Texas Reading List

Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books by Kay Winters

Abuela by Arthur Dorros

Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty

Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School by Herman Parish

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (selected excerpts) by Fred Rogers

The Boy Who Cried Wolf (excerpt from The Children’s Book of Virtues) by William J. Bennett (editor)

Classic Nursery Rhymes (selected excerpts: Jack Be Nimble, Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, Simple Simon, Sing a Song of Sixpence, There Was an Old Woman, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Yankee Doodle) by Nicola Baxter

Curious About the White House by Kate Waters

Daniel Boone (excerpt from A Book of Americans) by Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét

Davy Crockett (English) by Emma E. Haldy

Invitation (excerpt from Where the Sidewalk Ends) by Shel Silverstein

Jack and the Beanstalk by Thomas Nelson

Jonah and the Whale by Jonah 1:1-5, 10-17, 2:10

The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola

The Life of Paul Revere by Maria Nelson

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

Medio Pollito/Half Chicken: A Folktale in Spanish and English by Alma Flor Ada

Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin by Gene Barretta

A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass by David A. Adler

Amazing Americans: Pocahontas by Sharon Cohen

Red Riding Hood by James Marshall

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson (adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney)

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (excerpt from Aesop’s Fables: The Classic Edition) by Aesop (illustrated by Charles Santore)

America Is… by Louise Borden

Beauty and the Beast by Marianna Mayer

Bluebonnet at the Alamo by Mary Brooke Casad

The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh

David and Goliath (excerpt from The Children’s Book of Heroes) by William J. Bennett (editor)

The Donkey in the Lion’s Skin (excerpt from Aesop’s Fables: The Classic Edition) by Aesop (illustrated by Charles Santore)

Falling Up (excerpt from Falling Up) by Shel Silverstein

James Madison: The 4th President by Josh Gregory

John Henry by Julius Lester

Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg (retold and illustrated by)

The Legend of the Dipper (excerpt from The Children’s Book of Virtues) by William J. Bennett (editor)

Paul Bunyan by Steven Kellogg (retold and illustrated by)

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford

The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy

Sam: The Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

Susan B. Anthony by Laura K. Murray

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

Teammates by Peter Golenbock

The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh

Try, Try Again (excerpt from The Children’s Book of Virtues) by William J. Bennett (editor)

We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States by David Catrow

Winnie-the-Pooh (Chapter 1 and Chapter 2) by A. A. Milne

Abraham Lincoln (excerpt from A Book of Americans) by Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét

Archimedes and the Door of Science (Chapters 1, 4, 9) by Jeanne Bendick

Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

The Fisherman and His Wife by Rachel Isadora

George Washington (excerpt from A Book of Americans) by Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét

Icarus and Daedalus (excerpt from Classic Myths to Read Aloud: The Great Stories of Greek and Roman Mythology) by William F. Russell

King Midas and the Golden Touch by Charlotte Craft

ROAR! – Daniel and the Lion’s Den – Children’s Adapted Version by CBN

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs by James Rumford

Smart (excerpt from Where the Sidewalk Ends) by Shel Silverstein

The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf (excerpt from Aesop’s Fables) by Aesop (adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney)

Stone Soup by Marcia Brown

Benjamin Franklin (Life Stories/Biografías Bilingual Edition) by Gillian Gosman

Stuart Little by E.B. White

Thomas Jefferson (excerpt from A Book of Americans) by Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét

Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (excerpt from Aesop’s Fables: The Classic Edition) by Aesop (illustrated by Charles Santore)

What Do You Do with a Problem? by Kobi Yamada

The Wind in the Willows (Chapters: The River Bank, The Open Road, The Wild Wood, Mr. Badger) by Kenneth Grahame

The Ant and the Dove (excerpt from Aesop’s Fables) by Aesop (adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney)

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Picture Book Edition) by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

Brave Irene by William Steig

Dreams by Langston Hughes

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow (excerpt from Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow and Other Legends, pages 11-21) by Geraldine McCaughrean

Sea Fever by John Masefield

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Part 1 “The Winning of Kinghood” Chapters 1 and 2) by Howard Pyle (adapted by Tania Zamorsky)

Sundiata: The Lion King of Mali by David Wisniewski

Treasure Island (Classic Adventures) by Robert Louis Stevenson (adapted by Jacqueline Dembar Greene)

Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci? (Chapters 1-4) by Roberta Edwards

The Necessity of Humility (Book of Luke, Chapter 14, Verses 7-11) by New International Reader’s Version: New Testament

Adventures of Don Quixote (Dover Children’s Thrift Classics) by Argentina Palacios

Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

The Colonization of Texas: Missions and Settlers by Stephanie Kuligowski

Declaration of Independence in Translation: What It Really Means by Amy Jane Leavitt

“Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” (speech to the Second Virginia Convention) by Patrick Henry

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Independence Bell – July 4, 1776 by Anonymous

The Mayflower Compact by William Brewster, William Bradford, Edward Winslow

The Monkey as King (excerpts from Aesop’s Fables) by Aesop (adapted and illustrated by Charles Santore)

A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution by Betsy Maestro

Moses (Book of Exodus, Chapter 3: The Burning Bush and Book of Exodus, Chapter 14: The Parting of the Red Sea) by New International Reader’s Version: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Sam Houston: A Fearless Statesman by Joanne Mattern

Thomas Jefferson Third President 1801-1809 by Mike Venezia

Who was Davy Crockett? (selected excerpts) by Gail Herman

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt

Abraham Lincoln, a Man of Faith and Courage: Stories of Our Most Admired President (Chapter 7 “The Road Back to God”) by Joe Wheeler

The Blue and The Gray by Francis Miles Finch

The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

General Order 108 to the “Soldiers of the Armies of the United States” by Ulysses S. Grant

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

The Power of the Dog by Rudyard Kipling

A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett

Do Not Be Anxious (Book of Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 25-34) by English Standard Version: New Testament

The Peace of the Wild Things by Wendell Berry

The Diary of a Young Girl, translated from Dutch by B. M. Mooyart by Anne Frank (translated by B.M. Mooyaart)

Blessed is the Match by Hannah Szenes

Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport by George Washington

The Shepherd’s Psalm (Book of Psalms, Chapter 23) by King James Version: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

The Eight Beatitudes (Book of Matthew, Chapter 5, Verses 1-12) by King James Version: New Testament

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Mother to Son by Langston Hughes

Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Thank You, M’am by Langston Hughes

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Harrison Bergeron (excerpt from Welcome to the Monkey House) by Kurt Vonnegut

The Man in the Arena Passage (excerpt from Citizenship in a Republic speech by Teddy Roosevelt in 1910) by Teddy Roosevelt

O Me! O Life! by Walt Whitman

To Everything There is a Season (Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3) by King James Version: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Night by Elie Wiesel

Book of Lamentations, Chapter 3 by Tanakh: Jewish Publication Society 1917

The Perils of Indifference (excerpt from White House Official Transcript of Remarks at Millennium Evening) by Elie Wiesel

The Survivor by Primo Levi

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Clever Teens’ Guide to the Russian Revolution by Felix Rhodes

I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read

Lyceum Address by Abraham Lincoln

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain (excerpt Chapters 1, 2 and 6) by Michael Paterson

Love is not all by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Parable of the Prodigal Son (Book of Luke, Chapter 15, Verses 11-32) by English Standard Translation: New Testament

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

General Douglas MacArthur’s Farewell Speech to the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (excerpt paragraph 3: Duty, Honor, Country) by Douglas MacArthur

Eulogy for President Reagan by Margaret Thatcher

Pericles’ Funeral Oration (excerpt of Book 2 from Chapters 34-46 of History of the Peloponnesian War) by Thucydides (edited by M.I. Finley and translated by Rex Warner)

The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

The Book of Job (Book of Job, Chapters 1-7,11,14,19,28,38-42) by New International Reader’s Version: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

I’ve Been to the Mountaintop by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Chapter 1 The ‘Middle’ Ages?, Chapter 2 People and Their Lifestyles, Chapter 3 The Big Idea: Christian Salvation, Chapter 4 Kingship, Lordship, and Government (excerpts from The Middle Ages: A Very Short Introduction) by Miri Rubin

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Dear Mr. McCarthy, I am very real (excerpt, Section 1 from Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage) by Kurt Vonnegut

What is Capitalism? (excerpt, Section 1 from Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal) by Ayn Rand

Flattering Unction (excerpt, Chapter 1 from The Vision of the Anointed) by Thomas Sowell

The Veldt (excerpt from The Illustrated Man) by Ray Bradbury

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Adam and Eve (Book of Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3) by New International Reader’s Version: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne

We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Hamlet and His Problems (excerpt from The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism) by T. S. Eliot

If by Rudyard Kipling

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Definition of Love (Book of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13) by English Standard Version: New Testament

Hope is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson

The Parson’s Daughter of Oxney Colne by Anthony Trollope

When I Was One-and-Twenty by A. E. Housman