Reading Lists · High School (9–12)

Twelfth Grade Reading List

Twelfth grade: the modern world, American political thought and Christian apologetics, as students prepare for thesis and college.

Core

  1. The Federalist Papers · Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay · grades 11–12Hamilton, Madison and Jay on the Constitution, read in selections.
  2. Pride and Prejudice · Jane Austen · grades 9–12Austen's novel of manners, judgment and humility.
  3. A Tale of Two Cities · Charles Dickens · grades 9–12Dickens's novel of the French Revolution and self-sacrifice.
  4. The Scarlet Letter · Nathaniel Hawthorne · grades 10–12Hawthorne on sin, guilt and hypocrisy in Puritan New England.
  5. Frankenstein · Mary Shelley · grades 9–12Mary Shelley's novel about ambition and responsibility.
  6. Crime and Punishment · Fyodor Dostoevsky · grades 11–12Dostoevsky's novel of guilt, suffering and redemption.
  7. The Brothers Karamazov · Fyodor Dostoevsky · grades 11–12Dostoevsky's great novel of faith and doubt.
  8. Orthodoxy · G. K. Chesterton · grades 10–12Chesterton's witty account of how he came to Christian belief.
  9. Mere Christianity · C. S. Lewis · grades 9–12Lewis's clear case for the core of the Christian faith.
  10. The Abolition of Man · C. S. Lewis · grades 10–12Lewis's defense of objective moral values in education.
  11. The Cost of Discipleship · Dietrich Bonhoeffer · grades 9–12Bonhoeffer on costly grace and following Christ.

Stretch

For strong readers or extra time.

  • Till We Have Faces · C. S. Lewis · grades 10–12Lewis's retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche.
  • The Death of Ivan Ilyich · Leo Tolstoy · grades 11–12Tolstoy's short novel about facing death.
  • Lectures on Calvinism · Abraham Kuyper · grades 11–12Kuyper's lectures on Christianity in all of life.
  • Middlemarch · George Eliot · grades 11–12George Eliot's long novel of provincial English life.

The sequence follows the general pattern of classical Christian schools: nursery rhymes, fables, fairy tales and Bible stories in the early grades; myths, Greek, Roman and medieval stories in the logic years; and the Great Books and theology in the rhetoric years. These are suggestions, not any publisher's or school's official list. Core titles are the main reading for the year; Stretch titles suit stronger readers or extra time. Each title sits within the grade range given on its library page; check a work's notes for content parents and teachers may want to know about.