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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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160 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 12th grade (Ages 17-18), Hardcover
Adam Bede
Everyman's Library
by George Eliot
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$24.00
Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Sterling Classics
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 7th-12th grade
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Don Quixote
by Miguel De Cervantes, illustrated by W. Heath Robinson
from State Street Press
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
from Sweetwater Press
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
Book Club (BCE/BOMC) from Ballantine Books
War/Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
America Grows Up
A History for Peter #2
by Gerald W. Johnson, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher
from William Morrow & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Annotated Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
from Paul S. Eriksson, INC.
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
At the Back of the North Wind
by George MacDonald, Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from David McKay Company
Fairy Tale for 4th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Barnaby Rudge
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by James Daugherty
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Berliners
by Vesper Stamper
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$21.99
Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci
by Romola Anderson, R. C. Anderson
1st edition from Henry Holt and Company
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.99
Call of Duty
Leaders in Action Series
by Steve Wilkins
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$16.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Children of Dune
Dune Chronicles Book 3
by Frank Herbert
from ACE Publishing
Science Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$50.00
City of God
by St. Augustine, translated by Marcus Dods
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$26.00
Clouds of Witness
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 2
by Dorothy Sayers
from ImPress Mystery
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Collected Poems of T. S. Eliot
by T. S. Eliot
1st edition from Harcourt
for 10th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$30.00
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$39.99
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris, retold by Julius Lester, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
from Dial Press
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$50.00
Confronting Christianity
by Rebecca McLaughlin
from Crossway Books
for 11th-Adult
in Beginning Christian Apologetics (Location: XAP-BEG)
$19.99
Cradle of Civilization
by Samuel Noah Kramer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond Rostand, translated by Brian Hooker
1963 Reprint from Heinemann Educational Books
Drama for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Dandelion Wine
by Ray Bradbury
Reprint from Avon Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$25.00
David Copperfield
Macmillan Classics
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by N. M. Bodecker
from Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by John Austen
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Death by Living
by N. D. Wilson
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Art & Culture (Location: XCU-ART)
$19.99
Death by Living
by N. D. Wilson
2nd Edition from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Art & Culture (Location: XCU-ART)
$27.99
Death Walk
by Walt Morey
1st edition from Blue Heron Publishing
for 10th-12th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Distant Mirror
by Barbara W. Tuchman
from Ballantine Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
Dug Down Deep
by Joshua Harris
from Multnomah Books
for 9th-Adult
in Practical Christian Living (Location: XCL-PRAC)
Dune
Dune Chronicles Book 1
by Frank Herbert, introduction by Brian Herbert
Second Ace hardcover, 2019 from ACE Publishing
Science Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$50.00
Dune Messiah
Dune Chronicles Book 2
by Frank Herbert
from ACE Publishing
Science Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$50.00
Everything Sad Is Untrue
by Daniel Nayeri
from Levine Querido
for 11th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$18.99
Evil and the Justice of God
by N. T. Wright
from InterVarsity Press
for 11th-Adult
in Philosophy (Location: XWV-PHI)
Finding Truth
by Nancy Pearcey
from David C. Cook
in Worldview Resources (Location: XWV-RES)
$18.39
Five Red Herrings
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 6
by Dorothy Sayers
from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Frankenstein
Everyman's Library
by Mary Shelley
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Horror for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$22.00
From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya
by Ruth Tucker
2nd edition from Zondervan
History of missions for 11th-Adult
in History of Missions (Location: XCH-MIS)
$32.99
Give Me Liberty
Leaders in Action Series
by David Vaughan
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
$17.95 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Good Earth
by Pearl S. Buck
from Reader's Digest
Historical Fiction for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Good Earth
International Collectors Library
by Pearl S. Buck
from International Collectors Library
Historical Fiction for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Great Expectations
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Charles Dickens
from Reader's Digest
Realistic Fiction for 10th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Gulliver's Travels
Sterling Classics
by Jonathan Swift, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Satire/Social Commentary for 9th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Gulliver's Travels
Penguin Classics
by Jonathan Swift
from Penguin Classics
Satire/Social Commentary for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Have His Carcase
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 7
by Dorothy L. Sayers
from Harper & Brothers
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Hinds' Feet on High Places
by Hannah Hurnard
from Tyndale House
Allegorical and Moral Stories for 7th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Histories
Everyman's Library
by Herodotus (translation by George Rawlinson)
from Everyman's Library
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
Hobbit and Lord of the Rings - Deluxe Hardcover Collection
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from HarperCollins
Fantasy for 5th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$136.00
Holy War
by John Bunyan
from Christian Focus Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
Hosanna in Excelsis
by David & Barbara Leeman
from Moody Press
for 3rd-Adult
in Christmas & Advent (Location: HOLIDAY)
$15.99
Institutes of Biblical Law Volume I
by R. J. Rushdoony
from Chalcedon / Ross House Books
for 11th-Adult
in Biblical Law (Location: XTH-LAW)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Institutes of the Christian Religion
by John Calvin, translated by Ford Lewis Battles, edited by John McNeill
from Westminster John Knox Press
Theology for 11th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Institutes of the Christian Religion
by John Calvin, translated from the French Edition of 1541 by Robert White
from Banner of Truth Trust
Theology for 11th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$40.00
Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott, Illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Heritage Press
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Jane Eyre
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Charlotte Bronte
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
from International Collectors Library
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Random House
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Random House
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Jane Eyre & Wuthering Heights - 2 Volume Set
by Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Random House
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Kiki and Coco in Paris
by Nina Gruener
from Cameron Publishing
for 5th-Adult
in France (Location: HISMC-FRA)
Kon-Tiki
by Thor Heyerdahl, Translated by F. H. Lyon
from Rand McNally
Non-fiction/Adventure for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Kon-Tiki Expedition
by Thor Heyerdahl, illustrated by Eric Palmquist
from Rand McNally
Non-fiction/Adventure for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Last of the Mohicans
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by James Fenimore Cooper
from Reader's Digest
Realistic Action/Adventure Novel for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Laura Ingalls Wilder: Pioneer Girl
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill
from South Dakota State Historical Society Press
for 7th-Adult
in Little House Materials (Location: LIR-LHM)
$39.99 $20.00 (1 in stock)
Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo, translated by Charles Wilbour
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$42.00
Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo, translated by Isabel F Hapgood
from Fall River Press
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo, translated by Lascelles Wraxall and illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Heritage Press
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Life With Father
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Clarence Day
from Reader's Digest
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Little Dorrit
by Charles Dickens
from Everyman's Library
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery, translated by Richard Howard
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
$18.00
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harcourt
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Lost in a Good Book
Thursday Next Book 2
by Jasper Fforde
First American Edition from Viking Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Love and Other Great Expectations
by Becky Dean
from Delacorte Press
for 8th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
Man Without A Country
by Edward Everett Hale
1905 edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Man Without A Country
by Edward Everett Hale, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Heritage Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Man Without A Country
by Edward Everett Hale
1910 Edition from Barse & Hopkins Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Man Without A Country
by Edward Everett Hale, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher
from Franklin Watts
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Man Without A Country
by Edward Everett Hale, illustrated by Milo Winter
1910 Edition from Barse & Hopkins Publishers
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Man Without A Country
by Edward Everett Hale, illustrated by Everett Shinn
1940th edition from Random House
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Man Without A Country
by Edward Everett Hale
1908 edition from Henry Altemus Company
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Men Against the Sea
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Merchant of Venice
Illustrated Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare, illustrated in color by Sir James D. Linton and in b/w by Sir John Gilbert
from Gramercy Books
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Mission Accomplished
by Scott James
from New Growth Press
for All ages
in Easter & Lent (Location: HOLIDAY)
Moby-Dick
Everyman's Library
by Herman Melville
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$32.00
Moby-Dick
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Herman Melville
from Reader's Digest
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Moby-Dick
Calla Editions
by Herman Melville
from Dover Publications
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Moby-Dick
Modern Library
by Herman Melville
from Modern Library
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Murder Must Advertise
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 8
by Dorothy Sayers
from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Mutiny on the Bounty
by Charles Nordhoff & James Normal Hall
Book Club Edition from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
My Heart Lies South
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Mysterious Island
by Jules Verne, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Mysterious Island
by Jules Verne, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Heritage Press
Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Mythmakers
by John Hendrix
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 3rd-Adult
in The Inklings (Location: LIR-INK)
Mythology
by Edith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
Mythology for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$29.99
Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell, foreword by Thomas Pynchon
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Not a Tame Lion
Leaders in Action Series
by Terry Glaspey
from Cumberland House
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Leaders in Action (Location: BIO-LIA)
Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl
by N. D. Wilson
2nd Edition from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 11th-Adult
in Culture & Discernment (Location: XCU-DIS)
$27.99
Oliver Twist
Sterling Classics
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Realistic Fiction for 10th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Oliver Twist
Books of Wonder
by Charles Dickens (illustrated by Don Freeman)
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Once and Future King
by T. H. White
from ACE Publishing
for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
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