2026-2027 Literature Lists

Our Core Literature Lists

The following grade level lists form HOCA’s curriculum in literature. Per the Core Knowledge sequence strategy, they are generally aligned with the period of history the students study in each grade. The lists are not comprehensive and do not include the extensive poetry, sayings, recommended readings, and speeches HOCA’s students also read and memorize throughout the year.

Kindergarten

Historical focus: Native American Peoples, Early Exploration and Settlement (Columbus, Pilgrims, July 4th), Presidents Past and Present, Symbols and Figures (CK & Program Guide); TX Hist – Stephen F. Austin, Jose Antonio Narrvaro, Town, State, Country, Human/Cultural Needs (Program Guide)

The Bremen Town Musicians (Brothers Grimm)
Chicken Little (also known as “Henny-Penny”)
Cinderella (Charles Perrault)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have? (African folktale)
King Midas and the Golden Touch
The Legend of Jumping Mouse (Native American: Northern Plains legend)
The Little Red Hen
Little Red Riding Hood
Momotaro: Peach Boy (Japanese folktale)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Three Little Pigs
A Tug of War (African folktale)
The Ugly Duckling (Hans Christian Andersen)
The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams)
Selections from Winnie-the-Pooh (A. A. Milne)
The Wolf and the Kids (Brothers Grimm)

First Grade

Historical focus: Early World Civilizations, Modern Civilization and Culture, Early American People and Civilizations, Early Exploration and Settlement, The American Revolution, Early Exploration of the American West, Symbols & Figures

The Boy at the Dike (folktale from Holland)
The Frog Prince
Hansel and Gretel
selections from The House at Pooh Corner (A. A.Milne)
How Anansi Got Stories from the Sky God (folktale from West Africa)
It Could Always Be Worse (Yiddish folktale)
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Knee-High Man (African-American folktale)
Medio Pollito (Hispanic folktale)
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Pinocchio
The Princess and the Pea
Puss-in-Boots
Rapunzel
Rumpelstiltskin
Sleeping Beauty

Second Grade

Historical focus: Early Asian Civilizations, Ancient Greek Civilization, American Government, The War of 1812, Westward Expansion, The Civil War, Immigration and Citizenship, Fighting for A Cause, Symbols & Figures

Roxaboxen (Alice McLerran) – summer reading
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House) by Mary Pope Osborne – summer reading
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens, Children’s Ed.)
Charlotte’s Web (E. B. White)
Peter Pan, selections (James M. Barrie) or complete Classical Starts
Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
The Jungle Book (Classic Starts)*
The Iliad (Classic Starts)*
Beauty and the Beast
The Blind Men and the Elephant (a fable from India)
The Emperor’s New Clothes (Hans Christian Andersen)
The Fisherman and His Wife (Brothers Grimm)
How the Camel Got His Hump (a “Just-So” story by Rudyard Kipling)
Iktomi stories (legends of the Plains Indian trickster figure, such as Iktomi Lost His Eyes; Iktomi and the Berries; Iktomi and the Boulder)
The Magic Paintbrush (a Chinese folktale)
El Pajaro Cu (a Hispanic folktale)
Talk (a West African folktale)
The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal (a folktale from India)
The Tongue-Cut Sparrow (a folktale from Japan)
Greek Mythology
Folk Tale Heroes: Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, Pecos Bill, Casey Jones

Third Grade

Historical focus: Ancient Roman Civilization, The Vikings, The Earliest Americans, Early Exploration of North America, The Thirteen Colonies (life before the Revolution)

Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder) – summer reading
Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
The Wind in the Willow (Kenneth Grahame) school may choose to read the following selections: “The River Bank” and “The Open Road” *
from The Arabian Nights: Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The Magician’s Nephew (C.S. Lewis)
Black Beauty (Sewell)
The Hunting of the Great Bear (an Iroquois legend about the origin of the Big Dipper)
The Husband Who Was to Mind the House (a Norse/English folktale, also known as “Gone is Gone”)
The Little Match Girl (Hans Christian Andersen)
The People Could Fly (an African American folktale)
Three Words of Wisdom (a folktale from Mexico)
William Tell
Norse Mythology

Fourth Grade

Historical focus: Europe & the Middle Ages; The Spread of Islam and the Holy Wars; Early and Medieval African Kingdoms; China: Dynasties & Conquerors; American Revolution; Making a Constitutional Government; Early Presidents and Politics; Reformers; Symbols & Figures

Pollyanna (Eleanor Porter) – summer reading
Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift, CK ed.)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving, CK ed.)
Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe, CK, ed.)
Robin Hood (J. Walker McSpadden, CK, ed.)
Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson, CK ed.)
King Arthur and the Roundtable, CK ed,
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (Lewis)
St. George and the Dragon
The Magic Brocade (a Chinese folktale)
The Fire on the Mountain (an Ethiopian folktale)
Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (CK ed. includes following:)
How Arthur Became King
The Sword in the Stone
The Sword Excalibur
Guinevere
Merlin and the Lady of the Lake
Sir Lancelot

Fifth Grade

Historical focus: Early American Civilizations; European Exploration, Trade, Colonization; The Renaissance & Reformation; England from the Golden Age to Glorious Revolution; Russia -Early Growth & Expansion; Feudal Japan; American Westward Expansion; Civil War; Native Americans

Prince Caspian (C.S. Lewis) – summer reading
The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
Don Quixote, CK Adapted (Miguel de Cervantes)
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott, CK ed.)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass, CK ed.)
Tales of Sherlock Holmes, including “The Red-Headed League” (Arthur Conan Doyle, CK ed.)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (William Shakespeare) (No Fear Ed.)
A Tale of the Oki Islands (a legend from Japan, also known as “The Samurai’s Daughter”)
Morning Star and Scarface: the Sun Dance (a Plains Native American legend, also known as “The Legend of Scarface”)
Native American trickster stories (for example, tales of Coyote, Raven, or Grandmother Spider)

Sixth Grade

Historical focus: History: Judaism & Christianity, Ancient Greece and Rome, Enlightenment, French Revolution, Romanticism, Industrialism/Capitalism/Socialism, Latin America, American Industrialization/Urbanization/Reform

The Hobbit (Tolkien) – summer reading
“Children’s Homer (aka The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy)
(Padraic Colum)”
The Prince and the Pauper (Twain)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (Orczy)
Count of Monte Cristo, abridged (Dumas)
Julius Caesar (Shakespeare, No Fear Ed.)
Apollo & Daphne
Orpheus & Eurydice
Narcissus & Echo
Pygmalion & Galatea
Cupid & Psyche
The Adventures of the Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The Ransom of Red Chief (O. Henry)
The Cask of Amontillado (Edgar Allan Poe)
The Open Window (Saki)
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (Mark Twain)

Seventh Grade

Historical focus: History: America as world power, WWI, Russian Revolution, 20s to New Deal, WWII (Semester 2) (Program Guide compresses CK into 2nd Semester)

Literature Theme (theming begins in 7th grade): Transformation through journey; Touchstone – The monomyth: archetype and hero cycle

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne – summer reading
Frankenstein (Shelley)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee)
Lord of the Flies (Golding)
Red Badge of Courage (Crane)
Twelfth Night or Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)
Selections from The Autobiography (Benjamin Franklin)*
Selections from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass*
“Selections from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,

Eighth Grade

An approach to instruction that acknowledges objective standards of correctness, logic, beauty, weightiness, and truth.

History focus: End of Colonialism, Vietnam War, Cold War, Civil Rights, Civics (CK and Program Guide) Early American History per Reconstruction, WWII, Civil Rights

Literature Theme: Growth & Change

Animal Farm (Orwell) – summer reading
To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee)
Lord of the Flies (Golding)
Red Badge of Courage (Crane)
Twelfth Night or Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)
Selections from The Autobiography (Benjamin Franklin)*
Selections from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass*
“Selections from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
“Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
“The Open Boat” (Stephen Crane)
“God Sees the Truth But Waits” (Leo Tolstoy)
“An Honest Thief” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
“The Bet” (Anton Chekov)

Summer Reading

At Heart of Ohio Classical Academy, we believe that reading is more than just a skill to be practiced—it is a pathway to cultivating wisdom, virtue, and a lifelong moral imagination. To keep your students engaged with the Good, the True, and the Beautiful over the break. Our selections have been intentionally curated to immerse your children in timeless stories, rich language, and the great ideas that form the foundation of a classical education.

What to Expect on the Journey:

Grades K-1 (Nurturing the Imagination): Rising Kindergarten and First Grade students will begin their journey by choosing any three books from a list of foundational texts. By engaging with classic fairy tales, Aesop’s Fables, and the beautifully crafted stories of Beatrix Potter and A.A. Milne, our youngest scholars will learn early lessons in character and wonder.

Grades 2-8 (Entering the Great Conversation): Rising second through eighth-grade students have specific, assigned classics to read. These enduring works will invite them to witness heroic virtues, epic adventures, and historical perspectives. Students will explore courage and loyalty in The Hobbit and Prince Caspian, the pioneering spirit in Little House on the Prairie, and important societal reflections in Animal Farm.

View Entire K-8 Summer Reading List Here

For New Families

Use this link to complete the online application process.

Contact our campus registrar with any questions: registrar@ohioclassical.org.