For parents and teachers
Books worth growing up on, by age.
Four lists for ages 4 to 20, with 268 books by 113 authors, chosen to form character and a love of reading.
Read the Great Books in good company.
Raise your children on them.
A Great Books club in Nairobi since 2013, and reading lists for children from four to twenty.
I am Lucy Mulli, and I lead the discussions. Text Book Centre gave me its Penmanship Award as Book Club Champion, and I am completing a Doctor of Arts in the Humanities through a Great Books program.
Where to begin
For readers
Read one Great Book a month with the club.
Anyone can come to an open session. The cohorts are by invitation, and there is a waiting list for the next one.
For organisations and schools
The club's sessions, run for your team or school.
I run series for leadership teams, schools, alumni groups and clubs, the same way the club has met since 2013.
The children's canon
These are the books I would put in a home library, in language children will understand and love. Parents come first, but the lists are for anyone: a teacher, a godparent, a school library, or a grown-up who missed these books the first time.
- Ages 4–7The NurseryAesop and Beatrix Potter, read aloud. 31 authors.
- Ages 8–11School DaysNarnia, Roald Dahl and The Secret Garden. 22 authors.
- Ages 12–15AdolescenceRobinson Crusoe and Anne Frank's diary. 24 authors.
- Ages 16–20YouthHomer, Austen, Dostoyevsky and Achebe. 36 authors.
Take the list to Text Book Centre and ask for the editions by name.
Why the classics
Most of us first met these books in school, as set texts with an exam at the end. In the club we read them because we want to, with a month for each one.
We choose books that have lasted and still raise questions a group can argue over, such as what justice asks of us. Reading with others means hearing the objection you would not have raised yourself. The Club page sets out the four tests a book has to pass.
How the club works
Members read the whole book before we meet. Nobody needs to have studied literature.
- One month before
The book is assigned and members are given a month to finish it. I confirm the editions everyone will read from.
- A week before
Members receive my notes and the questions for discussion.
- The session
We meet and use the Socratic method to guide the discussion. Conversations last not less than three hours.
Next at the table
I have not set a date for the next open session. When I do, I will write to my mailing list first and offer seats to the waiting list before anyone else.
Correspondence, occasionally
I write when I have something to tell you: what the club is reading, an open session, a new list or a seminar for parents. There is no schedule, and I write every letter myself.