50%
Words they will not hear in conversation
Children's books contain about 50% more rare words than the conversation of college graduates or prime-time television. A deep vocabulary grows from books, not from talk.
Hidden StoriesBehind the Classics
Updated DailyFive minutes of classics a day to grow your humanities strength — authors, times and lessons, new every day.
- NoticeA classic every morning for today's humanities strengthMore →
- Andersen's Fairy TalesThe Real Denmark Hiding Inside Andersen's Fairy Tales
- Grimms' Fairy TalesWhat Old Fairy Tales Still Teach Us About Courage and Kindness
- The Velveteen RabbitA Toy Rabbit Who Wanted to Know What It Means to Be Real
- Just So StoriesWhat the Elephant's Child Teaches About Asking Questions
- The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Other TalesWhy We Still Root for a Rabbit Who Breaks the Rules
- Treasure IslandTreasure Island Began With a Map on a Rainy Day
- The Wonderful Wizard of OzA Cyclone, a Yellow Brick Road and Three Unlikely Friends
- The Wind in the WillowsKenneth Grahame, the Banker Who Wrote About a River
- The Time MachineThe Time Machine and the Victorian Dream of Progress
- The Secret GardenMary Lennox, a Child of the Empire
- The OdysseyWhy Odysseus Was Fed Before Anyone Asked His Name
- The Jungle BookMowgli at the Council Rock
- The Call of the WildGold, Snow and Sled Dogs in the World of The Call of the Wild
- The Adventures of Sherlock HolmesThe Doctor Who Invented Sherlock Holmes
- Robinson CrusoeRobinson Crusoe and the Age of Ships and Ledgers
- Pride and PrejudiceWhy the Bennet Sisters Had to Think About Marriage
- Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy)J. M. Barrie and the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up
- Oliver TwistThe Workhouse World That Made Oliver Twist
- Little WomenThe Real Family Behind Little Women
- Jane EyreJane Eyre and the Courage to Speak Up
Fun classic novels for children and adults
From Aesop to Plato,the classics in the original, like a journey.Start light with ten lines a day,and meet the one book that stays for life.
THE GRAND TOUR · BOARDING PASSThe Pyeonggojae Grand TourOne classic in 15 parts, read to the end with Thomas, your guideBoardAt Pyeonggojae
Three ways to grow closer to the classics, a little every day
Way two
Ten lines a day
Three minutes, once a day
Every morning at 7, grow your humanities strength with one key scene from a classic. If you forget, a reminder will nudge you.
- 1Read ten lines
- 2Three quiz questions
- 3One thought
Way three
Just for fun
Which classic character are you?
Choose your way through 20 scenes and meet the classic character — Anne, Sherlock Holmes, Jane Eyre, Don Quixote… — who is most like you.
Take the character quiz →Find your book
Which classic will you open today?
Choose by what your heart needs now, or by age. Every book leads straight into its Grand Tour.
By mood
Classics for how you feel
Stories of people who stepped forward not because they felt no fear, but in spite of it.
- The Wonderful Wizard of OzL. Frank BaumA lion who thinks he is a coward keeps walking ahead for his friends.
- AntigoneSophoclesOne person who will not stop doing what she believes is right, even against the king.
- ApologyPlatoSocrates' own words in court, refusing to bend what he believes.
- Treasure IslandRobert Louis StevensonYoung Jim finds his own way among fearsome pirates.
- The Call of the WildJack LondonBuck the dog learns to endure and grow strong in a harsh northern land.
- KidnappedRobert Louis StevensonKidnapped young David crosses wild hills to find his way home.
- The OdysseyHomerA long voyage home through monsters and storms.
- Robinson CrusoeDaniel DefoeA man alone on an island rebuilds his life one day at a time.
By age
Classics by age
Adventure, friendship and first big questions — the age to build the stamina to finish a book.
- Treasure IslandRobert Louis StevensonYoung Jim grows by making his own calls among pirates.
- The Adventures of Tom SawyerMark TwainA summer in which mischievous Tom learns friendship, courage and conscience.
- Anne of Green GablesL. M. MontgomeryImaginative Anne makes mistakes and finds where she belongs.
- Little WomenLouisa May AlcottFour sisters with different dreams growing up together.
- The Adventures of Sherlock HolmesArthur Conan DoyleThe power of thought that finds the truth in small clues.
- The Call of the WildJack LondonBuck the dog learns to endure and grow strong in a strange world.
- The Secret GardenFrances Hodgson BurnettClosed-off children learn to smile again by tending a garden.
- Around the World in Eighty DaysJules VerneA gentleman races round the world in eighty days to keep his word.
- Romeo and JulietWilliam ShakespeareThe heat and haste of first love, and the tragedy it brings.
Why the classics
Why read the classics now?
The more we are surrounded by short posts and videos, the more a book that has lasted for centuries can give — to children and to adults alike. Research and long-held wisdom say the same thing.
10→16
Children who read for pleasure grew more
Following 3,583 people born in Britain in 1970, researchers found that those who read for pleasure at 10 and 16 made more progress in vocabulary, spelling and maths — a larger effect than their parents' level of education.
14 studies
Understanding other minds
A meta-analysis of 14 experimental studies (53 effect sizes) found that reading fiction gave a small but reliable boost on tasks that ask you to read other people's thoughts and feelings.
How to join
What stays with you for life is a book you read to the very end
Daily Classics brings you a little closer to the classics every day, and the Grand Tour takes you through a whole book on your own, from the first page to the last. Once you can read like that, it never leaves you.
Daily Pass · Free
A daily habit with the classics
- Daily Classics · Character quiz · Hidden Stories
- Read the originals in English
- Lesson 1 of every book
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Grand Tour Pass
The confidence of finishing a classic
- All 15 lessons for every open book
- New books' lessons at no extra cost
- Every reader profile on your account
₩3,400 a month · ₩29,900 a yearAbout the subscription →
Cancel any time; you keep access until the paid period ends.
Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol 1.6