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Outside of a Dog Booklist

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
—Groucho Marx

We are frequently asked to recommend literature to kids, and while there's nothing better than taking the time to know what the individual likes and recommend for their tastes, we've definitely settled on a number of books that are our personal favorites. This list is meant to promote books that will branch kids beyond the latest pop-fiction, and beyond many of the curricular lists you'll find floating around.

The PDF version of Outside of a Dog offers a page of links helping you navigate the overwhelming resources scattered throughout this website. It includes recommended read-alouds for preschoolers and kindergartners and contains 50+ titles for grades 1-8, offering you summer reading aplenty for years on end. It doesn't promote a liberal agenda, cater to the lowest common denominator, or present books designed to make anyone look smart. We haven't limited ourselves to classics or "must-read" titles. There are plenty of those, but just as many are personal favorites that have kindled our own love of reading. These are books that will open the wide doors of reading to kids turned off by more than standard fare. Throughout the list, author names are links, often taking you to short biographies, links to more information, and a list of what we have.

It's also intended to challenge older readers, with two lists for high school students and two for adults:

  • 150+ great literature and fiction titles
  • 150+ non-fiction titles, containing history, biographies, basic philosophy, and titles that focus on spiritual matters and practical Christian living. We want to encourage you to be culture-changers for Christ

The printed version is a little different. It doesn't include the links, of course, nor does it have the preschool/kindergarten reading lists or the adult lists. It does include an "advanced" high school list, which is what was adapted into the adult lists. Also, in the digital version, the grade level lists have been tweaked, with some new favorites added, and some reading level suggestions adjusted.

This category on our site offers all of our recommended books in one place. We are working on adding an Exodus rating to every single one. Browse the list, or filter by grade with the sidebar.

Whether you're six or sixteen (or sixty!), whether you're a dog person or not, some new best friends are waiting!

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104 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 8th grade (Ages 13-14), Hardcover
Anne of Green Gables
Anne #1
by L. M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$19.99
Anne of Green Gables
Anne #1
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Eric Kincaid
from Wordsworth Editions
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Ark, The
by Margot Benary-Isbert
2021 Revision from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$23.00
Banner in the Sky
by James Ramsey Ullman
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1955 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Barbary Pirates
Landmark #31
by C. S. Forester
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Beowulf
by Michael Morpurgo
from Candlewick Press
for 3rd-8th grade
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
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 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)
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)
Boys of Blur
by N. D. Wilson
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Captains Courageous
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Rudyard Kipling
from Reader's Digest
Nautical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
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)
Cheaper By the Dozen
by Frank Gilbreth & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
1st edition 1st printing from HarperCollins
Family Stories for 4th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Willy Pogany
from Macmillan
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$40.00 (1 in stock)
Complete Tales of Uncle Remus
by Joel Chandler Harris
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
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
Dear Mr. Henshaw
by Beverly Cleary
from William Morrow & Company
Realistic Fiction for 5th-9th grade
1984 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Eagle of the Ninth
by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
$20.00
Eagle of the Ninth
by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges
from Oxford University
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
Enchanted Castle
Books of Wonder
by E. Nesbit (illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky)
from William Morrow & Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon
by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
from Dutton Juvenile
for 4th-9th grade
1928 Newbery Medal winner
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
Giver
by Lois Lowry
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 7th-10th grade
1994 Newbery Medal winner
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
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)
Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman
from HarperCollins
for 6th-9th grade
2009 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Grimms' Fairy Tales
Sterling Classics
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Folklore for 4th-8th grade
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)
Hound of the Baskervilles
Oxford Children's Classics
by Arthur Conan Doyle
from Oxford University
for 7th-Adult
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
from International Collectors Library
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Jo's Boys
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Louis Jambor
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Jo's Boys
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Louis Jambor
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Jo's Boys
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Louis Jambor
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Jo's Boys
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Louis Jambor
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Jungle Book
Calla Editions
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Maurice and Edward Detmold
from Dover Publications
Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
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)
Lantern Bearers
by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by Charles Keeping
from Henry Z. Walck, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1959 Carnegie Medal
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Lee and Grant at Appomattox
Landmark #8
by MacKinlay Kantor
from Random House
for 5th-8th grade
in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
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
Little Men
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Troy Howell
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
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 (1 in stock)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Judith Cheng
Special from Simon and Schuster
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Clara M. Burd
from John C. Winston
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Little Women
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Hodges Soileau and Louis Jambor
from Reader's Digest
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Barbara Cooney
from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Louisa May Alcott
by Louisa May Alcott
from Octopus Books Limited
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
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)
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)
Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins Series #1
by P. L. Travers, illustrated by Julia Sarda
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Michael Strogoff
by Jules Verne, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
My Brother Sam Is Dead
by James & Christopher Collier
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1975 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Mysterious Benedict Society
Mysterious Benedict Society #1
by Trenton Lee Stewart
from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Once and Future King
by T. H. White
from ACE Publishing
for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Peter Pan
by J. M. Barrie
from Barnes & Noble
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jule Feiffer
from Random House
Satirical Fantasy for 5th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Plague and I
by Betty MacDonald
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Biography for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Poor Richard
by James Daugherty
Biography for 6th-9th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Prince Caspian
Chronicles of Narnia Book 4
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Allegorical Fantasy for 3rd-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Princess and the Goblin
Everyman Library
by George MacDonald
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fantasy for 5th-8th grade
$18.00
Robinson Crusoe
Sterling Classics
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Roller Skates
by Ruth Sawyer, illustrated by Valenti Angelo
from Viking Press
Realistic fiction for 5th-8th grade
1937 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$17.00 (1 in stock)
Rowan Farm
by Margot Benary-Isbert
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$23.00
Sable Quean
Redwall #21
by Brian Jacques
from Philomel Books
for 4th-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Secret Garden
Puffin Classics
by Frances Burnett
from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Secret Garden
Everyman Children's Classics
by Frances Burnett, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
Shining Company
by Rosemary Sutcliff
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Silver Branch
by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by Charles Keeping
from Henry Z. Walck, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Slave Dancer
by Paula Fox, illustrated by Eros Keith
from Bradbury Press
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
1974 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Science Book 1
by Joy Hakim
from Smithsonian Books
for 7th-9th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$24.95 $16.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Science Book 2
by Joy Hakim
from Smithsonian Books
for 7th-9th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$27.95 $17.50 (2 in stock)
Story of Science Book 3
by Joy Hakim
from Smithsonian Books
for 7th-9th grade
in History of Science & Mathematics (Location: SCI-HIS)
$27.95 $17.50 (2 in stock)
Swallowdale
Swallows and Amazons #2
by Arthur Ransome
from Jonathan Cape
for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Tales from Shakespeare
by Charles & Mary Lamb, illustrated by Elizabeth Shippen Elliott
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
Shakespeare Stories for 3rd-8th grade
Tales from Silver Lands
by Charles J. Finger
1971 printing from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-8th grade
1925 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Taran Wanderer
Prydain Chronicles #4
by Lloyd Alexander
Revised 1999 Edition from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Triss
by Brian Jacques
from Philomel Books
for 4th-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Trumpeter of Krakow
by Eric P. Kelly, illustrated by Angela Pruszynska
from Macmillan
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1929 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Up a Road Slowly
by Irene Hunt
from Follett
Realistic Fiction for 6th-9th grade
1967 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
War That Saved My Life
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Reprint from Dial Books for Young Readers
for 4th-8th grade
2017 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Watership Down
by Richard Adams
Reissue from Atheneum
for 10th-Adult
1972 Carnegie Medal
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$29.99
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
from Collins
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$24.95
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, abridged and illustrated by John Worsley
from Lemon Tree Press
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Wind in the Willows
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Helen Ward
from Borders Press
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by John Burningham
from Viking Kestrel Books
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Nancy Barnhart
from Barnes & Noble
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by James Lynch
from The Folio Society
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Charles van Sandwyck
from The Folio Society
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Joanne Moss
from Breslich & Foss
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Michael Foreman
from Harcourt
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Helen Ward
from Templar Books
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
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