What Are the Great Books in Classical Education?

If you have spent time learning about classical education, you have probably encountered the term “Great Books.” For some families, the phrase is familiar. For others, it raises an important question: What exactly makes a book a Great Book?

Is there an official list? Is a Great Book simply a famous book? Or are there certain qualities that allow a work of literature, history, or philosophy to remain meaningful generation after generation?

Understanding the Great Books tradition helps explain an important part of classical education—and why the books children encounter throughout their education matter.

What Are the Great Books in Classical Education?

In classical education, the Great Books are influential works of literature, philosophy, history, and other disciplines that explore enduring questions about truth, justice, virtue, human nature, and how we should live. They are works that have remained relevant across generations because the questions and ideas they explore are not limited to one particular time or place.

There is not one universally accepted Great Books reading list.

Educator and philosopher Mortimer Adler helped popularize the concept and contributed to collections of significant works spanning the history of Western civilization. Since then, educators and academic organizations have developed their own Great Books lists.

Some authors and works appear consistently, while others vary depending on the particular program or institution. The works of William Shakespeare, for example, are widely recognized as part of the Great Books tradition.

Rather than thinking of the Great Books as one definitive checklist, it can be more helpful to understand the qualities that allow a book to endure.

What Makes a Book a “Great Book”?

One of the defining characteristics of a Great Book is its ability to address fundamental questions of human existence.

What is the best way to live? What is justice? How do we know what is true? What does it mean to be courageous? What responsibilities do we have to one another?

These are not questions belonging to one particular century. Human beings have wrestled with them throughout history, and we continue to wrestle with them today.

When students read great works, they enter an ongoing conversation about these ideas. One author may build upon the thinking of an earlier writer, challenge it, or consider an enduring question within a new historical context. Readers are invited into that conversation as well.

This is one reason the Great Books have such an important place in classical education.

Why Are the Great Books Still Relevant Today?

A Great Book transcends the particular time and place in which it was written.

The historical setting may be unfamiliar, but the experiences, choices, struggles, and questions within the work remain recognizable. Readers separated from an author by hundreds or even thousands of years can still encounter ideas that cause them to reflect on their own lives.

Great Books are also worth returning to.

A book read at 15 may reveal something entirely different when read again at 30 or 60. As our knowledge and experiences change, we often discover ideas and meaning that we did not recognize during an earlier reading.

This lasting quality is part of what distinguishes great literature from books that may entertain us for a season but have little more to offer once the final page is turned.

How Do Great Books Help Form Students?

Classical education views reading as more than simply acquiring information or practicing a skill. What students read can help shape how they think about themselves, other people, and the world around them.

Great literature introduces students to perspectives and experiences beyond their own. It can challenge assumptions, encourage empathy, strengthen reasoning, and invite readers to consider ideas with which they may initially disagree.

Reading well therefore requires a certain amount of humility. Before agreeing or disagreeing with an author, a thoughtful reader must first seek to understand what the author is actually saying.

Students learn to ask questions such as: What does the author mean? Why does a character make this choice? Is that choice just? What might I have done differently? What does this story reveal about courage, friendship, responsibility, sacrifice, or human nature?

These conversations help transform reading from simply understanding words on a page into an opportunity for intellectual and character development.

What Do the Great Books Mean for Children's Literature?

Most traditional Great Books lists were created with older students and adults in mind. Young children are not expected to begin their education by tackling the most challenging works of Western philosophy and literature.

The same principles, however, can help educators and parents choose excellent books for children.

Sometimes described as the “Good Books,” these are stories that prepare young readers for the Great Books they may encounter later in their education. They contain rich language, memorable characters, meaningful ideas, and stories worth experiencing more than once.

C.S. Lewis addressed this idea in his essay On Three Ways of Writing for Children, observing that a good children's story should be capable of being enjoyed beyond childhood. The best children's literature does not need to speak down to young readers. Instead, it respects their natural curiosity and introduces them to stories and ideas that can continue to have meaning as they grow.

For young students, a seemingly simple story can lead to meaningful conversations about honesty, courage, friendship, perseverance, gratitude, or making the right choice when doing so is difficult.

In this way, children's literature can begin preparing students for a lifetime of thoughtful reading.

Great Books and Classical Education at Liberty Academy

At Liberty Academy, we believe the books children encounter should do more than fill time or simply practice reading skills. Literature is an important part of developing both the mind and the heart.

Our classical curriculum introduces students to thoughtfully selected, age-appropriate literature that uses rich language, tells meaningful stories, and provides opportunities to discuss important ideas.

As students grow, their ability to read, comprehend, question, discuss, and think deeply grows with them. The books become more challenging, and so do the questions.

The goal is not simply to create students who have read a particular list of famous books. It is to develop thoughtful readers who can engage seriously with great ideas, listen carefully to perspectives beyond their own, ask meaningful questions, and continue learning throughout their lives.

That foundation begins with the books we place in their hands when they are young.

Discover Classical Education at Liberty Academy

The Great Books tradition is just one part of the broader classical approach to education at Liberty Academy. Through literature, history, mathematics, science, fine arts, and other subjects, students develop the knowledge and habits necessary to become thoughtful learners and responsible citizens.

If you are exploring educational options for your child, we invite you to learn more about our classical curriculum, attend an upcoming Parent Information Session, and discover what a Liberty Academy education could offer your family.