Keep Books

"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them."

--Joseph Brodsky

 

Keep Books:

As part of their studies at John Adams Academy, scholars are given personal copies, or “keep books” of some of the classics read in their courses. It is the hope of the faculty and staff at John Adams Academy that these books will form the core of the scholars’ own classical library that will continue to grow as they engage in lifelong learning. Scholars are typically given two keep books per year through their elementary school years, and up to two books per class during their secondary studies. All keep books are selected by the Director of Curriculum in consultation with department heads and are given to every scholar who attends the academy. The core keep books per grade are as follows:

• Little Red Hen
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit

• Children’s Book of Virtues

• Little House in the Big Woods
• The Courage of Sarah Noble

• Charlotte’s Web
• Because of Winn Dixie

• Cricket in Times Square
• By the Great Horn Spoon

• Little Women
• The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

• Julius Caesar
• The Trojan War

• Beowulf the Warrior
• Henry V

• Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
• Magna Charta

• Animal Farm
• To Kill a Mockingbird

• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

• The Iliad
• Macbeth

• The Prince
• Beginnings of Rome
• Selected Works of Cicero

• Divine Comedy
• Richard II

• Man’s Search for Meaning
• Uncle Tom's Cabin

• The Scarlet Letter
• The Great Gatsby

• Abolition of Man
• Plato’s Republic
• Democracy in America

• Hamlet
• The Odyssey