Last updated: December 22, 2025
This page is continually being updated. See below for reviews written on books suggested in The Classical Reader by Leslie Rayner and Dr. Christopher Perrin. They will be found in the same order used within the book–usually by author’s last name.
Be sure to buy the book for a complete understanding of what it’s all about. It has great notes you won’t find duplicated here!
✨ NOTE: A title’s existence below does not equate a recommendation.
Please click on each title for its full review. ✨
Kindergarten
(Bennett) Children’s Book of Virtues, The
(Brown) Little Fur Family
(Crews) Freight Train
(Crews) Ten Black Dots
(Eastman) Are You My Mother?
(Eastman) Best Nest, The
(Eastman) Go, Dog. Go!
(Galdone) Gingerbread Boy, The
(Galdone) Little Red Hen, The
(Galdone) Three Bears, The
(Galdone) Three Billy Goats Gruff, The
(Galdone) Three Little Kittens
(Galdone) Three Little Pigs, The
(George) Inside Mouse, Outside Mouse
(Hoban) Bread and Jam for Francis
(Hoff) Danny and the Dinosaur
(Jonas) Round Trip
(Lionni) Biggest House in the World, The
(Lionni) Inch by Inch
(Martin) Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
(Munsch) Wait and See
(Piper) Little Engine That Could, The
(Potter) Tale of Peter Rabbit, The
(Prelutsky) Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young
(Rey) Curious George
(Rylant) Relatives Came, The
(Seuss) Cat in the Hat, The
(Seuss) Hop on Pop
(Seuss) Green Eggs and Ham
(Seuss) Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories
(Sharmat) Gregory, the Terrible Eater
(Slobodkina) Caps for Sale
(Stinson) Red is Best
(Zion) Harry the Dirty Dog
Lower Grammar
(Aliki) Corn Is Maize
(Andersen) Emperor’s New Clothes, The
(Anderson) Billy and Blaze
(Andrews) Trombone Shorty
(Atinuke) Anna Hibiscus
(Atwater) Mr. Popper’s Penguins
(Aylesworth) My Grandfather’s Coat
(Bate) Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth
(Bean) Big Snow
(Bean) Building Our House
(Blackall) Hello Lighthouse
(Bond) Bear Called Paddington, A
(Brett) Hat, The
(Brisley) Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook, The
(Brown) Stone Soup
(Brumbeau) Quiltmaker’s Gift, The
(Bryant) Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, The
(Bryant) Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille
(Burton) Katy & the Big Snow
(Burton) Little House, The
(Carle) Pancakes, Pancakes!
(Chaucer, Cooney) Chanticleer and the Fox
(Cleary) Henry Huggins
(Cole) On Meadowview Street
(Collodi) Pinocchio of C. Collodi, The
(Cooney) Miss Rumphius
(Coray) Against the World: The Odyssey of Athanasius
(D’Aulaire) Book of Greek Myths
(Dahl) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
(Dalgliesh) Bears on Hemlock Mountain, The
(Dalgliesh) Courage of Sarah Noble, The
(Daugherty) Andy and the Lion
(Davies) Boy Who Drew Birds, The
(de Angeli) Thee, Hannah!
(DeJong) Wheel on the School, The
de Regniers) May I Bring a Friend?
(Donnelly) Tut’s Mummy
(Emberley) Drummer Hoff
(Flack) Story About Ping, The
(Freeman) Beady Bear
(Freeman) Corduroy
(Frost, Jeffers) Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
(Hader) Big Snow, The
(Hall) Ox-Cart Man
(Harness) Three Young Pilgrims
(Heller) Reason for a Flower, The
(Henkes) Penny and Her Marble
(Henry) Misty of Chincoteague
(Hesse) Night Job
(Hoban) Bedtime for Francis
(Hoban) Bread and Jam for Francis
(Hodges) Saint George and the Dragon
(Hopkinson) A Boy Called Dickens
(Hunkin) Dangerous Journey
(Hunt) Tale of Three Trees, The
(Joyce) Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, The
(Juster) Phantom Tollbooth, The
(Keats) Snowy Day, The
(Kunhardt) Pompeii…Buried Alive!
(Lasky) Librarian Who Measured the Earth, The
(Leaf) Story of Ferdinand, The
(Lewis) Floss
(Lionni) Swimmy
(Little) Trojan Horse, The
(Lobel) Fables
(Lobel) Frog and Toad Are Friends
(Logan) 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle, The
(MacLachlan) All the Places to Love
(MacLachlan) Sarah, Plain and Tall
(Mann) Great Pyramid, The
(Mattick) Finding Winnie
(McCloskey) Blueberries for Sal
(McCloskey) Homer Price
(McCloskey) Lentil
(McCloskey) Make Way for Ducklings
(McCloskey) One Morning in Maine
(McCloskey) Time of Wonder
(McLerran) Roxaboxen
(Minarik) Little Bear
(O’Brien) Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
(Peet) Kermit the Hermit
(Politi) Song of the Swallows
(Rey) Curious George
(Robertson) Marguerite Makes a Book
(Roop) Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie
(Rylant) Thimbleberry Stories
(Rylant) When I Was Young in the Mountains
(Sarah) Big Friends
(Selden) Cricket in Times Square, The
(Sendak) Where the Wild Things Are
(Seuss) Bartholomew and the Oobleck
(Sharp) Rescuers 01: The Rescuers
(Sharp) Rescuers 02: Miss Bianca
(Sharp) Rescuers 03: The Turret
(Speare) Bronze Bow, The
(Sproul) Priest with Dirty Clothes, The
(Stead) Sick Day for Amos McGee, A
(Steig) Amos and Boris
(Steig) Brave Irene
(Steig) Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
(Stevenson) Child’s Garden of Verses, A
(Van Dusen) Circus Ship, The
(Ward) Biggest Bear, The
(White) Charlotte’s Web
(White) Stuart Little
(White) Trumpet of the Swan, The
(Wildsmith) Exodus
(Williams) Chair for My Mother, A
(Williams) Velveteen Rabbit, The
(Wojciechowski) Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, The
(Yolen) Owl Moon
(Zierfert) New Coat for Anna, A
(Zion) Harry the Dirty Dog
(Zolotow) Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
Upper Grammar
(Alcott) Little Women
(Bishop) Twenty and Ten
(Brink) Caddie Woodlawn
(Bulla) Sword in the Tree, The
(Bulla) Viking Adventure
(Bulla) Lion to Guard Us, A
(Burnett) Little Princess, A
(Burnett) Secret Garden, The
(Burnford) Incredible Journey, The
(de Zeeuw) Augustine: The Farmer’s Boy of Tagaste
(DiCamillo) Tale of Despereaux, The
(du Bois) Twenty-One Balloons
(Edmonds) Matchlock Gun, The
(Enright) Gone-Away Lake
(Enright) Return to Gone-Away
(Enright) Thimble Summer
(Estes) Ginger Pye
(Estes) Hundred Dresses, The
(Estes) Moffats, The
(Estes) Pinky Pye
(Fisher) Understood Betsy
(French) Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow, The
(George) My Side of the Mountain
(Gipson) Old Yeller
(Grahame) Reluctant Dragon, The
(Gray) Adam of the Road
(Harness) Three Young Pilgrims
(Jones) Huguenot Garden
(Jones) Scottish Seas
(Konigsburg) From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
(Lewis) Chronicles of Narnia, The
(Longfellow) Paul Revere’s Ride
(MacDonald) Golden Key, The
(MacDonald) Light Princess, The
(Montgomery) Anne of Green Gables
(Mowat) Owls in the Family
(Myhre) Rwendigo Tales 01: A Chameleon, a Boy, and a Quest
(Myhre) Rwendigo Tales 02: A Bird, a Girl, and a Rescue
(Myhre) Rwendigo Tales 03: A Forest, a Flood, and an Unlikely Star
(Myhre) Rwendigo Tales 04: A Fever, a Flight, and a Fight for the World
(Naylor) Shiloh
(Nesbit) Five Children and It
(Nesbit) Railway Children, The
(Nesbit) Story of the Treasure Seekers, The
(Norton) Borrowers, The
(Rawlings) Yearling, The
(Rawls) Summer of the Monkeys
(Rawls) Where the Red Fern Grows
(Rogers) Wilderking Trilogy 01: The Bark of the Bog Owl
(Rogers) Wilderking Trilogy 02: Secret of the Swamp King
(Sewell) Black Beauty
(Sidney) Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
(Skurzynski) Minstrel in the Tower, The
(Speare) The Bronze Bow
(Speare) Sign of the Beaver, The
(Spyri) Heidi
(Stanley) Charles Dickens: The Man Who Had Great Expectations
(Steig) Abel’s Island
(Stevenson) Kidnapped
(Stevenson) Treasure Island
(Taylor) All-of-a-Kind Family
(Terhune) Lad: A Dog
(Thomson) Morning Star of the Reformation
(Tolkien) Hobbit, The
(Twain) Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The
(Verne) Around the World in Eighty Days
(Wilson) 100 Cupboards
Dialectic
(Alcott) Little Women
(Dickens) Oliver Twist
(French) Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow, The
(Green) Tales of Ancient Egypt
(Henty) Cat of Bubastes, The
(Henty) Dragon and the Raven, The
(Lewis) Chronicles of Narnia, The
(McGraw) Golden Goblet, The
(McGraw) Mara: Daughter of the Nile
(Myhre) Rwendigo Tales 04: A Fever, a Flight, and a Fight for the World
(Peterson) On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
(Peterson) North! Or Be Eaten
(Peterson) Monster in the Hollows, The
(Peterson) Warden and the Wolf King, The
(Rebsamen) Beowulf
(Sachar) Holes
(Schmidt) Wednesday Wars, The
(Speare) Bronze Bow, The
(St. John) Twice Freed
(Stevenson) Kidnapped
(Stevenson) Treasure Island
(Sutcliff) Black Ships Before Troy
(Travis) Tirzah
(Twain) Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The
(Willard) Son of Charlemagne
(Williamson) God King
Rhetoric
(Carroll) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
(Dickens) Oliver Twist
(Prentiss) Stepping Heavenward
For the College-Bound Student
(Alcott) Little Women
(Carroll) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
(Dickens) Christmas Carol, A
(Dickens) Oliver Twist
(Lewis) Chronicles of Narnia, The
(Stevenson) Kidnapped
(Stevenson) Treasure Island
(Tolkien) Hobbit, The
(Twain) Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The
