Recommendations for a Well-Read Child

A selection of suggested readings, with appropriate grade levels, released by the State Board of Regents.
The list was compiled from an informal survey of teachers in New York State by the State Education Department.

KINDERGARTEN-GRADE 2

               
The Ugly Duckling Hans Christian Andersen
The Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum
The Mouse & the Motorcycle Beverly Cleary
James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl
Winnie The Pooh A.A. Milne
A Treasury of Best Loved Rhymes Mother Goose
Amelia Bedelia Peggy Parish
The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter
Chicken Soup with Rice Maurice Sendak
Charlotte's Web E.B. White

GRADES 3-5

 
Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Judy Blume
Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh
Rip Van Winkle Washington Irving
Helen Keller Helen Keller
Paul Bunyan Steven Kellog
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis
Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren
The Call of the Wild Jack London
The Nate the Great Series Marjorie Sharmat
Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Velveteen Rabbit Marjorie Williams

GRADES 6-8

      
Watership Down Richard Adams
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
The Secret Garden Frances H. Burnett
Great Expectations Charles Dickens
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
The Outsiders S.E. Hinton
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Animal Farm George Orwell
The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
Night Elie Wiesel.

GRADES 9-12

       
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights Charlotte Bronte
Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane
Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Profiles in Courage John F. Kennedy
A Death in Venice Thomas Mann
The Collected Poems Sylvia Plath
Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
Rabbit Run John Updike
Slaughterhouse Five Kurt Vonnegut

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