Reading Lists · Junior High (6–8)

Sixth Grade Reading List

Sixth grade: the start of the logic stage, with Greek and Roman myth and history, Arthurian legend and allegory.

Core

  1. The Bible · Anonymous · grades K–12Students begin to read Scripture more closely and ask how its parts fit together.
  2. The Trojan War · Olivia Coolidge · grades 6–8Coolidge's clear retelling of the whole Trojan cycle.
  3. The Age of Fable · Thomas Bulfinch · grades 6–12Bulfinch's handbook of classical myth, a reference for allusions in later reading.
  4. The Eagle of the Ninth · Rosemary Sutcliff · grades 6–8Sutcliff's novel of Roman Britain.
  5. The Bronze Bow · Elizabeth George Speare · grades 6–8A young Jewish rebel in Galilee meets Jesus and learns to let go of hatred.
  6. The Story of King Arthur and His Knights · Howard Pyle · grades 6–8Pyle's Arthurian tales of chivalry and loyalty.
  7. Adam of the Road · Elizabeth Janet Gray · grades 6–8A minstrel's son travels thirteenth-century England.
  8. The Pilgrim's Progress · John Bunyan · grades 6–8Bunyan's allegory of the Christian life, a classic of English prose.
  9. A Midsummer Night's Dream · William Shakespeare · grades 6–10An accessible Shakespeare comedy for a first full play.
  10. The Early Christian Creeds · Various · grades 6–12The ancient creeds, from the Old Roman Symbol to Nicaea and Chalcedon, central to catechesis.

Stretch

For strong readers or extra time.

  • Robinson Crusoe · Daniel Defoe · grades 6–8Defoe's castaway learns self-reliance and turns to God.
  • The Last Battle · C. S. Lewis · grades 6–8The final Narnia book, about faithfulness to the end.
  • The Swiss Family Robinson · Johann David Wyss · grades 6–8A shipwrecked family's ingenuity and faith.
  • The Hobbit · J. R. R. Tolkien · grades 5–8For readers who did not reach it in fifth grade.

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.