The following texts are recommended for parents to purchase for their children’s classes and for home reinforcement of the virtues and principles learned at the academy. NOTE: when “our text” or “our set” is indicated, this means that the book should be acquired through Saint Alcuin.

Preschool (Age 2-4)

  • Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes

  • The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter (Beatrix Potter)

  • Winnie-the-Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, & When We Were Very Young, selections (A.A. Milne)

  • A Year at Maple Hill Farm (Alice and Martin Provensen)

  • The New Catholic Picture Bible, selections (Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D.)

  • My Picture Missal Paperback – Picture Book, (Rev. Lawrence G Lovasik S.V.D.)

  • The Holy Rosary Paperback – Picture Book, ((Rev. Lawrence G Lovasik S.V.D.)

  • Once Upon a Time Saints, selections (Ethel Pochocki) /

  • Picture Book of Saints, selections (Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D.)

  • My Book of the Church’s Year (Enid Chadwick)

Primary (Age 5-8)

  • English Lessons Through Literature, Level I, selected and adapted (Kathy Jo DeVore)

  • Aesop’s Fables (we recommend the beautifully illustrator hardback edition by Barnes N Noble)

  • The Harp and Laurel Wreath: Poetry and Dictation for the Classical Curriculum (Laura M. Berquist)—this text will be used from Primary to Senior levels.

  • King of the Golden City: Special Edition for Boys (Mother Mary Loyola)

  • Geography Through Literature, selected and adapted (Holling C. Holling)

  • My Book of the Church’s Year (Enid Chadwick)

  • Once Upon a Time Saints, selections (Ethel Pochocki)

  • A Child’s Book of Saints & A Child’s Book of Warriors, selections (William Canton)

  • The New Catholic Picture Bible, selections (Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik)

  • Nature Anatomy (Julia Rothman) & Activity Book (sold separately)

  • When We Were Very Young & Now We Are Six, selections (A.A. Milne)

  • A Child’s Garden of Verses, selections (Robert Louis Stevenson)

  • Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages, selections (Harold Bloom, ed.)

  • Heavenward Bound (E.T.W. Branscombe)

  • The Rhymed Life of St. Patrick (Katharine Tynan)

  • The Book of Saints and Heroes, selections (Leonora Blanche Lang)

  • The Blue Fairy Book: Complete and Unabridged (Andrew Lang)

  • The Green Fairy Book (Andrew Lang)

Junior & Intermediate (Age 9-15)

  • Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages, selections (Harold Bloom, ed.)

  • Poems Every Catholic Should Know (Joseph Pearce)

  • Treasury Of Favorite Poems Hardcover (Louis Untermeyer)

  • The Rhymed Life of St. Patrick (Katharine Tynan)

  • The Book of Saints and Heroes, selections (Leonora Blanche Lang)

  • My Path to Heaven: A Young Person’s Guide to the Faith Paperback (Rev. Geoffrey Bliss)

  • King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (Puffin Classics)

  • Tales of the Greek Heroes (Puffin Classics)

  • Myths of the Norsemen (Puffin Classics)

  • Tales of Ancient Egypt (Puffin Classics)

  • Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Puffin Classics)

  • The Extraordinary Cases of Sherlock Holmes (Puffin Classics)

  • The Princess and the Goblin (Puffin Classics)

  • The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

  • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)

  • Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)

  • Hans Christian Andersen’s Complete Fairy Tales (Leather-bound Classics)

  • The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis)

  • Oliver Twist (Dickens)

  • The Phantom Tollbooth (Juster)

  • The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Leather-bound Classics)

  • The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Speare)

  • The Bronze Bow (Speare)

  • Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Lin)

  • The Golden Goblet (McGraw)

  • The Outlaws of Ravenhurst (Wallace)

  • The Door in the Wall (de Angeli)

  • Crispin: The Cross of Lead (Avi)

  • The Scarlet Pimpernel (Orczy)

  • Ivanhoe (Sir Walter Scott)

  • The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway)

  • The Iliad & The Odyssey by Homer (Alexander Pope translations, our set)

  • “A Christmas Memory” (Capote)

  • The Young Man’s Guide (Father Lasance)

  • Home for Good (Mother Mary Loyola)

  • Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Senior (Age 16-18)

  • Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation)

  • Canterbury Tales (Chaucer, our set)

  • Divine Comedy (Dante, our set)

  • Aeneid (Virgil, our text)

  • The Metamorphosis (Ovid, our text)

  • Paradise Lost & Regained (Milton, our set)

  • Dryden’s poetical works (our text)

  • The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne)

  • An Anthology of 8 C. S. Lewis Titles (Signature Classics edition)

  • A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Solzhenitsyn)

  • Joan of Arc (Lisieux)

  • “A Worn Path” (Welty)

  • The Gift of the Magi (Henry)

  • Little Women (Alcott)

  • Antigone (Sophocles)

  • Murder in the Cathedral (Eliot)

  • A Rose for Emily (Faulkner)

  • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Irving)

  • The Grand Inquisitor (Dostoevsky)

  • The Privilege of Being a Woman (Alice von Hildebrand)

  • Summa Theologica (St. Thomas Aquinas): the academy will provide a set of the Summa for students, but since it is an encapsulation of the Catholic Faith, it is recommended to have a set at home. We use the Fathers of the Dominican Province translation. Online free English translations of St. Thomas Aquinas’ works can be found here: https://isidore.co/aquinas/

  • Catena Aurea (Commentary on the Scriptures by the Church Fathers compiled by St. Thomas Aquinas): buy from Amazon or free online- https://isidore.co/aquinas/

  • The Confessions (St. Augustine)

  • The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love (St. Augustine)

  • New Testament Commentaries by Cornelius Lapide (one of the greatest commentators on Holy Scripture): the iPieta app has the full commentaries, but you can access them here: http://www.catholicapologetics.info/scripture/newtestament/Lapide.htm

Everyone (required)