11th grade Common Core State Standards (ELA) reading list
Books referenced by Common Core State Standards (ELA) at the 11th grade level. Source: www.nysed.gov.
Try it on audio — free. Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.
Listen free on Audiblestarts instantlyNew members only · many assigned titles are included with the membership. As an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases and membership trials at no extra cost to you.
About the 11th grade Common Core State Standards (ELA) reading list
Common Core State Standards (ELA) is the Common Core State Standards, whose Appendix B publishes text exemplars by grade band. ReadingList tracks 32 titles referenced by Common Core State Standards (ELA) at the 11th gradelevel, each tied to a primary-source citation on the book’s detail page. Across the list, Lexile measures span 680L–1420L. The framework is published at nysed.gov.
At the 11th grade level — the 9-12grade band — students are high-school readers, with the curriculum focused on close reading, literary analysis, and rhetoric for AP, IB, and college work. Per Common Core’s Appendix A complexity bands, text difficulty at this stage typically falls around roughly 900L to 1300L. Measured against that 1185–1385L range, of the 17 titles here with a Lexile score 0 are grade-level, 16 are more accessible, and 1 is a stretch text. A single Common Core State Standards (ELA) classroom can still span a wide range of reading levels.
Unlike a state reading list, a Common Core State Standards (ELA) list is portable: the same framework is taught across districts and, in the case of AP and IB, across countries. That makes these titles a reliable backbone for 11th grade planning whether you are a teacher mapping a unit, a homeschooler following a recognized sequence, or a parent checking what Common Core State Standards (ELA) expects.
How to use this list: treat the Common Core State Standards (ELA) titles as the core and layer in state-cited or thematically-related books to round out a 11th gradeyear. Each book’s page shows its Lexile measure, grade range, themes, and any challenge history, so you can match a text to a specific reader rather than to the grade label alone.
Common Core State Standards (ELA) at other grades
10th grade · 12th grade · 9th grade · 8th grade · All 11th gradereading lists →
32 books
1984George Orwell · 1090L
A Farewell to ArmsErnest Hemingway
A Raisin in the SunLorraine Hansberry
As I Lay DyingWilliam Faulkner
Billy BuddHerman Melville
Black BoyRichard Wright · 950L
Brave New WorldAldous Huxley · 870L- Crime and PunishmentFyodor DostoevskyCrime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky
Death and the King's HorsemanWole Soyinka
Death of a SalesmanArthur Miller
Everything Sad Is UntrueDaniel Nayeri
HamletWilliam Shakespeare
I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsMaya Angelou · 1070L
Jane EyreCharlotte Brontë · 890L
Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults)Bryan Stevenson · 1130L
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American SlaveFrederick Douglass · 1080L
Our TownThornton Wilder
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen · 1100L
The Adventures of Augie MarchSaul Bellow
The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnMark Twain · 980L
The Bluest EyeToni Morrison · 920L
The Catcher in the RyeJ.D. Salinger · 790L
The CrucibleArthur Miller
The Glass CastleJeannette Walls
Show all 32 titles
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
- The Grapes of Wrath · John Steinbeck
- The Great Gatsby · F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Importance of Being Earnest · Oscar Wilde
- The Kite Runner · Khaled Hosseini
- The Namesake · Jhumpa Lahiri
- The Pearl · John Steinbeck
- The Scarlet Letter · Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Their Eyes Were Watching God · Zora Neale Hurston