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Treasury · Genre

Best in class, kind by kind

Some readers know exactly what they want and want the best of it. Each kind below has a shelf of anchors — not the hardest or the oldest books of their kind, but the ones the rest of the shelf is built on — and the capacities a reader climbs on the way in.

The shelf the Fantasy road arrives at: 8 books that made this kind what it is. Not the hardest Fantasy books, and not the oldest, but the ones the rest of the shelf is built on. Reading ages are shown, as everywhere else, so you can see who each one is for.

The capacities it climbs

Myth & ArchetypeEpic, Heroism & TragedyThe Great ConversationLiterary Language & Form

Where the impossible is given rules: the world invented, the quest walked, and the old stories underneath both.

Name a book you are already reading and see which roads leave from it — there is more than one way up.

The shelf the Detective & Mystery road arrives at: 8 books that made this kind what it is. Not the hardest Detective & Mystery books, and not the oldest, but the ones the rest of the shelf is built on. Reading ages are shown, as everywhere else, so you can see who each one is for.

The capacities it climbs

Manners and MotivesThe Great ConversationLiterary Language & Form

Where the puzzle became literature — motive, fairness to the reader, and the detective as a portrait of a person.

Name a book you are already reading and see which roads leave from it — there is more than one way up.

The shelf the Animal Stories road arrives at: 8 books that made this kind what it is. Not the hardest Animal Stories books, and not the oldest, but the ones the rest of the shelf is built on. Reading ages are shown, as everywhere else, so you can see who each one is for.

The capacities it climbs

Manners and MotivesWonder & Inquiry

Where a child first asks what another creature's life is worth.

  • Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, 1877 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 1010L · AR 7.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, 1893 · ages 9–13 · Lexile 1050L · AR 5.8 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, 1901 · ages 4–6 · Lexile 610L · AR 4.2 · AR Interest: LG (K–3)
  • Call of the Wild by Jack London, 1964 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1120L · AR 8.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, 1908 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1070L · AR 8.2 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, 1952 · ages 8–12 · Lexile 680L · AR 4.4 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • Where the Red Fern Grows by Woodrow Wilson Rawls, 1974 · age 11 · Lexile 700L · AR 4.9 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • Watership Down by Richard Adams, 1972 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 880L · AR 6.2 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)

Name a book you are already reading and see which roads leave from it — there is more than one way up.

The shelf the Adventure & Survival road arrives at: 8 books that made this kind what it is. Not the hardest Adventure & Survival books, and not the oldest, but the ones the rest of the shelf is built on. Reading ages are shown, as everywhere else, so you can see who each one is for.

The capacities it climbs

Epic, Heroism & TragedyHistory & Civilization

Where leaving home on purpose is the story: the voyage, the island, the way back.

  • Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe, 1719 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 920L · AR 5.8 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss, 1812 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1210L · AR 8.1 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, 1844 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 1080L · AR 8.8 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, 1874 · Lexile 410L · AR 10.8
  • Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1882 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1070L · AR 8.3 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard, 1885 · Lexile 1150L · AR 8.9
  • The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia by Esther Hautzig, 1968 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 880L · AR 6.3 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, 1989 · ages 8–17 · Lexile 1020L · AR 5.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)

Name a book you are already reading and see which roads leave from it — there is more than one way up.

The shelf the Historical Fiction road arrives at: 8 books that made this kind what it is. Not the hardest Historical Fiction books, and not the oldest, but the ones the rest of the shelf is built on. Reading ages are shown, as everywhere else, so you can see who each one is for.

The capacities it climbs

History & CivilizationManners and Motives

Where the past stops being a subject and becomes a place you have stood.

  • Ivanhoe by Walter Scott, 1819 · Lexile 1410L · AR 12.9
  • The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, 1826 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 1230L · AR 12.0 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, 1859 · ages 14–17 · Lexile 1130L · AR 9.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy, 1905 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 1140L · AR 8.0 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly, 1929 · ages 11–13 · Lexile 1200L · AR 7.1 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, 1943 · ages 10–13 · Lexile 840L · AR 5.9 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, 1954 · ages 11–14 · Lexile 1110L · AR 7.1 · AR Interest: MG+ (6–8)
  • Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, 1989 · ages 10–11 · Lexile 670L · AR 4.5 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)

Name a book you are already reading and see which roads leave from it — there is more than one way up.

The shelf the Folk Tale, Fable & Myth road arrives at: 8 books that made this kind what it is. Not the hardest Folk Tale, Fable & Myth books, and not the oldest, but the ones the rest of the shelf is built on. Reading ages are shown, as everywhere else, so you can see who each one is for.

The capacities it climbs

Myth & ArchetypeThe Great Conversation

Where myths stop being stories and become the shapes other stories are made of.

  • Aesop’s Fables by Jerry Pinkney, 2000 · ages 8–10 · Lexile 760L
  • The Iliad by Homer, -750 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 740L · AR 11.3 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • The Odyssey by Homer, -800 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 1050L · AR 10.3 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, 900 · ages 12–15 · Lexile 1090L
  • Grimm Fairy Tales by Grimm, 1812
  • Andersen Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, 1872 · ages 7–10
  • The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle, 1883 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1200L · AR 8.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire, 1962 · ages 11–13 · Lexile 1070L · AR 6.6 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)

Name a book you are already reading and see which roads leave from it — there is more than one way up.

The shelf the Science Fiction road arrives at: 14 books that made this kind what it is. Not the hardest Science Fiction books, and not the oldest, but the ones the rest of the shelf is built on. Reading ages are shown, as everywhere else, so you can see who each one is for.

The capacities it climbs

Wonder & InquiryThe Great Conversation

Where "what if" is followed all the way to the end.

  • Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, 1864 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 1030L · AR 9.9 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, 1869 · ages 11–14 · Lexile 1030L · AR 10.0
  • The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, 1895 · Lexile 1070L · AR 7.4
  • War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, 1898 · ages 15–18 · Lexile 1160L · AR 3.8
  • I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, 1950 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 820L · AR 6.1 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, 1950 · Lexile 740L · AR 6.2
  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, 1969 · ages 14–17 · Lexile 890L · AR 5.2 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, 1962 · ages 9–13 · Lexile 740L · AR 4.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • Dune by Frank Herbert, 1965 · Lexile 800L · AR 5.7
  • Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, 1985 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 780L · AR 5.5 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • The Giver by Lois Lowry, 1993 · ages 13–17 · Lexile 760L · AR 5.7 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • The Martian by Andy Weir, 2011 · AR 5.4
  • Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2015
  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, 2021 · AR 4.7

Name a book you are already reading and see which roads leave from it — there is more than one way up.

The shelf the Realistic Fiction road arrives at: 11 books that made this kind what it is. Not the hardest Realistic Fiction books, and not the oldest, but the ones the rest of the shelf is built on. Reading ages are shown, as everywhere else, so you can see who each one is for.

The capacities it climbs

Manners and MotivesLiterary Language & FormThe Great Conversation

Where ordinary life is taken seriously, and nobody is asked to be a hero.

  • Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, 1868 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1300L · AR 7.9 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, 1876 · ages 11–14 · Lexile 970L · AR 8.1 · AR Interest: MG+ (6–8)
  • Heidi by Joanna Spyri, 1880 · ages 9–14 · Lexile 1200L · AR 8.2 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, 1885 · ages 12–17 · Lexile 980L · AR 6.6 · AR Interest: MG+ (6–8)
  • A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1961 · ages 7–10 · Lexile 790L · AR 6.0 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit, 1906 · ages 11–13 · Lexile 640L · AR 5.5 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, 1935 · ages 9–12 · Lexile 710L · AR 7.3 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1911 · ages 11–13 · Lexile 710L · AR 6.3 · AR Interest: MG (4–8)
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, 1847 · ages 14–18 · Lexile 1040L · AR 7.9 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, 1982 · ages 12–17 · Lexile 810L · AR 5.8 · AR Interest: UG (9–12)
  • Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1813 · ages 12–17 · Lexile 1070L · AR 12.0

Name a book you are already reading and see which roads leave from it — there is more than one way up.