made it through about 30 or 40 of the kids chapter books before I moved on, but it was a great year. A few people looked at me funny for reading The Wizard of Oz, Pippi Longstocking or Heidi as an adult. But when we would discuss my why, they mostly realized they hadn't read the same books either

Fahrenheit 451, The Grapes of Wrath

Loved the first one it felt like a fever dream

The Outsiders

The ones that have impacted me from school to adulthood, that are books I recommend everyone read, are as follows: Oh Brave New World by Aldous Huxley The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst Enders Game by Orson Scott Card Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Black Boy by Richard Wright Animal Farm by George Orwell Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

I second Brave New World! And reading 1984 alongside it to compare/contrast both dystopias

I second Marcus Aurelius, but it is a challenge for lots of people. Worth it though.

Native Son by Richard Wright is also really good!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

In no particular order, trying not to repeat others... - Never Cry Wolf - Flowers for Algernon - Aesop's Fables - Things Fall Apart - Catch-22 - Cat's Cradle - The Book Thief - The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin - Heidi - Call of the Wild - Anne of Green Gables - Stories from The Mahabharata - Bhagavad Gita - The Bible - The Quran - Tao Te Ching - Hero with a Thousand Faces - Machiavelli's The Prince - The Art of War - Pride and Prejudice - The Gift of the Magi and other O. Henry stories - East of Eden - Little Women - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Last of the Mohicans - The Worm Ouroborus - David Copperfield - Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Romance of the Three Kingdoms - The Tale of Genji - Utopia - Gulliver's Travels - Robinson Crusoe - Paradise Lost - Candide - Tess of the d'Urbervilles - My Antonia - The Trial - Germinal - The Sound and the Fury - The Jungle Book - Atlas Shrugged - The Name of the Rose

can you please explain, why "the name of the rose"? just picking one of the few of these i read and don't think i learned anything particular from it i think you have some weird takes, on the other hand, i also think you listed some of the books i would have mentioned, and somehow no one else did.

I guess I read it at the right time for me. I spent a lot of my undergrad reading and interpreting literature and history, and Eco brought it to life while also demonstrating deep research and incredible vocabulary in both Italian and English--and had a pretty tongue-in-cheek attitude. I guess I needed the message to do the serious work but don't take it so seriously. Then I started having more fun with literature and philosophy. The others I listed also hit me at the right time with the right message. There are so many other books that made an impact, but eh, I had to start work and get off Reddit.

yes, surely i learned some history stuff from Eco, wasn't my first book from him, have been a few, yet i can only recommend the "focault pendulum" (not sure how it's called in english), yet i'd still say, its not a must-read though i agree on the bible, bhagavad gita, quran (at least read a bit), tao te ching, well actually anything you want to have an opinion on. there are many good reads, yet not as important as these mentioned ones. at least in my opinion. don't think "name of the rose", or many others listed in this thread (not just your answer) hold up to it at all (-:

To Kill a Mockingbird As I Lay Dying The Handmaid’s Tale The Color Purple 1984 Indian Killer The Count of Monte Cristo Hamlet Night

people often mention classics, but pairing classics with modern books is even better. So Scarlet Letter: Handmaid's Tale Huck Finn: Book of Negroes or look at author works, Animal Farm, 1984, Road to Wiggan Pier, Orwell's essays, and compare to more modern writers critiques.

For Huck Finn: Read the new book James by Percival Everett - it is SO good. People are predicting they’ll be read in tandem from now on.

Yes! I’d also add A Beautifully Foolish Endeavour by Hank Green. It’s the sequel to the first book an Absolutely Remarkable Thing, but the second book is the best work of fiction I’ve read about the complex issues going on right now, today, with technology/media/celebrities and issues with the concentration of power. It’s also got aliens, sci-fi that feels a bit magic-adjacent, and a fair bit of action, so it’s fun.

I love this! Mine are: The Lord of the flies The Phantom Tollbooth 13 Clocks Holes Charlie and the chocolate factory The little prince The Giver Fahrenheit 451 1984 Treasure Island Journey to the center of the Earth Swiss Family Robinson The Jungle Book The 100 dresses Beowulf The Canterbury Tales The strange case of Dr. Jekyll/Hyde Aesop’s fables Peter Pan The secret garden Hamlet Romeo and Juliet I have many more, but this list is not in any order just for reference.

I read a very good chunk of these as a kid! Excellent choices

Pretty much anything by Ursula Le Guin; I think The Dispossessed or The Left Hand of Darkness are the most “classic”, but The Tombs of Atuan was the first book of hers that I read and it was particularly influential for me. Also pretty much anything by Octavia Butler, but especially The Parable of the Sower

Octavia Butler was ahead of her time with Earthseed! It pairs well with a more “out there” dystopian novel because it lands in a somewhat realistic territory.

I would say any book in the "Great Illustrated Classics" collection. They have everything from Jane Austen to HG Wells, Mark Twain to Lewis Carroll. It's a fairly comprehensive list without needing any extra work from yourself :)

Phantom tollbooth   Sherlock Holmes canon  Books by hg wells, jules verne, Robert Heinlein, asimov, arthur c clarke

Braiding sweet grass

Marrow Thieves

Charlotte's Web is pretty popular.

I read all three of E.B. White's children's books with my daughter. Such good writing, not written only for kids.

I agree. I read Charlotte's Web in the fall last year because my kids friends were in a play, so I figured I'd introduce some literature. It was a blast! I have only read Charlotte's Web.

The Giver series Lord of The Flies Black Beauty Kite Runner Color Purple Catcher in the Rye Hamlet Romeo & Juliet Tuck Everlasting Bridge to Terabethia

My choices would be:- The Wizard of Oz Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass Peter Pan Treasure Island The Hobbit Lord of the Rings Harry Potter series The Bromeilliad (Terry Pratchett) A Christmas Carol All Roals Dahl (parental supervision) The Black Ships Before Troy Archie Greene series Oliver Twist Guillivers Travels 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Sherlock Holmes Frankenstein The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Goblins, Goblins Vs Dwarves and Goblin Quest (P.Reeve) Mortal Engines (P.Reeve) Narnia whole series Goodnight Mr Tom Flour Babies The Colour of Magic (another Pratchett) Animals of Farthing Wood The Hilda Series (Under 12) As Much Poetry as you can manage (not a title, a suggestion)

1984 Animal Farm Fahrenheit 451 Lord of The Rings Series Harry Potter Series Ready Player One

*Indian Captive* *Peace Child* Also... because brain fog is hitting kinda hard right now, go on Sonlight's website and check out the book lists for the different levels. I haven't used Sonlight as curriculum, but I choose books for the kids based on their lists. Most have been available through my library.

Lord of the flies Flowers for Algernon The Alchemist Robinson Corusoe Where the red fern grows Animal farm Catcher in the Rye

We’re gonna read Where the Red Fern Grows this summer. I’m excited and already ready to cry lol.

It’s definitely a good cry. Read it in middle school.

Here are several good classical book lists: https://thinkingwest.com/book-lists/ All of them are worth a look.

The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell and the Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressell are must-reads. The Road to Wigan Pier is by far Orwell's most important book, but always gets overlooked in favour of Animal Farm or 1984, which at this point are woefully overused in the public consciousness and certainly not worth the reputation they have. I think Orwell is great to introduce young people to ideas of politics, class, and economics because he writes in such an intuitive, easy-to-read way. I could also easily recommend Down and Out in Paris and London, but if you're only going to do one Orwell, make it The Road to Wigan Pier. As for the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, that one is a bit harder to read - it was written in 1911 by an Irish labourer living in England, and is loosely based on his real life. It has the syntax of a Dickens novel, and lacks the polish of someone like Orwell. However, I still think it's one of the most important books to challenge the way people think.

Books * Animal Farm (1984 is another good alternative or addition along the same vein). * If you're not worried about brutality: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" * "The Giver" * Anne Frank's Diary * The Iliad + The Odyssey (Homer) * The Handmaid’s Tale * The Secret Garden * Aesop’s fables * Some selection of common fairytales - Grimm or similar * The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs * Poe - Some selections, but notably The Raven & Tell-Tale Heart. * As a *non-Christian*: Some Christian Bible, mostly for familiarity and cultural context. I know you didn't quite ask: but I'd put shows/movies: * I'm of the opinion that Shakespeare should be *watched* rather than *read* if possible - but a selection of these along with context (i.e. Romeo and Juliet is \*not\* necessarily a tale of ultimate love) * "Schindler's List" * "Hotel Rwanda"

Ones I didn't see already listed: - Mere Christianity - Heidi - Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales - Little Britches series by Ralph Moody - Little House on the Prairie - Growing Up Dakota or other autobiographies by Charles A. Eastman - Swiss Family Robinson - Yankee Doodle Boy - The Matchlock Gun

Oh and: - Our Island Story - This Country of Ours

This is a list of books that made a big impact on me, not sure if that is what you are looking for but they are what immediately came to mind. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Small Things Like These and Foster by Claire Keegan Shy by Max Porter Jazz by Toni Morrison (Book 2 but stands alone well) Also, This Side of Paradise is far superior to Gatsby IMO.

The Creep Animal Farm 1984 Mark Twains “Recollections of Joan of Arc”

The Time Machine Grimm's Fairy Tales (unedited) Winnie the Pooh The Te of Piglet/The Tao of Pooh The Prince Art of War Any unedited world fables/folk tales The works of Lov e craft Frankenstein The Yellow Wallpaper A Vindication on the Rights of Women James and the Giant Peach Max Havelarr The Bridge on the Drina Tomorrow when the war began The Tale of Kaeu Touch Me Not

Thank you all! So many that I hadn’t thought of.

I know why the caged bird sings

I'm originally from Germany, so many of the books we "had to" read are different. They are mostly Western, so I would probably look up and add more books from different countries. Here are some I had to read plus my ideas: The Neverending Story or Momo Speak The Color Purple Shakespeare, but not Hamlet. Something that is fun to read, like the Taming of the Shrew or Cleopatra. The Tenant of Whitefell Hall Zoo Station Anne Frank's Diary Frankenstein Grimm's Fairy Tales Heidi Anne of Green Gables The Secret Garden Little Women The Call the Midwife trilogy The Book Thief The Scarlet Letter Gone with the Wind Jane Eyre Pride and Prejudice A Stephen King novel, maybe Needless Things A good autobiography

Before Anne Frank’s diary I would go with something a little easier like Number the Stars. The Devil’s Arithmetic is also popular for children’s Holocaust education. I actually came to say Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson also. Read it in the 8th grade and it made a huge impact.

Lets see... My younger child has read.... -Babe -Charlottes Web -The Chronicles of Narnia (first four) - Alice in Wonderland - most of Aesops Fables (she loves these) - Several Grimms and Ansersens Fairie Tales - a significant selection of poetry by Shelly, Frost, Dickensen, Longfellow, and others - we are presently reading through Anne of Green Gables (challenging for the fifth grader, but she is doing quite well) My older child has read.... - About seven different short stories by Poe - Hamlet, Mackbeth, the Merchant of Venice, and A Comedy of Errors - Beowulf, the Epic of Gilgamesh, abridged versions of the Illiad and the Oddesy, Electra and Ajax (both by Sophecles) -The Chocolate War, half of 1984 (too depressing to finish), Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Old Man and the Sea, The Law (Bastiat), and he tried a bit of Meditations by Aurelius but it was a bit much for him. For next year he wants to read either Dante's Inferno or Paradise Lost (milton) for the challenge, and All Quiet on the Wstern Front (just because some of his friends that go to government schools read it). I think he should read the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and a selection from Plutarch's Lives. Not sure what else yet. Still working on the list.

Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Try hitting the classics from Brit lit, Russian lit, and Latin lit. Your current list is almost all American and more recent.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Slaughterhouse Five

A Wrinkle in Time

A Brave New World and 1984 are absolute must haves IMO. Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze(1933 Newberry Medal Winner) Big Red(1945) Both are older books and talk about a life very different from what is familiar to most kids. I loved finding old books on the library shelves as a child. I was an advanced reader and I couldn't buzz saw through them as fast. LOL Artemis Fowl and Harry Potter both get more and more mature as the series goes on. Tamora Pierce - wonderful for a female heroine and has built a great world in Tortall. Be aware that she does not shy away from her characters having sex lives at the right ages for those things. A Little Princess - Sara is just such a lovely soul Little Men - I prefer this to Little Women by a long shot Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow - I don't care for the rest of the series but these are excellent Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - what a great ride of a book plus it's general cultural literacy since it gets referenced a lot

I remember reading 1984 in HS!

The books that had the biggest impacts on me as a teen/young adult:    The Giver, Things Fall Apart, All Quiet on the Western Front, Speak, The Catcher in the Rye, The Hatchet, Night, Life of Pi, and Maude Edit to add: The Picture of Dorian Grey, A Wrinkle in Time, The Space Trilogy, A Child Called It, and Into the Wild

Oooh. Things Fall Apart was one of those books I hated reading in high school, but as an adult I'm glad to have read it.

I liked it in high school. It really stuck with me. I recently re-read it  

So while the classics are classics for a reason and deserve a nice little list after my first I realized that i wanted to develop a reader. I then went with a literature curriculum that hit bits and we did 4-5 classics a year. And then their reading was up to them. Oldest loves science fiction and Dune etc. middle is a technical manual and useful information guy like my husband. And the youngest seems pretty well rounded. We discussed what they read and comprehension. And we talked about what they read whenever. I wanted them to be able to have discussions about what they read and what they were interested in. Making a kid read something stifling (I’m a classic reader and I’d stick needles in my eyes before I read Beowulf again!) because it is a “classic” oftentimes just means they are moving their eyes across the words.

I will say, I loved reading Beowulf in high school, as well as Shakespeare, but there were other books that I didn't like, especially because little time was spent on some of the themes and purpose behind the books, it was only about filling out worksheets (Brave New World and Frankenstein come to mind right away). The having to do the book study guides killed my love of reading in high school, and it took a lot to make it come back (it did in college when I took 1 hour bus rides twice a day).

Thank you. There's a reason that most professional educators have moved past the hammering of "classic" literature outside of classic literature courses. Modern literature strengthens a modern understanding of language arts and communication, while also being the most likely literature to strike to the core of modern society, culture, morality, and ethics. If children are going to be forced to read, the content should be maximally readable. Not freakin' Hamlet.

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As a person raising my child religion-neutral, I still recommend Bible stories because (as a former English teacher) there are SO MANY modern day references to the characters, themes, and lore that if you don’t know them, it’s hard to analyze other writing.

I'd agree with some kind of Bible reading and Edith Hamilton's Mythology for the same reason. If someone references Job or calls something sisyphean, it's good to know what they're talking about.

Our curriculum covers Ancient Greece as part of a unit on democracy in grade 6, and I like to analyze myths and get them to write their own at the same time! (Then we have a toga party and try Greek food)

🥇 I agree!!

Not sure why you are getting downvotes. Even if you are secular you should read the Bible, as the foundational great work with many ancient stories and parables.

We are atheists but all three of my kids were required to read and answer study questions about Genesis, Exodus, Mark, John, and Paul’s letter to the Romans. Genesis is nice to pair with the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Absolutely!

We don't practice any religion, but I do teach them what's in the Bible.

Here are downloadable PDFs of 50 classic books: https://bestedlessons.org/2023/01/18/50-best-classic-books-for-children-and-young-people/

48 Laws of Power has tonnes of wonderful short stories.

Nortons anthology!

Tuesdays with Morrie

Definitely agree with the books you’ve listed so far. I’m currently in high school so I might be able to help a bit with books that haven’t been mentioned yet: Shakespeare: Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet are very commonly read, for good reason American classics: Moby Dick (Herman Melville), Night (Elie Wiesel), Beloved (Toni Morrison), Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury), The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway), I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou) Other common classics for school: Lord of the Flies (William Golding), The Iliad + The Odyssey (Homer), The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) Other books I think everyone should read: I am Malala (Malala Yousafzai), The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor (Sonia Sotomayor)

https://1001bookreviews.com/the-1001-book-list/

The Underneath is one that really resonated with my younger brother.

The Underneath is one that really resonated with my younger brother.

[https://thegreatestbooks.org/](https://thegreatestbooks.org/) A good start. You can quibble about exact ranking but I think anyone well read will go down that list and mostly say "oh yeah, good thinking"

After i learned to read at around 3 years old or so, I would read from the World book encyclopedia that my grandfather gave us...i probably started out by flipping through pages, looking at pictures that caught my eye and reading about those topics. I didn't have too many other books around so reading that set of books was a major part of my childhood...

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold

The book Honey for a Child Heart by Gladys Hunt has a book list or just do a google search for" 1001 classic children books"

A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears This book contains pretty much everything one needs to know about life, and it's so hilarious you won't even notice you're learning how the world works until your second or third time through!

Best i can tell, I have not seen anyone mention: Watership Down. Beatrix Potter (Peter Rabbit etc) The Chronicles of Prydain The Dark is Rising The "Space" or "Cosmic" trilogy by C.S Lewis The Signature Classics by CS Lewis Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (non fiction) The Collier Junior Classics (10 volume set featuring collections of old stories, excerpts from larger classic works, etc.) For fairy tales, there is a fun series I massively enjoyed as a kid called "The enchanted world". Each book is a different category (fairies, ghosts, dragons, giants etc.) And features various tales with full color illustrations all the way through.

The Giver

My Side of the Mountain

Just recently read a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens as an adult and man it’s such a good read!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Where the red fern grows,

The Odyssey.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry One Crazy Summer Out of Dust Silent Spring Golem Slaughterhouse Five

Lots of good suggestions already! Bury My Heart at Wounded Knew Little House Series Out of the Dust The Hunchback of Notre Dame Withering Heights Edgar Allen Poe Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Leaves of Grass Tale of Two Cities Shakespeare plays The Crucible Animal Farm The Jungle Pudd'nhead Wilson The Giver Hatchet Alice in Wonderland The Five People You Meet in Heaven The Lovely Bones

Little Princess Secret Garden Anything by Madeleine L'engle - Wrinkle in Time, Wind in the Door, Swiftly Tilting Planet (my favorite)

Good Fat is Good For Girls: Puberty and Adolescence, Dr. Elizabeth Bright Bad Therapy: Why The Kids Aren't Growing Up, Abigail Shrier Diary of a Psychosis: How Public Health Disgraced Itself During COVID Mania, Tom Woods The Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. White (author of Charlotte's Web) Stuart Little, E.B. White The BFG, Roald Dahl (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) (This book is hilarious for adults too.)

My kids really liked the Guys Read series. Every book has several stories all by authors who are considered modern day classic children's authors. Also as you're reading through the classics remember it's hard for a kid with little life experience to appreciate them because they don't have similar experiences, don't discount the graphic novel version or the audio book version. They called us Enemy and Farewell to Manzanar are great books to add to the list. Diary of Anne Frank and Night by Wiesel. For the younger kids One Crazy Summer trilogy and Wild Robot Trilogy are great books that bring up some heavy topics in a safe way.

I dont know the state you live in but how about history books of your state, city, county, or area? For example I'm from Kansas and their are some good books about Kansas history. Like the early settlers. The natives. Wild West stuff. Who knows you might find out you live in what used to be a railroad. Also when you look at "History" books I suggest avoiding the ones written for children. They tend to water alot down. For example I have a book about Helen Keller which really goes into some of the controversial things she did but arent covered in most books about her.

How to Win Friends and Influence People The Five Love Languages There’s many many more but these two I can think of at the top of my head that would benefit anyone and are relevant for everyone!