Last week’s pieces on the Landmark Books going out of print and the broader disappearance of traditional childhood education brought in thousands of new readers. The question we heard most in the comments was the same one:
So what should my kids actually be reading?
This is the answer. A grade-by-grade list of history books worth your child’s time — books that tell history as story, biography, and human drama rather than as an exercise in systemic analysis. Most of these will not appear on a school summer reading list. Nearly all are still in print, and every title has a link below.
We’re sharing this now, in April, because some of the best titles — particularly the out-of-print ones — take time to track down through used booksellers. You have six weeks before summer. That’s enough time to find them.
📚 AGES 5–8: WHERE IT STARTS
The best thing you can put in front of a young child who loves stories is mythology. D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths (Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, 208 pages) has been continuously in print since 1962 — over 50 years — and has never been improved upon. The D’Aulaires won the Caldecott Medal for their illustrated biography of Abraham Lincoln; these mythological volumes are their masterwork. Their companion Book of Norse Myths (154 pages) was out of print for over 20 years before New York Review Books reprinted it in 2005. The Abraham Lincoln biography — their 1940 Caldecott Medal winner — is still in print and still one of the great illustrated books of the 20th century.
Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling (68 pages, HMH Books; 1942 Caldecott Honor Book) is one of the most beautifully illustrated books ever made for children. A hand-carved wooden canoe travels from the Canadian interior through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic. It is a geography and history lesson that reads like an adventure. In print continuously since 1941.
The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh (Atheneum; 64 pages; Newbery Honor Book) is a true story. In 1707, eight-year-old Sarah Noble accompanies her father into the Connecticut wilderness to cook for him while he builds their family’s home. It is 64 pages long and one of the finest introductions to colonial America ever written for young children.
📚 AGES 8–12: THE GOLDEN WINDOW
This is the age range where history becomes a lifelong love — or a lifelong bore — depending entirely on what a child reads.
The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer (4 volumes, Peace Hill Press; ages 6–14) is the backbone of classical history education for this age group. Ancient Times through the Modern Age, told as living narrative rather than memorized facts. Used by hundreds of thousands of homeschool families and classical schools. If your child has never encountered it, start with Volume 1 this summer.
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. Winner of the 1944 Newbery Medal. A 14-year-old Boston silversmith’s apprentice injures his hand and is drawn into the Revolution, encountering John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren. It is one of the great American historical novels for young readers — precise, exciting, and completely grounded in the period. It has been quietly dropped from many school curricula. Read it at home.
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham. Winner of the 1956 Newbery Medal. Nathaniel Bowditch taught himself celestial navigation, rewrote the standard manual from scratch, and made it safe to sail the seas. His American Practical Navigator is still used by the U.S. Navy today. Children who read this at ten still remember it at forty.
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt and The Boys’ War by Jim Murphy are the two best books about the Civil War for this age group. One is fiction, one narrative nonfiction built from first-person accounts. Read both.
Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling (Newbery Honor Book). A snapping turtle travels the full length of the Mississippi River. Like Paddle-to-the-Sea, it teaches the American landscape through story. Still in print.
📚 AGES 12+: THE BOOKS THAT BUILD A MIND
Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff is the Iliad retold for young adults — fully faithful to Homer, dramatically alive on every page. The book won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1993. Sutcliff spent her career retelling classical and medieval literature for young readers and never condescended to them once. Her The Lantern Bearers — about the last Romans in Britain — won the Carnegie Medal in 1959 and is equally essential.
Genevieve Foster’s “horizontal history” books show what was happening simultaneously around the world during a single lifetime. George Washington’s World is a 1942 Newbery Honor Book. Augustus Caesar’s World and Abraham Lincoln’s World complete the series. Nearly went out of print entirely — rescued and reprinted in full by Beautiful Feet Books, where they are in stock now.
The Landmark Books are the right level for strong middle-grade and high school readers. Most are out of print from Random House but available used on AbeBooks for $10–$20. About 10 titles have been reprinted in paperback by Sterling Point Books. If your child is 12 or older and interested in American history, start with The Barbary Pirates, The Story of D-Day, or The Wright Brothers: Pioneers of American Aviation. Any of them will hold a teenager.
Hillsdale College’s 1776 Curriculum is a complete K–12 American history and civics program built on founding documents and primary sources. It is free to any school, homeschool, or parent who wants it.
WHERE TO FIND OUT-OF-PRINT TITLES
Some of the books on this list — particularly the Landmark Books — are not in bookstores. That’s why we’re publishing this now rather than in June. Here is where to find them:
AbeBooks — best for specific Landmark titles, usually $10–$20 ThriftBooks — good prices, reliable condition ratings eBay — best for hunting complete sets Sterling Point Books via AbeBooks — 10 Landmark titles reprinted in paperback Beautiful Feet Books — in-stock reprints of the complete Genevieve Foster series The Baldwin Project — free archive of 19th and early 20th century history readers Project Gutenberg — free digital editions of pre-1924 titles
This post is a companion to They Quietly Let the Best Children’s History Books Go Out of Print. If you know of titles that belong here, please add them in the comments — this is a living document.
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Great list. Good old classics that never grow old.
Purple House Press has republished several of the Landmark books. They also have some of the Immortals of Science series which are like the Landmark books only about men/women of science. Highly recommend!