Treasury · Merit

TJEd Early Recommended

A Thomas Jefferson Education is Oliver and Rachel DeMille's home-education method. It recommends three reading lists by the age of the reader — Early, Youth and Adult — and these are the earliest.

37 books in the catalog stand on this list. The list itself (opens the list's own website) ↗

A reader aged

7 of these books carry no suggested reading age, so choosing an age leaves them out.

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, 1843 · ages 10–17 · Lexile 910L · AR 6.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  also on Deep Roots Grade, Mensa Kids, The Good & The Beautiful
  Remember
• Aesop’s Fables by Jerry Pinkney, 2000 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 760L
  also on Deep Roots Grade
  Remember
• Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace, 1940 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 650L · AR 4.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  also on Davidson Gifted, Mensa Kids
  Remember
• Casey at the Bat by Ernest Thayer, 1888 · ages 8–10 · AR 5.3 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  Remember
• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, 1952 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 680L · AR 4.4 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  also on Davidson Gifted, Mensa Kids, NY Public Library, The Good & The Beautiful
  Remember
• Chicken Little by folk tale, 1840 · ages 4–8
  Remember
• Cinderella by folk tale, 1697 · ages 4–8
  Remember
• Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time by James Gurney, 1992 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 700L · AR 6.9 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  also on Davidson Gifted
  Remember
• Fables by Aesop, -600 · AR 9.7
  also on Deep Roots Grade, Harvard Classics
  Remember
• Grimm Fairy Tales by Grimm, 1812
  Remember
• Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1855 · ages 6–9 · AR 5.2
  Remember
• Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, 1902 · ages 11–13 · Lexile 1190L · AR 6.4 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  Remember
• Lincoln The Man of the People by Edwin Markham, 1900
  Remember
• Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1861 · ages 8–10 · AR 5.5
  also on Mensa Kids
  Remember
• Perloo The Bold by Avi, 1998 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 730L · AR 4.9 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  Remember
• Peter Pan (or, Peter and Wendy) by James M. Barrie, 1906 · ages 9–13 · Lexile 980L · AR 7.2 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  Remember
• Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, 1901 · ages 4–6 · Lexile 610L · AR 4.2 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
  also on Deep Roots Grade, Mensa Kids
  Remember
• Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, 1883 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 640L · AR 5.3 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  Remember
• Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter, 1912 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 480L · AR 5.2
  also on Deep Roots Grade, The Good & The Beautiful
  Remember
• Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, 1894 · ages 6–10 · Lexile 810L · AR 5.0 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
  Remember
• Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, 1819 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1280L · AR 11.1 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  also on Harvard Classics, Mensa Kids
  Remember
• Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky, 1986 · ages 5–7 · Lexile 620L · AR 4.0
  also on NY Public Library
  Remember
• Tales from the Arabian Nights by Anonymous, 1710
  also on Harvard Classics
  Remember
• The Blind Men and the Elephant by Karen Backstein, 1992 · ages 4–8 · Lexile 470L · AR 2.6 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
  Remember
• The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, 1905 · ages 10–17 · Lexile 950L · AR 6.2 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  also on Mensa Kids
  Remember
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, 1964 · ages 5–7 · Lexile 530L · AR 2.6 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
  also on Davidson Gifted
  Remember
• The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, 1906 · AR 4.9
  Remember
• The Holy Bible by multiple, 1611
  also on St. John's College, TJEd Adult Recommended, TJEd Youth Recommended
  Remember
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, 1820 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 1460L · AR 11.0 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  also on Harvard Classics, Mensa Kids
  Remember
• The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, 1976 · ages 5–7 · Lexile 500L · AR 3.5 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
  also on Deep Roots Grade, Halsted - Best Friends, Mensa Kids
  Remember
• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle, 1883 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1200L · AR 8.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  also on Mensa Kids
  Remember
• The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning, 1842 · ages 5–7 · AR 5.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  Remember
• The Story Of The Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke, 1895
  Remember
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, 1900 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1000L · AR 7.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  also on Davidson Gifted, Mensa Kids
  Remember
• Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore, 1823 · ages 4–8 · Lexile 880L · AR 4.3
  Remember
• Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, 1908 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1070L · AR 8.2 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  also on Davidson Gifted, Deep Roots Grade
  Remember
• Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, 1926 · ages 5–9 · Lexile 790L · AR 4.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  also on Deep Roots Grade, Halsted - Best Friends, Mensa Kids, NY Public Library
  Remember