McGuffey's Readers · Fifth Reader · revised edition

McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition

An opening section on reading aloud, then 117 selections of prose and poetry by Irving, Longfellow, Whittier, Alcott, Hawthorne and many more, each with notes about the author and definitions, for readers about 11 to 13. Every lesson has a guide you can follow step by step, with the right page of the book beside it.

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How to use it

  • One selection, one or two days. Most guides take 30 to 40 minutes. Split a long story over two days and begin day two with a quick retelling.
  • Words first. The definitions are printed at the end of each lesson. Look at a few before reading, so the hard words don't stop the story.
  • Meet the author. Most lessons begin with a short note about the writer. Read it together; the guides only repeat what the book says.
  • Read aloud, then tell it back. McGuffey's readers were trained to read aloud well. Take turns reading, then have your child narrate the piece in their own words.
  • Keep the good lines. Copy a fine sentence or learn a stanza by heart each week. Over a year this builds a small treasury of memorized poetry.
  • Elocution is optional. The opening chapter on reading aloud is marked optional. Dip into it a little at a time rather than all at once.

Part 1 Principles of elocution

The book's opening chapter on reading aloud: sounds, inflections, emphasis, pitch and pauses, with practice exercises. Lessons 1–6.

  1. 1Principles of Elocution: preliminary remarks and the elementary sounds optionalLesson Elocution✓
  2. 2Principles of Elocution: faults to be remedied optionalLesson Elocution✓
  3. 3Principles of Elocution: inflections optionalLesson Elocution✓
  4. 4Principles of Elocution: accent and emphasis optionalLesson Elocution✓
  5. 5Principles of Elocution: modulation and poetic pauses optionalLesson Elocution✓
  6. 6Principles of Elocution: exercises optionalLesson Elocution✓

Part 2 The good reader and the gentle hand

Lessons I to XIII: Frederick the Great's little reader, the gentle girl, the farm boy, the nightingale, the meddling boys and the poor barber. Lessons 7–19.

  1. 7The Good ReaderLesson I✓
  2. 8The BluebellLesson II✓
  3. 9The Gentle Hand, by T. S. ArthurLesson III✓
  4. 10The Grandfather, by C. G. EastmanLesson IV✓
  5. 11A Boy on a Farm, by C. D. WarnerLesson V✓
  6. 12The Singing Lesson, by Jean IngelowLesson VI✓
  7. 13Do Not MeddleLesson VII✓
  8. 14Work, by Eliza CookLesson VIII✓
  9. 15The ManiacLesson IX✓
  10. 16Robin Redbreast, by W. AllinghamLesson X✓
  11. 17The Fish I Didn't Catch, by WhittierLesson XI✓
  12. 18It Snows, by Mrs. S. J. HaleLesson XII✓
  13. 19Respect for the Sabbath RewardedLesson XIII✓

Part 3 Ballads, battles and Abou Ben Adhem

Lessons XIV to XXVI: The Sands o' Dee, psalms, the corn song, Blenheim, William Penn, the widow of Pine Cottage and Abou Ben Adhem. Lessons 20–32.

  1. 20The Sands o' Dee, by Charles KingsleyLesson XIV✓
  2. 21Select Paragraphs (from the Bible)Lesson XV✓
  3. 22The Corn Song, by WhittierLesson XVI✓
  4. 23The Venomous Worm, by John RussellLesson XVII✓
  5. 24The Festal Board optionalLesson XVIII✓
  6. 25How to Tell Bad NewsLesson XIX✓
  7. 26The Battle of Blenheim, by SoutheyLesson XX✓
  8. 27"I Pity Them"Lesson XXI✓
  9. 28An Elegy on Madam Blaize, by GoldsmithLesson XXII✓
  10. 29King Charles II. and William Penn, by Mason L. WeemsLesson XXIII✓
  11. 30What I Live ForLesson XXIV✓
  12. 31The Righteous Never ForsakenLesson XXV✓
  13. 32Abou Ben Adhem, by Leigh HuntLesson XXVI✓

Part 4 Lost Lucy, the Town Pump and the bobolink

Lessons XXVII to XL: Lucy Forrester, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Alcott, the discontented pendulum, autumn and storms, Lodore and the bobolink. Lessons 33–46.

  1. 33Lucy Forrester, by John WilsonLesson XXVII✓
  2. 34The Reaper and the Flowers, by LongfellowLesson XXVIII✓
  3. 35The Town Pump, by HawthorneLesson XXIX✓
  4. 36Good-night, by Peter ParleyLesson XXX✓
  5. 37An Old-fashioned Girl, by Louisa M. AlcottLesson XXXI✓
  6. 38My Mother's HandsLesson XXXII✓
  7. 39The Discontented Pendulum, by Jane TaylorLesson XXXIII✓
  8. 40The Death of the Flowers, by BryantLesson XXXIV✓
  9. 41The Thunder-storm, by IrvingLesson XXXV✓
  10. 42April Day, by Mrs. C. A. SoutheyLesson XXXVI✓
  11. 43The Tea RoseLesson XXXVII✓
  12. 44The Cataract of Lodore, by SoutheyLesson XXXVIII✓
  13. 45The Bobolink, by IrvingLesson XXXIX✓
  14. 46Robert of Lincoln, by BryantLesson XL✓

Part 5 Courage, kindness and the village smithy

Lessons XLI to LII: the prison revolt, Flor Silin, Mrs. Caudle, the village blacksmith, Lucknow, the snow-storm and the old sampler. Lessons 47–58.

  1. 47Rebellion in Massachusetts State-prison, by J. T. BuckinghamLesson XLI✓
  2. 48Faithless Nelly Gray, by Hood optionalLesson XLII✓
  3. 49The Generous Russian Peasant, by Nikolai KaramzinLesson XLIII✓
  4. 50Forty Years AgoLesson XLIV✓
  5. 51Mrs. Caudle's Lecture, by Douglas JerroldLesson XLV✓
  6. 52The Village Blacksmith, by LongfellowLesson XLVI✓
  7. 53The Relief of Lucknow, from the "London Times"Lesson XLVII✓
  8. 54The Snow-storm, by ThomsonLesson XLVIII✓
  9. 55Behind TimeLesson XLIX✓
  10. 56The Old Sampler, by Mrs. M. E. SangsterLesson L✓
  11. 57The Goodness of God (from the Bible)Lesson LI✓
  12. 58My MotherLesson LII✓

Part 6 Liberty and the voices of birds

Lessons LIII to LXV: the hour of prayer, the will, Cowper's trial, the iceberg, the quail, the Blue and the Gray, Winkelried, the skylark, John Adams and the rising. Lessons 59–71.

  1. 59The Hour of Prayer, by Mrs. F. D. HemansLesson LIII✓
  2. 60The WillLesson LIV✓
  3. 61The Nose and the Eyes, by CowperLesson LV✓
  4. 62An Iceberg, by L. L. NobleLesson LVI✓
  5. 63About Quail, by W. P. HawesLesson LVII✓
  6. 64The Blue and the Gray, by F. M. FinchLesson LVIII✓
  7. 65The Machinist's Return, from the Washington "Capital"Lesson LIX✓
  8. 66Make Way for Liberty, by James MontgomeryLesson LX✓
  9. 67The English Sky-lark, by Elihu BurrittLesson LXI✓
  10. 68How Sleep the Brave, by William CollinsLesson LXII✓
  11. 69The Rainbow, by John KebleLesson LXIII✓
  12. 70Supposed Speech of John Adams, by Daniel WebsterLesson LXIV✓
  13. 71The Rising, by T. B. ReadLesson LXV✓

Part 7 Courage, temper and work

Self-control, William Tell and the apple, a runaway train, two poems about work and inheritance, a country examination, the river of Time and the Boston Massacre. Lessons 72–81.

  1. 72Control your Temper (John Todd)Lesson LXVI✓
  2. 73William Tell, Part 1 (Sheridan Knowles)Lesson LXVII✓
  3. 74William Tell, concluded (Sheridan Knowles)Lesson LXVIII✓
  4. 75The Crazy EngineerLesson LXIX✓
  5. 76The Heritage (James Russell Lowell)Lesson LXX✓
  6. 77No Excellence without Labor (William Wirt)Lesson LXXI✓
  7. 78The Old House-ClockLesson LXXII✓
  8. 79The Examination (D. P. Thompson)Lesson LXXIII✓
  9. 80The Isle of Long Ago (B. F. Taylor)Lesson LXXIV✓
  10. 81The Boston Massacre (George Bancroft)Lesson LXXV✓

Part 8 Dickens, Irving and poems of the heart

Poems of loss and snowfall, the Squeers schoolroom from Dickens, empty hands, the wild horse, sowing and reaping, comfort, the roll call, turtle soup and a kind revenge. Lessons 82–91.

  1. 82Death of the Beautiful (Mrs. E. L. Follen)Lesson LXXVI✓
  2. 83Snow Falling (John James Piatt)Lesson LXXVII✓
  3. 84Squeers's Method (Charles Dickens)Lesson LXXVIII✓
  4. 85The Gift of Empty Hands (Mrs. S. M. B. Piatt)Lesson LXXIX✓
  5. 86Capturing the Wild Horse (Washington Irving)Lesson LXXX✓
  6. 87Sowing and Reaping (Adelaide Anne Procter)Lesson LXXXI✓
  7. 88Taking Comfort (John G. Whittier)Lesson LXXXII✓
  8. 89Calling the Roll (Shepherd)Lesson LXXXIII✓
  9. 90Turtle Soup (C. F. Briggs)Lesson LXXXIV✓
  10. 91The Best Kind of RevengeLesson LXXXV✓

Part 9 Soldiers, birds, seeds and society

A dying soldier, birds in church, a peevish wife, rainy days and breaking waves, Thoreau on seeds, spring, Channing on religion, a mother remembered and man among the animals. Lessons 92–101.

  1. 92The Soldier of the Rhine (Mrs. C. E. S. Norton)Lesson LXXXVI✓
  2. 93The Winged Worshipers (Charles Sprague)Lesson LXXXVII✓
  3. 94The Peevish Wife (Maria Edgeworth)Lesson LXXXVIII✓
  4. 95The Rainy Day (Longfellow)Lesson LXXXIX✓
  5. 96Break, Break, Break (Tennyson)Lesson XC✓
  6. 97Transportation and Planting of Seeds (H. D. Thoreau)Lesson XCI✓
  7. 98Spring Again (Celia Thaxter)Lesson XCII✓
  8. 99Religion the only Basis of Society (W. E. Channing)Lesson XCIII✓
  9. 100Rock Me to Sleep (Mrs. E. A. Allen)Lesson XCIV✓
  10. 101Man and the Inferior Animals (Jane Taylor)Lesson XCV✓

Part 10 Elephants, the sea and a happy life

Six blind men and an elephant, a home scene, memory, a sea chase, a soldier's burial, little victories, a happy life, discouragement, a sailor's dream and the passenger pigeon. Lessons 102–111.

  1. 102The Blind Men and the Elephant (J. G. Saxe)Lesson XCVI✓
  2. 103A Home Scene (D. G. Mitchell)Lesson XCVII✓
  3. 104The Light of Other Days (Thomas Moore)Lesson XCVIII✓
  4. 105A Chase in the English Channel (Cooper)Lesson XCIX✓
  5. 106Burial of Sir John Moore (Charles Wolfe)Lesson C✓
  6. 107Little Victories (Harriet Martineau)Lesson CI✓
  7. 108The Character of a Happy Life (Sir Henry Wotton)Lesson CII✓
  8. 109The Art of Discouragement (Arthur Helps)Lesson CIII✓
  9. 110The Mariner's Dream (William Dimond)Lesson CIV✓
  10. 111The Passenger Pigeon (Audubon)Lesson CV✓

Part 11 Country, sea and the great classics

Country life, Thackeray, a lighthouse rescue, Hamlet, roast pig, an island evening, the great voices of nature, Johnson's picture of life, summer longing, fate and the Bible. Lessons 112–123.

  1. 112The Country Life (R. H. Stoddard)Lesson CVI✓
  2. 113The Virginians (Thackeray)Lesson CVII✓
  3. 114Minot's Ledge (Fitz-James O'Brien)Lesson CVIII✓
  4. 115Hamlet (Shakespeare)Lesson CIX✓
  5. 116Dissertation on Roast Pig (Charles Lamb)Lesson CX✓
  6. 117A Pen Picture (William Black)Lesson CXI✓
  7. 118The Great Voices (C. T. Brooks)Lesson CXII✓
  8. 119A Picture of Human Life (Samuel Johnson)Lesson CXIII✓
  9. 120A Summer Longing (George Arnold)Lesson CXIV✓
  10. 121Fate (Bret Harte)Lesson CXV✓
  11. 122The Bible the Best of Classics (T. S. Grimke)Lesson CXVI✓
  12. 123My Mother's Bible (G. P. Morris)Lesson CXVII✓

The book itself

Lesson numbers match the book's Roman numerals: Lesson 3 is the book's Lesson III. The guides are written for this site; the book is in the public domain.

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