Reading List

Reading List (or Lektira) is a list of books given to students at each grade of primary and secondary school (including craft and professional schools). They are required for the Mother Tongue (Serbian, Croatian Bosnian or Montenegrin) class and are mandatory.

Reading List may differ depending on the country.

Serbia

Primary School

1st Grade

• The Brothers Grimm: Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Puss in Boots, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Little Briar Rose, Rapunzel.
• “Stories My Grandma Told Me” (or Tako je meni pričala moja baka) and “Three Dwarfs” (or Tri patuljka) by Desanka Maksimović
• “A Mockingjay’s Morning Song” (or Ševina jutarnja pesma) by Grigor Vitez
• “Palle Alone in the World” by Jens Sigsgaard
• “How Beautiful This World Is” (or Ala je lep ovaj svet), “A Little Equestrian” (or Mali konjanik), “Ducks’ School” (or Pačja škola) by Jovan Jovanović Zmaj
• “Serbian Children’s Folk Literature” by Momčilo Tešić

2nd Grade

• “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”, “The Tale of the Dead Princess” and “The Tale of the Golden Cockorel” by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin
• “Winnie the Pooh” by A. A. Milne
• “Adventures of Toša the Cat” (or Doživljaji mačka Toše) by Branko Ćopić
• “Blue Moonlight” (sr. Plava mesečina) and “The Blue Dreamer” (sr. Plavi sanjar) by Dobrica Erić
• “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, “The Little Mermaid”, “The Princess and the Pea”, “Thumbelina” and “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Andersen
• “From a Dragon to the Endlessness” (sr. Od zmaja do beskraja) by Igor Kolarov and Branko Stevanović
• “The Postman’s Tale” by Karel Čapek
• “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi
• “Children Can Fly” (sr: Deca mogu da polete), “This is A Time of Wonders” (sr. Ovo je vreme čuda) and “You Don’t Say!” (sr: Ma šta mi reče) by Ljubivoje Ršumović
• “The Beauty and The Beast”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Puss in Boots”, “Cinderella”, “The Fairies”, “Little Tom Thumb” and other tales by Charles Perrault
• Serbian Folk Tales

3rd Grade

• “Puss in Boots” by Brothers Grimm
• “Chair, Why Don’t You Walk?” (sr: Stolice, zašto ne koračaš) and “Whispering” (sr: Šaputanje) by Dragan Lukić
• “Imagine” (sr: Zamislite) by Duško Radović
• “The Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum
• “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll
• “The Little Water Sprite” by Otfried Preussler
• “The Adventures of Maya the Bee” by Waldemar Bonsels

4th Grade

• “A Little Pirate” (sr: Mali pirat) by Anto Staničić
• “Pippi Longstocking” by Astrid Lindgren
• ” Childhood” (sr: Detinjstvo) selected poems by Desanka Maksimović
• “A Call for A Journey” by Duško Radović
• “Emil and the Detectives” by Erich Kastner
• “Bambi” by Felix Salten
• “The Prince of Clouds” (sr. Princ oblaka) by Grozdana Olujić
• “Dog Named Mr Bozzi” by Istvan Bekeffy
• “Heidi” by Johanna Spyri
• “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling
• “The Wild White Stallion” by Rene Guillot
• “A Book for Marko” (sr. Knjiga za Marka) by Svetlana Velmar Janković
• Ispeci, pa reci – A selection of folk riddles, proverbs and anecdotes
• “Serbian Children’s Folk Literature” by Nikola Vujčić
• Folk Lyric Poems

5th Grade

• “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl
• “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea” by Jules Verne
• “Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
• “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe
• “Stories from the Horizon” (sr. Priče sa horizonta) by Aleksandar Duduković
• “A Joke” by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
• “The Hayduks” (sr. Hajduci) and “The Rent” (sr. Kirija), novels by Branislav Nušić
• “The Hat of Professor Kosta Vujić” (sr. Šešir profesora Koste Vujića), a novel by Milovan Vitezović
• “When Squashes Bloomed” (sr. Kad su cvetale tikve), a novel by Dragoslav Mihajlović
• “The Mauve Garden” (sr. Bašta sljezove boje), a collection of short stories by Branko Ćopić
• “Students’ Farewell” (or Đački rastanak), a poem by Branko Radičević
• “Poems about Mother” (sr. Pesme o majci) by Branko V. Radičević
• “An All-Mighty Eye” (sr. Svemoćno oko), a collection of shprt stories by Čedo Vuković
• “The Boy and The Dog” (sr. Dečak i pas), a short story by Danilo Kiš
• “A Mown Meadow” (sr. Pokošena livada) a poem by Desanka Maksimović
• “Homeland” (sr. Domovina), a poem by Dušan Vasiljev
• “The Bridges” (sr. Mostovi), an essay by Ivo Andrić
• “A Sky River” (sr. Nebeska reka), a tale by Grozdana Olujić
• “The Field” (sr. Polje), a poem by Jovan Dučić
• “A Poem about A Poem” (sr. Pesma o pesmi) by Jovan Jovanović Zmaj
• “The First Furrow” (sr. Prva brazda), a short story by Milovan Glišić
• “Vojvodina”, a poem by Mira Alečković
• “A Silly Poem” (sr. Šašava pesma) by Miroslav Antić
• “A Summer at the Plateau”, “Little Fairy Tales” and “A Large Garden” by Stevan Raičković
• “My Inventions” (sr. Moji izumi) by Nikola Tesla
• “Uncle Jordan” (sr. Čiča Jordan), a short story by Stevan Sremac
• “A Winter Morning”, (sr. Zimsko jutro) a poem by Vojislav Ilić
• Folk Fairy Tales and Fables
• Folk Epic Poems
• Folk Tales

6th Grade

• “Letters From My Windmill” by Alphonse Daudet
• “Vanka” by Anton Chekhov
• “A Wondrous Device” and “Eagles Fly Early”, novels by Branko Ćopić
• “Autobiography” by Branislav Nušić
• “Aska and The Wolf”, a short story by Ivo Andrić
• “Early Sorrows” (sr. Rani jadi) and “The Fiances” (sr. Verenici), short story collections by Danilo Kiš
• “The Call of The Wild” by Jack London
• “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift
• “The Paul Street Boys” by Ferenc Molnar
• “The Daydreamer” by Ian McEwan
• “Stories from Ancient Times” (sr. Priče iz davnine), a short story collection by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić
• “The Choosy Bride-to-Be” (sr. Izbiračica), a comedy by Kosta Trifković
• “The Prince and The Pauper” by Mark Twain
• “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde
• “The Badger at the Court” (sr. Jazavac pred sudom) and “The Poplar” (sr. Jablan), short stories by Petar Kočić
• “Cyan-Blue Seagull Brotherhood” by Tone Seliškar
• Numerous poems

7th Grade

• “The Diary of A Young Girl” by Anne Frank
• “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• “The Death of A Government Clerk” by Anton Chekhov
• “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole” by Su Townsend
• “Adventures of Nikoletina Bursać” (sr. Doživljaji Nikoletine Bursaća), a novel by Branko Ćopić
• “Priest Ćira and Priest Spira” (sr. Pop Ćira i pop Spira), a novel by Stevan Sremac
• “One Thousand and One Nights”, a collection of Arabian tales
• “The Spoon” (sr. Kašika) , a short story by Antonije Isaković
• “Our Christmas” (sr. Naš Božić), a short story by Borisav Stanković
• “The Authority” (sr. Vlast) , a comedy by Branislav Nušić
• “A Meadow in Autumn” (sr. Livada u jesen), a short story by Danilo Kiš
• “The Forest and The Cliff” by Ivan Sergeyevich Tugenev
• “Inkheart” by Cornelia Funke
• “The Russian Wolfhound” (sr. Ruski hrt), a novella by Milorad Pavić
• “The Dead Sea”, a short story by Radoje Domanović

8th Grade

• “The Divisions” (sr. Deobe), a novel by Dobrica Ćosić
• “The Old Man and The Sea” by Ernest Hemingway
• “Maria Curie” by Eva Curie
• “The Day of the Bomb” by Karl Bruckner
• “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
• “An Area Painted with Tea”, a novel by Milorad Pavić
• “The Migrations” (sr. Seobe), a novel by Miloš Crnjanski
• “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach
• “Il Canzoniere” by Francesco Petrarca
• “A Withered Rose” (sr. Uvela ruža), a short story by Borisav Stanković
• “The Children”, “The Bridge on The Žepa” and “At Conflict with The World” by Ivo Andrić
• “Suspicious Person” (sr. Sumnjivo lice), a play by Branko Ćopić
• “The Night and The Mist” (sr. Noć i Magla), a short story by Danilo Kiš
• “The First Morning Lithurgy with Father” (sr. Prvi put s ocem na jutrenje) , “The Folk Will Make It All Golden” (sr. Sve će to narod pozlatiti) and “The Wind” (sr. Vetar) , short stories by Laza Lazarević
• “Sugarloaf” (sr. Glava šećera), a short story by Milovan Glišić
• Various poems, folk tales and stories

Secondary School

1st Year

• “The Divine Comedy” by Dante Agilheri
• “The Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio
• “The Catcher in The Rye” by J. D. Sellinger
• “Grief” by Anton Chekhov
• “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” by Lord Byron
• “Animal Farm” by George Orwell
• “Tartuffe” and “The Miser” by Moliere
• “Don Quixote” by Miguel Servantes
• “King Lyr”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Othello” by William Shakespeare
• The Bible – “Sermon on the Mount”, “Matthew’s Gospel”, “Genesis Flood Narrative”, “Song of Songs”, “Genesis”, “The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus” (by Matthew)
• “Epic of Gilgamesh”
• “Illiad” and “Odysseus” by Homer
• “Antigone” and “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles

2nd Year

• “Eugene Onegin” and “The Gypsies” by A. P. Pushkin
• “The National Minister”, a comedy by Branislav Nušić
• “The Robbers” by Friedrich Schiller
• “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marques
• “The Never-Ending Bridesgroom” (sr. Večiti mladoženja) by Jakov Ignjatović
• “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy
• “The Government Inspector” by Nikolai Gogol
• “Uncle Goriot” by Honore de Balzaque
• “Zona Zanfirova” by Stevan Sremac
• “The Leader” and “Danga” by Radoje Domanović
• “A Letter to Haralampus” (sr. Pismo Haralampiju) and “The Life and The Adventure” (sr. Život i priključenija”, by Dositej Obradović
• “Two Friends” by Guy de Maupassant
• Poems by Edgar Allan Poe