1990s books assigned in 9th grade
US schools assign 72 books written in the 1990s to 9th grade students, across 9 states, spanning 670L–690L. Every title below is cited from a state ELA standard, district reading list, or AP/IB syllabus.
Most widely assigned from the 1990s
Speak
Laurie Halse Anderson · on 5 reading lists
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- Titles
- 72
- Written
- 1990–1999
- Lexile range
- 670L–690L
- States assigning
- 9
The list — 1990s, 9th grade
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A Door Near HereHeather Quarles
A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and WonderWalter Wick
A Time of TroublesPieter Van Raven
Ajeemah and His SonJames Berry
Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping BirdsCynthia Rylant
Armageddon SummerJane Yolen
BadJean Ferris
Blues for an Alabama SkyPearl Cleage
Breaking BoxesA. M. Jenkins
Catherine, Called BirdyKaren Cushman
Chicken Soup for the Teenage SoulJack Canfield
Chuck CloseRobert Storr
Danger ZoneDavid Klass
Daughter of the StarsPhyllis A. Whitney
Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. DunphreyMargaret Peterson Haddix
DownriverWill Hobbs- Flight #116 Is Down!Caroline B. CooneyFlight #116 Is Down!Caroline B. Cooney
Franklin Delano RooseveltRussell Freedman
Goldengrove ; UnleavingJill Paton Walsh
Heart of a ChampionCarl Deuker
Hullabaloo in the Guava OrchardKiran Desai
If You Come SoftlyJacqueline Woodson
IronmanChris Crutcher
Jumping the NailEve Bunting
Show all 72 titles
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- Just Like Martin · Ossie Davis
- Kids at Work · Russell Freedman
- Make Lemonade · Virginia Euwer Wolff
- Martha Graham · Russell Freedman
- Missing May · Cynthia Rylant
- Monster · Walter Dean Myers
- Nasty, Stinky Sneakers · Eve Bunting
- Orphan Train Rider · Andrea Warren
- Plague Year · Stephanie S. Tolan
- Poppy · Avi
- Rewind · William Sleator
- Rules of the Road #1 · Joan Bauer
- Sex Education · Jenny Davis
- Shadow of the Dragon · Sherry Garland
- Small Steps · Peg Kehret
- Sojourner Truth · Pat McKissack
- Someone Like You · Sarah Dessen
- SOS Titanic · Eve Bunting
- Speak · Laurie Halse Anderson
- Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes · Chris Crutcher
- Stones in Water · Donna Jo Napoli
- Tears of A Tiger · Sharon M. Draper
- The Bomb · Theodore Taylor
- The Boy's War · Jim Murphy
- The Boys Start the War · Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- The China Garden · Liz Berry
- The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child · Francisco Jiménez
- The Face on the Milk Carton · Caroline B. Cooney
- The Friends · Kazumi Yumoto
- The Great Little Madison · Jean Fritz
- The Haunting · Joan Lowery Nixon
- The Incredible Journey of Lewis and Clark · Rhoda Blumberg
- The Long Road to Gettysburg · Jim Murphy
- The Metamorphosis · Franz Kafka
- The Moorchild · Eloise McGraw
- The Only Alien on the Planet · Kristen D. Randle
- The Rain Catchers · Jean Thesman
- The Silver Kiss · Annette Curtis Klause
- The Taking of Room 114 · Mel Glenn
- The Top of the World · Steve Jenkins
- The Transall Saga · Gary Paulsen
- The True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson · Carol Lynch Williams
- The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle · Avi
- The Wright Brothers · Russell Freedman
- Ties That Bind, Ties That Break · Lensey Namioka
- Two Suns in the Sky · Miriam Bat-Ami
- We All Fall Down · Robert Cormier
- Wolf by the Ears · Ann Rinaldi
Most-assigned 1990s authors in 9th grade
Russell Freedman (4) · Eve Bunting (3) · Cynthia Rylant (2) · Caroline B. Cooney (2) · Chris Crutcher (2) · Avi (2)
Common questions
- How many 1990s books are assigned in 9th grade?
- 72 books written between 1990 and 1999 appear on 9th grade reading lists tracked by ReadingList. Each one is cited from a state department of education, district list, or AP/IB syllabus.
- What Lexile range do these 1990s books cover?
- Lexile measures for the 1990s titles assigned in 9th grade run from 670L to 690L. Poetry, drama, and graphic novels without a published Lexile measure are not counted in that range.
- Are these assigned nationally or in a few states?
- 9 states assign at least one 1990s title at 9th grade in the lists tracked here, so this is a broad pattern rather than a single state's canon. Per-state lists are on each state page.