What classic books should middle and high school teens (ages 13-18) be reading? Assuming that reading skills have been mastered, teens should regularly be enjoying the very best classic literature that the Western Canon has to offer plus some not-yet classic books to round out the homeschool high school curriculum. Include full-length novels (300-1000 pages) by authors like Austen, Dickens, and Dostoyevsky as part of the regular literature diet. Of course a rising classical scholar should be reading the classic histories of ancient Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe like Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, Livy’s Early History of Rome, and Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History of the Early Church. Nonfiction news periodicals like the Economist magazine and the Wall Street Journal offer student discounts of up to 78% off retail price and often provide contemporary application of ideas found in classic rhetoric, political theory, and economics literature. Finally, if you want to vary the learning style, audio books are often a special treat.
