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Last updated: March 30, 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
(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
(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) Little Island, The
(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!
(Cleary) Henry Huggins
(Cole) On Meadowview Street
(Collodi) Pinocchio of C. Collodi, The
(Cooney) Miss Rumphius
(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
(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!
(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
(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
(Burnford) Incredible Journey, The
(DiCamillo) Tale of Despereaux, The
(Edmonds) Matchlock Gun, The
(Enright) Gone-Away Lake
(Enright) Thimble Summer
(Estes) Ginger Pye
(Estes) Hundred Dresses, The
(Estes) Moffats, The
(Estes) Pinky Pye
(Fisher) Understood Betsy
(George) My Side of the Mountain
(Gipson) Old Yeller
(Harness) Three Young Pilgrims
(Jones) Huguenot Garden
(Jones) Scottish Seas
(Lewis) Chronicles of Narnia, The
(Longfellow) Paul Revere’s Ride
(MacDonald) Golden Key, The
(MacDonald) Light Princess, The
(Mowat) Owls in the Family
(Naylor) Shiloh
(Nesbit) Five Children and It
(Nesbit) Railway Children, The
(Norton) Borrowers, The
(Rawls) Summer of the Monkeys
(Rawls) Where the Red Fern Grows
(Sewell) Black Beauty
(Sidney) Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
(Skurzynski) Minstrel in the Tower, The
(Speare) Sign of the Beaver, The
(Spyri) Heidi
(Stanley) Charles Dickens: The Man Who Had Great Expectations
(Steig) Abel’s Island
(Taylor) All-of-a-Kind Family
(Terhune) Lad: A Dog
(Tolkien) Hobbit, The
(Twain) Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The
(Wilson) 100 Cupboards
Dialectic
(Alcott) Little Women
(Dickens) Oliver Twist
(Green) Tales of Ancient Egypt
(Henty) Cat of Bubastes, The
(Lewis) Chronicles of Narnia, The
(McGraw) Golden Goblet, The
(McGraw) Mara: Daughter of the Nile
(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
(Sachar) Holes
(St. John) Twice Freed
(Sutcliff) Black Ships Before Troy
(Twain) Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The
Rhetoric
(Carroll) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
(Dickens) Oliver Twist
For the College-Bound Student
(Alcott) Little Women
(Dickens) Oliver Twist
