My Account Wish List Shopping Cart Log In
Store Location

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.
Did you find this review helpful?
Parent Categories
Doorways to Great Reading
Subcategories by Grade
Subcategories
790 Items found Print
Filter
Active Filters: Adult, In-Stock Books & Materials
12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You
by Tony Reinke
from Crossway Books
for 11th-Adult
in Culture & Discernment (Location: XCU-DIS)
$16.99
1984
Signet Classics
by George Orwell
from Signet Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Signet Classics
by Jules Verne, translated by Mendor Brunetti, with an introduction by Stephen Baxter and an afterword by Walter James Miller
from Signet Classics
Science Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Bantam Classics
by Jules Verne, translated by Anthony Bonner with an introduction by Ray Bradbury
from Bantam Books
Science Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.99
2001: A Space Odyssey
by Arthur C. Clarke
from ROC Science Fiction
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.99
Abolition of Man
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Philosophy/Religion for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
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
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower Series #11
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 8th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$18.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Advent of the Lamb of God
from InterVarsity Press
for 5th-Adult
in Christmas & Advent (Location: HOLIDAY)
$20.00
Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Conan Doyle
from Penguin Classics
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.00
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.00
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)
Adventures of Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, translated by Geoffrey Brock, with an introduction by Umberto Eco and an afterword by Rebecca West
from New York Review of Books
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.00
Adventures of Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, translated by John Hooper & Anna Kraczyna
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$15.00
Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fitzgerald
from Vintage Classics
Ancient Literature/Epic Poetry for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$16.00
Aeneid
by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
from Penguin Putnam
for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$20.00
Aeschylus II: The Oresteia
The Complete Greek Tragedies
by Aeschylus (translation by Richmond Lattimore)
3rd edition from University of Chicago
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$14.00
Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy
Penguin Classics
by Aeschylus, translated by Phillip Vellacott
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.00 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
from Signet Classics
Fairy Tales & Fables for 10th grade-adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.95
Against the Church
by Doug Wilson
1st edition from Canon Press
for Adult
in Ecclesiology (Location: XTH-ECC)
$15.00
Airborn
Airborn Trilogy #1
by Kenneth Oppel
from HarperCollins
for 5th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$11.99
Alas, Babylon
by Pat Frank
from HarperCollins
Apocalyptic novel for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
25th Anniversary Edition from HarperCollins
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
All Creatures Great and Small
James Herriot Series Book 1
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$19.00
All He Knew
by Helen Frost
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 7th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
from Ballantine Books
War/Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
All's Well That Ends Well
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$9.99
Already Gone
by Britt Beemer, Ken Ham, with Todd Hillard
from New Leaf Press
for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: Christian Books (Location: XCLE)
$4.00 (3 in stock)
Amazing Grace
by Eric Metaxas
from HarperOne
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$15.99
And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie
from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie
75th Anniversary from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Animal Farm
Signet Classics
by George Orwell
from Signet Classics
Utopian/Dystopian Literature for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Anna Karenina
Signet Classics
by Leo Tolstoy, translated by David Magarshack
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 11th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95
Anno's Journey
by Mitsumasa Anno
from Beautiful Feet Books
for 2nd-Adult
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$14.95
Annotated Milton
by John Milton
from Bantam Books
for 11th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$8.95
Antigone
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sophocles, translated by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00
Antigone
by Sophocles
from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.50
Antony and Cleopatra
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$9.99
Art for God's Sake
by Philip Graham Ryken
from P&R Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in Creating Culture (Location: XCU-CRE)
$6.99
Art of War
by Sun Tzu
Later Printing from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.95
As You Like It
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$9.99
At the Back of the North Wind
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by George MacDonald, illustrated by Arthur Hughes
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fairy Tale for 4th-Adult
$20.00
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Dover Thrift Editions
by Benjamin Franklin
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$6.00
Bacchae and Other Plays
Penguin Classics
by Euripides (translation by John Davies)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Tragedy for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$12.00
Bacchae and Other Plays
Penguin Classics
by Euripides (translation by Phillip Vellacott)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient Tragedy for 11th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$13.00
Back To Basics
by David Hagopian, editor
from P&R Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in Reformed Theology (Location: XTH-REF)
$16.00 $10.00 (3 in stock)
Barnaby Rudge
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$25.00
Battle Cry of Freedom
Oxford History of the United States
by James M. McPherson
from Oxford University
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$23.79
Beat to Quarters
Hornblower Series #6
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical fiction for 10th-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$18.99 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings
Signet Classics
by Benjamin Franklin
Reprint from Signet Classics
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$5.95
Beowulf
by Anonymous (translation by Frederick Rebsamen)
from HarperCollins
Medieval Poetic Epic for 8th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$9.99 $6.00 (3 in stock)
Beowulf
by Anonymous (translation by Seamus Heaney)
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Medieval Poetic Epic for 8th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$15.95 $9.50 (2 in stock)
Beowulf
by Anonymous, translated by Seamus Heaney
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Medieval Poetic Epic for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$24.95
Best Things in Life
by Peter Kreeft
from InterVarsity Press
for 9th-Adult
in Philosophy (Location: XWV-PHI)
$18.39 $5.95 (2 in stock)
Between Heaven and Hell
by Peter Kreeft
2nd edition from InterVarsity Press
for 9th-Adult
in Philosophy (Location: XWV-PHI)
$12.00
Big Over Easy
by Jasper Fforde
from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Billy Budd
Signet Classics
by Herman Melville
from Signet Classics
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.95
Billy Budd, Sailor, and Other Stories
by Herman Melville
from Bantam Books
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.95
Black Like Me
by John Howard Griffin & Robert Bonazzi
35th anniversary from Signet Classics
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.00
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
Blood Meridian
by Cormac McCarthy
1st edition from Vintage Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Bondage of the Will
by Martin Luther, translated by J. I. Packer and O. R. Robinson
from Baker Academics
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$26.99
Bondage of the Will
by Martin Luther, translated by Henry Cole
from Canon Press
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$12.95
Book Lover's Guide to Great Reading
by Terry Glaspey
from InterVarsity Press
in Recommended Book Lists (Location: LIR-REC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Book of the Dun Cow
by Walter Wangerin Jr.
from HarperCollins
for 8th grade-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Born Again
by Charles Colson
from Chosen Books
for 9th grade-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$19.99 $14.00 (1 in stock)
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
from HarperCollins
Dystopian Literature for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Brightest Heaven of Invention
by Peter Leithart
from Canon Press
for 10th-Adult
in Shakespeare Materials (Location: LIR-SHA)
$21.99
Broken Pieces and the God who Mends Them
by Simonetta Carr
from P&R Publishing
for Adult
in Suffering & Hope (Location: XCL-SUF)
$24.99
Brothers Karamazov
Signet Classics
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, edited with an introduction by Manual Komroff
from Signet Classics
Russian Epic Novel for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.95
Bruchko
by Bruce Olson
from Charisma House
Biography for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Bulfinch's Greek and Roman Mythology
Dover Thrift Editions
by Thomas Bulfinch
from Dover Publications
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00
By This Standard
by Greg Bahnsen
from American Vision Press
for 11th-Adult
in Biblical Law (Location: XTH-LAW)
$16.95
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)
Canterbury Tales
Penguin Classics
by Geoffrey Chaucer (edited by Nevill Coghill)
from Penguin Classics
Medieval Poetry for 8th-12th grade
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$11.00
Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by David Wright
from Oxford University
for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$8.95
Canticle for Leibowitz
by Walter M. Miller
from HarperCollins
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Captain Blood
Penguin Classics
by Rafael Sabatini
from Penguin Classics
Historical Romance for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
Caribbean Mystery
A Miss Marple Mystery #9
by Agatha Christie
from William Morrow & Company
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Carved in Ebony
by Jasmine L. Holmes
from Bethany House
for 10th-Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$17.99
Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
50th Anniversary Edition from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Celebrating the Sabbath
by Bruce Ray
from P&R Publishing
for 11th-Adult
in Worship & Sabbath (Location: XWO-SABB)
$6.99
Chance to Die
by Elisabeth Elliot
from Revell Publishing
Biography for 8th-12th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$22.99
Charge of the Light Brigade & Other Poems
Dover Thrift Editions
by Alfred Tennyson
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$4.00
Child-Tested Suggested Book List
by Gary and Wanda Sanseri
from Back Home Industries
for Adult
in Recommended Book Lists (Location: LIR-REC)
$18.00
Children & Books
by Sutherland Zena
6th edition from Scott, Foresman & Co.
for Adult
in Recommended Book Lists (Location: LIR-REC)
$6.00 (2 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)
$9.99
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
Children of the Promise
by Robert Booth
from P&R Publishing
for 11th-Adult
in Baptism (Location: XWO-SAC1)
$14.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Book Award Handbook
by Diana F. Marks, illustrated by Susanne Frey
from Libraries Unlimited
for Adult
in Recommended Book Lists (Location: LIR-REC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Chosen by God
by R. C. Sproul
from Tyndale House
for 10th-Adult
in Reformed Theology (Location: XTH-REF)
$17.99 $10.00 (1 in stock)
Christianity & Culture
by T. S. Eliot
from Harvest Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00
Christmas Carol
Dover Thrift Editions
by Charles Dickens
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00
City of God
Penguin Classics
by Augustine of Hippo (translated by Henry Bettenson)
from Penguin Classics
Ancient/Medieval Theology for 11th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$18.00
City of God
by St. Augustine, translated by Marcus Dods
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$26.00
City of God
by St. Augustine (translation by Marcus Dods)
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$18.00
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
Dover Thrift Editions
by Henry David Thoreau
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00
Civil War: A Narrative - 3 Volume Set
by Shelby Foote
1st Vintage Books Ed from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$74.80
Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
by Jacob Burckhardt
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.00
12345678
Sign Up!

Shop

Support

Hours & Directions

Learn more about our store location and hours

Connect

503.655.1951

hello@exodusbooks.com

19146 Molalla Ave,
Oregon City, OR 97045