Classical Writing Literature Selections

‘The man who does not read good books has no advantage
over the man who cannot read. ~ Mark Twain

Broad reading, regular reading, regular immersion in complex sentences and varied vocabulary are the ‘osmosis’ part of teaching writing. The words, the phrases, the ways of thinking stick with your students, even when they don’t know they are being taught.

Classical Writing Literature Assignments and Suggestions

Please note:  Our literature pages are under construction, and the links below will become active as we get them completed. Please bookmark us and check back frequently!

For Primer students (1st-4th grade), we have listed many of our favorite children's books. The books on this list are not for younger students only—this list will be a resource for you even as your students move into middle and high school.

For Aesop students (3rd-4th grade) and for Homer students (5th-6th grade) all the literature selections are included in the workbooks. However, your students will benefit from reading and hearing many more of these types of stories. In response to requests from Classical Writing users, we have provided a supplemental reading list for Aesop and Homer.

Beginning in 7th grade with Diogenes: Maxim and continuing through the rest of the Classical Writing levels, we suggestion particular books for the student to read.  These readings are scheduled in the Student Guides. Although these readings are optional, most of our literary models for the Intermediate and Advanced levels of Classical Writing are taken from those reading assignments and your student’s understanding of these models will be greatly enhanced by having read these works in their entirety rather than just a short excerpt. In addition to the books we chose the analysis work from, we suggest books which we think every student ought to read, but which are not directly related to the work we assign in Classical Writing.

We list on-line versions of each assigned book whenever possible. Many of the supplemental books are also available online. 

Primer: Assigned and Supplemental Reading

Aesop and Homer: Supplemental Reading

Diogenes: Assigned and Supplemental Reading

Herodotus: Assigned and Supplemental Reading

Plutarch: Assigned and Supplemental Reading

Poetry: Assigned and Supplemental Reading