Reading lists by grade

Widely read books for middle and high school, the kind that show up in English classes and conversations. Tick what your student has read. Check with your school; titles vary, and families decide what fits.

Grades 6 to 8

• Wonder, by R. J. Palacio
• Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen
• The Giver, by Lois Lowry
• Holes, by Louis Sachar
• Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson
• A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle
• Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper
• The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin
• Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor

Grades 9 and 10

• To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
• Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
• Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
• Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
• Animal Farm, by George Orwell
• Night, by Elie Wiesel
• The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros
• Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare
• Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
• Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Grades 11 and 12

• The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
• 1984, by George Orwell
• Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
• The Crucible, by Arthur Miller
• Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
• The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien
• Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
• Beloved, by Toni Morrison
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Make reading stick

• Read 20 minutes a day, any format; audiobooks count
• Let your student choose at least half of what they read
• Ask one question about the book at dinner, not a quiz

This tool is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Each college decides admission, aid and how credit counts, and requirements change; check each college's own pages. Examples are examples, not promises. Caveat Academic Services is an independent college preparation company. Students do all of their own work.