Best Books for High School Homeschool Students (Challenging & Thought-Provoking Reads)
Updated September 2026
The Short Answer: 18 Books That Stretch a High Schooler
The best books for high school homeschool students are the ones that make a teenager argue back. Our eighteen picks run as a four-year sequence: The Odyssey and Plato in ninth grade, Beowulf, Dante and Macbeth in tenth, Austen, Shelley and Dostoevsky in eleventh, and Lewis, Orwell, Achebe and Wiesel in twelfth.
Moving from the ancient world to the twentieth century means each year's reading sets up the next. The list works as the core of a literature credit, with room left over for your student's own choices.
| Grade | Title | Author | Written |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any | How to Read a Book | Mortimer J. Adler (with Charles Van Doren, 1972 rev.) | 1940 |
| 9 | The Odyssey | Homer (Emily Wilson translation, 2017) | c. 8th century BC |
| 9 | Oedipus Rex | Sophocles | 5th century BC |
| 9 | The Apology | Plato | 4th century BC |
| 9 | Confessions | Augustine | c. AD 400 |
| 10 | Beowulf | Anonymous (Seamus Heaney translation, 1999) | c. 8th–11th century |
| 10 | Inferno | Dante Alighieri | early 1300s |
| 10 | Macbeth | William Shakespeare | c. 1606 |
| 10 | A Man for All Seasons | Robert Bolt | 1960 |
| 11 | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | 1813 |
| 11 | Frankenstein | Mary Shelley | 1818 |
| 11 | Great Expectations | Charles Dickens | 1861 |
| 11 | Crime and Punishment | Fyodor Dostoevsky | 1866 |
| 12 | The Abolition of Man | C. S. Lewis | 1943 |
| 12 | Cry, the Beloved Country | Alan Paton | 1948 |
| 12 | 1984 | George Orwell | 1949 |
| 12 | Things Fall Apart | Chinua Achebe | 1958 |
| 12 | Night | Elie Wiesel | 1960 (English) |
American novels are mostly left off on purpose, because they have their own home in our American literature reading list. If you want a lighter, broader list for ages 13–18, see our best books for teens.
In this guide:
- Before Anything Else: How to Read a Book
- Ninth Grade: The Ancient World
- Tenth Grade: Heroes, Kings and Conscience
- Eleventh Grade: The Great Novels
- Twelfth Grade: Worldviews in Collision
- How to Turn This List Into a Literature Credit
- Buying the Classics Used: Editions to Look For
- Frequently Asked Questions
Before Anything Else: How to Read a Book
How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler (1940; revised with Charles Van Doren in 1972) is the most useful study-skills book we know for a serious high schooler. It teaches the difference between reading for information and reading for understanding, how to outline an argument, and how to disagree with an author fairly. Assign the first part in the fall of ninth grade and come back to it whenever a book feels impossible.
Ninth Grade: The Ancient World
The Odyssey. Start here because it is a cracking adventure story first and a classic second. Emily Wilson's 2017 translation, the first published English translation of the poem by a woman, is brisk and easy on a fourteen-year-old; older translations work fine too. Content note: the slaughter of the suitors in the final books is bloody, and the disloyal maids are hanged.
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Short enough to read in a sitting. The subject matter (a man who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother) sounds lurid, but the play is really about pride and the refusal to see. The self-blinding happens offstage and is reported.
The Apology by Plato. Socrates' defense at his trial, a few dozen pages long. Pair it with the Book of Daniel or Acts and ask: what does it cost to tell the truth to people with power?
Confessions by Augustine. Books 1–9 are autobiography and very readable; the famous pear-stealing scene in Book 2 is a perfect discussion starter. Content note: Augustine is frank that he lived with a mistress for years, though without detail.
Tenth Grade: Heroes, Kings and Conscience
Beowulf in Seamus Heaney's 1999 verse translation. Monsters, a dragon and an old king facing death. Boys who claim to hate poetry often change their minds here. Content note: battle violence, including an arm torn off.
Inferno by Dante. The first part of the Divine Comedy, and the one most students can handle. Get an edition with good notes, such as Anthony Esolen's translation. Content note: the punishments are graphic and a few cantos include crude imagery. Families who want to finish the whole Comedy can read Purgatorio in the spring.
Macbeth by Shakespeare. The shortest of the great tragedies and the most straightforward about sin and its consequences. Read it aloud with parts assigned, then watch a staged version. Our guide to Shakespeare's plays suggests which ones to add.
A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt (1960). A play about Thomas More refusing to swear an oath he believes is false. It is modern, quick and clean, and it lands especially well right after Macbeth: two men, two choices about conscience.
Eleventh Grade: The Great Novels
Pride and Prejudice (1813). Funny, sharp and much more about character than romance. Ask your student to track how both Elizabeth and Darcy are wrong. Our Jane Austen reading guide covers what to read next.
Frankenstein (1818). Not the movie monster. A novel about a scientist who creates a life and then refuses to take responsibility for it, which makes it one of the best books on the list for discussing ethics and technology. Content note: several murders, including a child's.
Great Expectations (1861). Dickens at his most controlled. Pip's snobbery and his slow repentance give a Christian family a great deal to talk about. There is nothing here to worry a parent.
Crime and Punishment (1866). The hardest book on the list and the most rewarding. A student commits a murder to prove a theory, and the rest of the novel dismantles the theory. Content note: the axe murders are described, one important character has been forced into prostitution (not depicted), and there is a suicide. Save for mature seventeen-year-olds, and see our Dostoevsky reading guide for which translation to choose.
Twelfth Grade: Worldviews in Collision
The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis (1943). Three short lectures arguing that there is such a thing as objective value, and warning what happens when education pretends otherwise. Dense, so read one lecture a week. Senior year is the right time for it, and it makes an ideal lens for the next two books.
1984 by George Orwell (1949). Read it straight after Lewis and the two books start talking to each other. Content note: the torture in Part Three is disturbing, and Winston and Julia's affair includes some frank passages. Our George Orwell reading guide suggests Animal Farm first for younger students.
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (1948). A Zulu Anglican priest searches Johannesburg for his son and finds him accused of murder. A deeply Christian novel about justice, grief and forgiveness, set on the eve of apartheid. Content note: a murder, and references to prostitution and prison.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958). A proud Igbo leader's world comes apart as missionaries and colonial government arrive. It is honest about both the traditional society and the missionaries, which is exactly why it is worth reading in a Christian home. Content note: a boy is killed, domestic violence, and a suicide.
Night by Elie Wiesel (French 1958; English 1960). Wiesel's memoir of Auschwitz and Buchenwald as a teenager. Short and devastating, and it raises the hardest questions about faith and suffering head-on. Content note: the atrocities, including the deaths of children, are described directly.
How to Turn This List Into a Literature Credit
- Pace: four to five books a year from this list is plenty, alongside a couple of American or British titles and some free reading. Allow three to four weeks for a novel, one to two for a play.
- Writing: one analytical essay per book, 500–800 words in ninth grade, working up to 1,500 by senior year. The question should be arguable ("Is Victor or the creature the real monster?"), not a summary.
- Discussion: use Adler's four questions for every book. What is it about as a whole? What is being said in detail? Is it true? What of it?
- Commonplace book: have your student copy one passage a week by hand. It slows them down and gives them material for essays.
- Transcript wording: "Literature and Composition I–IV" or "Great Books" both read well to colleges; keep your reading list and essays as documentation.
A good sequence for discussion: ask how each book answers the question "what makes a good person?" By senior year your student will have eighteen answers to compare.
Buying the Classics Used: Editions to Look For
Classics are the best bargain in any used bookstore, and the annotated editions from Penguin, Norton and Oxford turn up often. Browse our classic literature and study guides shelves, or search for a title like Things Fall Apart or Alan Paton. Free shipping kicks in at $15, which usually means three or four paperbacks.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books should a homeschool high schooler read per year?
For a full literature credit, eight to twelve substantial books a year is typical: four or five challenging works like the ones on this list, plus American or British literature and some free reading.
What order should high schoolers read the classics in?
Chronologically works best: the ancient world in ninth grade, medieval and Renaissance in tenth, the nineteenth-century novel in eleventh, and twentieth-century books in twelfth. Each period builds on the one before.
Is Crime and Punishment appropriate for high school?
For mature juniors and seniors, yes. It includes a murder, a suicide and a character forced into prostitution, but it is a profoundly moral book about guilt and redemption.
Which translation of The Odyssey is best for teenagers?
Emily Wilson's 2017 translation is the easiest for most teens to read. Any modern verse translation with good notes will work.
Is 1984 appropriate for Christian homeschool students?
Most families assign it in eleventh or twelfth grade. It contains disturbing torture scenes and some sexual content, so parents may want to preview Part Two. Animal Farm is a gentler introduction to Orwell.
Do homeschool students need to read Shakespeare?
Most college-prep reading plans include at least one play. Macbeth is a good first tragedy, and one comedy such as Much Ado About Nothing or A Midsummer Night's Dream balances it well.
