Did you know that in addition to accepting general book donations, the POP Project has also accepted classroom sets over the years? These books cover a span of reading levels and age ranges, and they are perfect for small to large classrooms*, book clubs, or other types of reading groups.
Check out 30+ book sets we have available, and contact us today to set up your FREE book delivery!
*NOTE: Sets of books over 20 in number can be broken up if requested.
List last updated Dec 2020.
100 Best-Loved Poems
Philip Smith, Editor
Paperback | Books available: 12
Here are some of the most-loved poems in the English language, chosen not merely for their popularity, but for their literary quality as well. Dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, these splendid poems remain evergreen in their capacity to engage our minds and refresh our spirits.
Aesop’s Fables
Selected and adapted by Jack Zipes
Paperback | Books available: 10
An adaptation of Aesop’s fables features the artwork of a nineteenth-century French illustrator and includes “The Fox and the Grapes,” “The Ants and the Grasshopper,” “The Country Mouse and the City Mouse,” and two hundred others.
The Bean Trees
Barbara Kingsolver
Paperback | Books available: 8
Barbara Kingsolver’s 1988 debut novel is a classic work of American fiction. Now a standard in college literature classes across the nation, The Bean Trees is not only a literary masterpiece, but a popular triumph. It’s a narrative that readers worldwide have taken into their hearts.
The Best American Essays (2009)
Mary Oliver, Editor
Paperback | Books available: 23
Edited by award-winning poet and essayist Mary Oliver, this edition of this “rich and thoughtful collection” (Publishers Weekly) offers the finest essays “judiciously selected from countless publications” (Chicago Tribune).
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens
Paperback | Books available: 19
First published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843, this novella tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come.
Grandpa Stories
Mike DeNike
Paperback | Books available: 4
This is a book of short stories as experienced by a boy during the Great Depression in the State of Michigan. Values that emerge from each story include honesty, embarrassment, humor, sadness, and more.
Hatchet
Gary Paulsen
Paperback | Books available: 17
Hatchet is a 1986 Newbery Honor-winning young-adult wilderness survival novel. It is the first novel of five in the Hatchet series.
Heroes & Villains
Rudyard Kipling, Kenneth Grahame, Ogden Nash
Paperback | Books available: 22
Some animals always get cast as the villains (e.g. snakes and dragons). But are these animals really villains? In these three stories, “Rikki-Tiki-Tavi” of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book Stories, “The Reluctant Dragon” by Kenneth Grahame, and “The Tale of Custard the Dragon” by Ogden Nash, you will read about a brave hero, evil villains, deadly battles, and a battle that isn’t really a battle.
Hiroshima
John Hersey
Paperback | Books available: 16
On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city. John Hersey’s journalistic masterpiece tells what happened on that day through the memories of survivors. This timeless, powerful and compassionate document has become a classic “that stirs the conscience of humanity” (The New York Times).
Journeys of Poetry
Michael DeNike
Paperback | Books available: 11
A life of travel and adventure, as told through this poetry collection.
Last Descendants: An Assassin’s Creed Series
Matthew J. Kirby
Paperback | Books available: 6
Nothing in Owen’s life has been right since his father died in prison. Under the guidance of Monroe, Owen and a group of teenagers go into a memory they all share within their DNA: the 1863 Draft Riots in New York City. Owen and his companions find themselves tested on the violent streets of New York, and their experiences in the past will have far-reaching consequences in the present.
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper
Paperback | Books available: 21
Deep in the forests of upper New York State, the brave woodsman Hawkeye (Natty Bumppo) and his loyal Mohican friends, Chingachgook and Uncas, become embroiled in the bloody battles of the French and Indian War. As the idyllic wilderness gives way to the forces of civilization, the novel presents a moving portrayal of a vanishing race and the end of its way of life in the great American forests.
My Side of the Mountain
Jean Craighead George
Paperback | Books available: 15
A middle grade adventure novel written and illustrated by American writer Jean Craighead George. It features a boy who learns about courage, independence, and the need for companionship while attempting to live in a forested area of New York state.
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
Edith Hamilton
Hardcover | Books available: 33
Since its original publication in 1942, this book has sold millions of copies throughout the world and established itself as a perennial bestseller. Readers have chosen this book above all others to discover the thrilling, enchanting, and fascinating world of Western mythology—from Odysseus’s adventure-filled journey to the Norse god Odin’s effort to postpone the final day of doom.
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail: A Play
Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee
Mixed Covers | Books available: 40
“If the law is of such a nature that it requires you to be an agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law.” So wrote the young Henry David Thoreau in 1849. Thoreau put his belief into action and refused to pay taxes because of the United States government’s involvement in the Mexican War. The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail is a celebrated dramatic presentation of this famous act of civil disobedience and its consequences.
Old Yeller
Fred Gipson
Paperback | Books available: 22
A timeless American classic and one of the most beloved children’s books ever written, Old Yeller is a Newbery Honor Book that explores the poignant and unforgettable bond between a boy and the stray dog who becomes his loyal friend.
Patchwork
Ila Yount
Paperback | Books available: 5
An absorbing tale of nineteenth-century life on the Carolina side of the mountain.
Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie
Paperback | Books available: 13
Peter Pan is the story of a mischievous little boy who can fly, and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the Indian princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook.
The Pigman
Paul Zindel
Hardcover | Books available: 34
When high school sophomores John and Lorraine made a prank phone call to an elderly stranger named Angelo Pignati, what starts as a practical joke quickly turns into a friendship that changes all of their lives forever. But when their friendship ends in tragedy, the only way for John and Lorraine to find peace is to write down their friend’s story—the true story of the Pigman.
The Raven’s Warrior
Vincent Pratchett
Paperback | Books available: 18
Wounded in battle (900 A.D.), a near dead Celtic warrior is taken by Viking raiders and sold into a Baghdad slave market. He is dragged further east through the desert into the “Middle Kingdom,” where he is bought by a Taoist Priest and his beautiful daughter. Hazy images of silk, herbs, needles, potions, and steel can only lead to one thing—he has been purchased by a wizard and his witch. Arkthar fears for his soul.
Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier
Paperback | Books available: 35
In an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, she walks in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim’s first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.
The Return of the Native
Thomas Hardy
Hardcover | Books available: 59
First published serially in 1878, this classically modern novel presents a world of people struggling between their unfulfilled desires and the expectations of society. Diggory Venn is in love with Thomasin Yeobright, who has been promised to Damon Wildeve. Damon has rebuffed Thomasin in favor of the beautiful young Eustacia Vye. However, a returning diamond merchant catches Eustacia’s eye, beckoning her toward a more glamorous and exciting locale.
Same Difference
Derek Kirk Kim
Paperback | Books available: 20
When Derek Kirk Kim (The Eternal Smile) published his debut graphic novel back in 2003, it made an immediate stir. The story about a group of young people navigating adulthood and personal relationships is told with such sympathy and perception that the book was immediately hailed as an important new work.
A Separate Peace
John Knowles
Hardcover | Books available: 27
An American classic and great bestseller for over thirty years, A Separate Peace is timeless in its description of adolescence during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to World War II..
Shadow on the Snow
Bill Wallace
Hard Cover | Books available: 26
With his grandfather badly hurt in an accident on their ranch and the rest of the family in town, a young boy must go get help at the height of a blizzard, even though there is a panther prowling in the area.
Stories of the Modern South
Ben Forkner & Patrick Samway, S.J., Editors
Paperback | Books available: 15
The stories in this collection are as diverse as the region they cover, yet they are all connected by a shared history and a uniquely Southern strain of American language and narrative. Contributors include Truman Capote, William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, Flannery O’Connor, Katherine Anne Porter, Alice Walker, Eudora Welty, and Tennessee Williams.
Waiting for the Rain
Sheila Gordon
Mixed Covers | Books available: 56
Chronicles nine years in the lives of two South African youths—one black, one white—as their friendship ends in a violent confrontation between student and soldier. An ALA best book for young adults.
Walking across Egypt
Clyde Edgerton
Mixed Covers | Books available: 33
She had as much business keeping a stray dog as she had walking across Egypt—which not so incidentally is the title of her favorite hymn. She’s Mattie Rigsbee, an independent, strong-minded senior citizen, who at 78, might be slowing down just a bit. When young, delinquent Wesley Benfield drops in on her life, he is even less likely a companion than the stray dog. But, of course, the dog never tasted her mouth-watering pound cake.
Wolf Rider: A Tale of Terror
Avi
Paperback | Books available: 47
Andy Zadinski receives a disturbing phone call, but no one will listen. Not the police, not his friends, not even his father. They all say he’s crying wolf. Despite warnings from his father that he should just forget about the call, Andy feels obligated to track down the target of the phone call. But is she the only target?
The World of Odysseus
Nell Grant
Paperback | Books available: 22
“Fact Finders Series” books, based upon a popular BBC Educational TV series, are clear and colorful informational books for children 8–12 years of age.