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Doorways to Great Reading

If there's a one-world government, it's television. King of the Technological Age, he sits enthroned in homes around the world, a little box of images and sound emitting edicts to his unified followers from his electrical shrine. That description may be a bit overwrought, but the fact remains: more people these days would prefer to watch TV than read a good book.

Many parents are desperate to expose their kids to quality literature, whether it's a classic like Anne of Green Gables, a more recent novel like Mimus, or simply something other than the TV Guide. In response, a number of literature-based curricula have been developed, and in turn have become increasingly popular among both homeschool families and school educators.

As great and noble as this effort has been, there are a couple problems we see with the literature-curriculum approach: 1) literature is treated as curriculum, and 2) children aren't exposed to the depth and variety available because reading is limited to the curriculum suggestions. Consequently, a lot of children grow to dislike reading, associating it as they do with schoolwork and not having a good time.

We've accumulated many of the titles used by the major literature-based curriculum lines, and those products are among our best sellers. We're also not entirely opposed to the literature approach, but we also want to offer a much broader selection of literature, titles that don't find their way into the program guides but are nevertheless worth reading.

Numerous book lists, catalogues, and publishers (including many dedicated to reprinting the more obscure classic titles) have guided us in the construction of our fiction and literature sections. (Employees have also been an important factor in this process, and you can read about their favorites here.) Doorways to Great Reading collects the best of these lists in one place.

Discovering classic literature is more than just checking off titles from a master list, however. Though books like Honey for a Child's Heart, The Well-Educated Mind, and The Book Tree are great places to start and offer excellent guidelines, they are still jumping-off places. Developing the skills to find good books on your own (and imparting those skills to your children) is the end these books are supposed to help you achieve.

When Lucy Pevensie opened the wardrobe and found Narnia, her first experience with a snowbound landscape gave her little indication of the adventure and wonder she'd find there. Great books are the same way: the more you read, the more you realize how many are really out there, and the better you get at finding them.

If your adventure in the realms of literature hasn't started, or is still in its beginning stages, use the booklists you'll find here as maps of sorts, there to help you navigate but not to make the journey on your behalf. The travel is up to you, and whether you decide to explore Ben-Hur or The Wind in the Willows, it's travel that will take you far from your front door and back many times over.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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164 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 5th grade (Ages 10-11), Books for Guys
Adventures of Tintin - Young Readers Collection
by Herge
for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$52.76
Adventures of Tintin Volume 1 (3-in-1)
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$27.99
All Sail Set
by Armstrong Sperry
from David R. Godine
Nautical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1936 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Big Red
by Jim Kjelgaard
from Holiday House
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Big Red
by Jim Kjelgaard
from Holiday House
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$17.99
Black Cauldron
Prydain Chronicles #2
by Lloyd Alexander
from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
1966 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.99
Black Cauldron
Prydain Chronicles #2
by Lloyd Alexander
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
1966 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Black Cauldron
Prydain Chronicles #2
by Lloyd Alexander
Revise Edition from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
1966 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Black Island
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$14.99
Black Ships Before Troy
by Rosemary Sutcliff & Alan Lee
from Frances Lincoln
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$22.99
Blue Lotus
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$13.99 $7.50 (1 in stock)
Book of Three
Prydain Chronicles #1
by Lloyd Alexander
from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Book of Three
Prydain Chronicles #1
by Lloyd Alexander
Revised 1999 printing from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Bridge to Terabithia
by Katherine Paterson
from HarperCollins
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
1978 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Broken Ear
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$13.99
Bronze Bow
by Elizabeth George Speare
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
1962 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
By the Great Horn Spoon!
by Sid Fleischman
from Little, Brown & Company
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Calculus Affair
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$13.99
Call it Courage
by Armstrong Sperry
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Realistic Fiction for 2nd-6th grade
1941 Newbery Medal winner
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$4.99 $3.00 (2 in stock)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave II
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Castafiore Emerald
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$14.99
Castle of Llyr
Prydain Chronicles #3
by Lloyd Alexander
from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Castle of Llyr
Prydain Chronicles #3
by Lloyd Alexander
Revised 1999 Edition from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Cay
by Theodore Taylor
from Yearling
Realistic Fiction for 2nd-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Centerburg Tales
by Robert McCloskey
from Puffin Books
Humor for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Centerburg Tales
by Robert McCloskey
from Puffin Books
Humor for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Cigars of the Pharaoh
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$13.99
Coral Island
by R. M. Ballantyne
from Vision Forum
Action/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
in R. M. Ballantyne Books (Location: FIC-HIF)
Coral Island
by R. M. Ballantyne
from Wordsworth Classics
Action/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Crab With the Golden Claws
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$13.99
Dark Frigate
by Charles Boardman Hawes
from Little, Brown & Company
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1924 Newbery Medal winner
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Dark Frigate
by Charles Boardman Hawes
Dover 2018 from Dover Publications
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1924 Newbery Medal winner
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.99
Destination Moon
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$13.99
Dry Divide
Little Britches Series #7
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.95
Explorers on the Moon
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$14.99
Explorers on the Moon
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Casterman Editions
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from Scholastic Inc.
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Farmer Boy
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Helen Sewell
from Harper & Brothers
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Farmer Boy (Pictorial Cover)
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Farmer Boy - Audio CD
Little House Series #3
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Unabridged from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
in Audio Books & Dramas (Location: CD-AUDIO)
Fields of Home
Little Britches Series #5
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.95
Flight 714 to Sydney
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$13.99
Great Brain
Great Brain #1
by John D. Fitzgerald
from Puffin Books
Humorous Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
Henry and Ribsy
by Beverly Cleary
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-4th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.99
Henry Reed, Inc.
by Keith Robertson
from Puffin Books
Humor for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
High King
Prydain Chronicles #5
by Lloyd Alexander
from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
1969 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.99
High King
Prydain Chronicles #5
by Lloyd Alexander
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
1969 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
High King
Prydain Chronicles #5
by Lloyd Alexander
Revised 1999 Edition from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
1969 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Home Ranch
Little Britches Series #3
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Home Ranch
Little Britches Series #3
by Ralph Moody
from Purple House Press
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Homer Price
by Robert McCloskey
from Puffin Books
Humor for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
Homer Price
Puffin Modern Classics
by Robert McCloskey
from Puffin Books
Humor for 3rd-6th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Horse of a Different Color
Little Britches Series #8
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.95
Iliad (retold)
by Rosemary Sutcliff & Alan Lee
from Frances Lincoln
Greek Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
Indian in the Cupboard
Indian in the Cupboard #1
by Lynne Banks
from HarperCollins
Fantasy for 4th-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Indian in the Cupboard
Indian in the Cupboard #1
by Lynne Banks
from Yearling
Fantasy for 4th-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
Indian in the Cupboard
Indian in the Cupboard #1
by Lynne Banks
from Weekly Reader
Fantasy for 4th-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Irish Red
by Jim Kjelgaard
from Yearling
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$7.99
Iron Scouts of the Confederacy
by Lee McGiffin
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Iron Scouts of the Confederacy
by Lee McGiffin
2nd edition from Christian Liberty Press
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.50
Key to the Indian
by Lynne Banks
from HarperCollins
Fantasy for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99 $3.50 (1 in stock)
Kidnapped
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Action/Adventure for 4th-8th grade
$20.00
Kidnapped
Puffin Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Puffin Books
Action/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$8.99
Kidnapped
Dover Evergreen Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Dover Publications
Action/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$5.99
Kidnapped
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
Action/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Kidnapped
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
Action/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
King Ottokar's Sceptre
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$14.99
Land of Black Gold
Adventures of Tintin
by Herge
from Little, Brown & Company
Comic Book for 2nd-6th grade
in Adventures of Tintin (Location: COM-TIN)
$14.99
Legend of King Arthur
by Retold by Robin Lister, Illustrated by Alan Baker
from Kingfisher
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 3rd-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Washington Irving
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-9th grade
Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle
Dover Children's Thrift Classics
by Washington Irving
from Dover Publications
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-9th grade
$4.00
Light Beyond the Forest
Arthurian Trilogy #2
by Rosemary Sutcliff
from Puffin Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Light Beyond the Forest
Arthurian Trilogy #2
by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by Shirley Felts
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Light in the Forest
by Conrad Richter
from Vintage Classics
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.95
Light in the Forest
by Conrad Richter, illustrated by Warren Chappell
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
$15.95
Little Britches
Little Britches Series #1
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.95
Little Britches
Little Britches Series #1
by Ralph Moody
from Purple House Press
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Little Britches
Little Britches Series #1
by Ralph Moody
from Purple House Press
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$24.99
Making of a Knight
by Patrick O'Brien
from Charlesbridge
Picture Books/Historical Fiction for 2nd-6th grade
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$7.95 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Man of the Family
Little Britches Series #2
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Man of the Family
Little Britches Series #2
by Ralph Moody
from People's Book Club
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Man of the Family
Little Britches Series #2
by Ralph Moody
from Purple House Press
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$23.00
Man of the Family
Little Britches Series #2
by Ralph Moody
1st edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Maniac Magee
by Jerry Spinelli
from Little, Brown & Company
Realistic Fiction for 5th-9th grade
1991 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Mary Emma and Company
Little Britches Series #4
by Ralph Moody
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Mary Emma and Company
Little Britches Series #4
by Ralph Moody
from Purple House Press
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Me and My Little Brain
Great Brain #3
by John D. Fitzgerald
Reissue from Puffin Books
Humorous Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Lawrence Beall Smith
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Lawrence Beall Smith
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Lawrence Beall Smith
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Lawrence Beall Smith
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Jo Polseno
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Mountain Born
by Elizabeth Yates, illustrated by Nora S. Unwin
from Bob Jones University Press
Realistic Fiction for 4th-6th grade
1944 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
My Side of the Mountain
by Jean Craighead George
from Puffin Books
Adventure for 4th-8th grade
1960 Newbery Honor Book
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$8.99
Mystery of the Cupboard
by Lynne Banks
from HarperCollins
Fantasy for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99 $3.00 (1 in stock)
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