A three-volume anthology of literature, Realms of Gold includes all the shorter literary works—poems, stories, essays, speeches, and autobiographical excerpts—specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence guidelines for English in grades 6–8. In schools following the Core Knowledge Sequence, Volume 1 is intended for grade 6.

Each volume also offers supplemental readings in various genres. Key speeches from the 20th century make Volumes 2 and 3 useful for history teachers.

The anthology’s title comes from John Keats’s poem “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer,” which begins,

Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen….