Narrative Project

Narrative Project & Great Books

At Stella Maris, we promote the reading of Great Books as a privileged way for students to understand themselves as part of a great story—a fascinating narrative that calls them to honor their past with gratitude and build the future with magnanimity. Through this narrative vision, students learn to see their lives as a meaningful mission within God’s plan.​

Students are invited to discover themselves as members of a community and as main actors in their own lives. Through the great stories of Sacred Scripture, and of universal, British, and American literature, they expand their imagination and become capable of forming deep, truthful, and lasting relationships that touch the very heart of the person.​

Books at Stella Maris CT Catholic School

Teachers & the Family Story

Our teachers see each student within the context of his family narrative, valuing personal experiences and recognizing individual challenges. Their mission extends beyond the classroom into close collaboration with parents, acknowledging the circumstances and relationships that shape each child’s journey.​

With this understanding, teachers guide students in interpreting their life experiences in light of their unique calling and purpose, helping them discern who they are and what God is asking of them.

Narrative Project Stella Maris CT Catholic School
Books at Stella Maris Stamford Catholic School

Why Great Books?

Stella Maris embraces the Liberal Arts educational tradition. We believe that books are essential for the development of the intellect, heart, and imagination, so we carefully select the works read and discussed in class.​

Our book list is designed to:

  • Offer a path of virtue appropriate to each age, inspiring greatness and good character.​

  • Include works that have stood the test of time and proven their power to educate the human heart.​

  • Challenge and inspire students in a way that is suited to their age and, where appropriate, their sex.​

According to their grade, students read great books from the Greek and Roman world (Homer, Virgil, Sophocles), universal literature (Dante, Cervantes, Victor Hugo, Dumas, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Manzoni, Sienkiewicz), and especially British and American literature (Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, Stevenson, Shelley, Benson, Eliot, Tolkien, Chesterton, Lewis, Twain, Cather, Lee, Melville, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, O’Connor, London, Longfellow, Whitman). Our selection also includes contemporary authors and works that integrate literature and history.

Narrative Project Stamford

Virtue by Grade: Great Books List

Each grade focuses on a principal virtue, supported by carefully chosen stories that form the imagination and heart.

First Grade – Piety

  • Fairy Tales and Stories, Hans Christian Andersen​

  • The Classic Treasury of Aesop’s Fables​

  • “The Eagle and the Farmer” (from Aesop’s Fables)​

Second Grade – Truthfulness

  • The Adventures of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi (read aloud)​

  • The Bears on Hemlock Mountain, Alice Dalgliesh​

Third Grade – Liberality

  • A Lion to Guard Us, Clyde Robert Bulla​

  • The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Chandler Warner​

  • The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis​

  • The Happy Hollisters, Jerry West​

  • James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl​

Fourth Grade – Conviviality

  • Ben and Me, Robert Lawson​

  • The Last Archer, S.D. Smith​

  • Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis​

  • Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne​

  • Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder

Fifth Grade – Fortitude

  • The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis​

  • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl​

  • Johnny Tremain, Esther Hoskins Forbes​

  • The Five Children and It, E. Nesbit​

  • Treasure Island, R.L. Stevenson​

  • Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad

Sixth Grade – Concord

  • Tales from the Odyssey, Parts 1 and 2, Mary Pope Osborne​

  • A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle​

  • Momo, Michael Ende​

  • The Father Brown Reader: Stories from G.K. Chesterton​

  • The Golden Fleece, Padraic Colum​

  • Gods, Heroes, and Men of Ancient Greece, W.H.D. Rouse​

  • A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens​

  • Selected Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb​

Seventh Grade – Charity

  • Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare​

  • The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien​

  • Michael Strogoff: The Courier of the Czar, Jules Verne​

  • White Fang, Jack London​

  • The Paul Street Boys, Ferenc Molnár​

  • Animal Farm, George Orwell​

  • Poetry & Short Stories for the Logic Stage (19th–20th century anthology, excerpts provided by the school – Memoria Press)​

Eighth Grade – Chastity

  • Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare​

  • The Return of the King, J.R.R. Tolkien​

  • The Pearl, John Steinbeck​

  • The Iliad, Homer​

  • The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry​

  • The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway​

  • To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee​

  • The Golden Thread (St. Ignatius of Loyola), Louis de Wohl

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