Alabama 1st grade reading list

Books with an Alabama citation for 1st grade include If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and A Pocket for Corduroy. This list has 354 total books, 32 of them with an Alabama-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 210L to 740L.

Top Alabama 1st grade pick: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff — on 1 Alabama list

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Total books354Lexile210L–740LSourceAlabama Course of Study✓ sources cited per book

Most-assigned on state lists: across every US state’s official reading and award lists, the Elementary (K–5) titles appearing in the most states are Wonder (29 states), Because of Winn-Dixie (26 states), and Shiloh (25 states). From our 2026 study of 13,258 source-cited assignments (as of 2026-07-13).

Our pick to start — most-cited for Alabama 1st grade

These are the 30 titles named in Alabama’s own curriculum documents for this grade — everything below is the wider national list. Read against the Common Core Appendix A complexity band; reading level is not thematic maturity, and several sit below the band because they are assigned for discussion.

  1. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

    Laura Numeroff

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade K to 3. Covers humor, imagination, cause and effect. Lexile measure 410L.

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  2. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

    William Steig

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade K to 3.

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  3. A Pocket for Corduroy

    Don Freeman

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  4. Are We There Yet?

    Nina Laden

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  5. Arthur's Nose

    Marc Brown

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  6. Bamboozled

    David Legge

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2.

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  7. Bunny Money

    Rosemary Wells

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2.

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  8. Epossumondas

    Coleen Salley

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers folklore, fools and jesters, folklore, juvenile literature.

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  9. Even Monsters Need Haircuts

    Matthew McElligott

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers barbers, humorous stories and haircutting.

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  10. Go Away, Big Green Monster

    Ed Emberley

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers bedtime, fear and monsters.

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  11. I Ain't Gonna Paint No More

    Karen Beaumont

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers stories in rhyme, painting and painting, fiction.

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  12. I Need My Monster

    Amanda Noll

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3.

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  13. Jack B. Ninja

    Tim McCanna

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  14. Julius, the Baby of the World

    Kevin Henkes

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3.

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  15. Katy No-Pocket

    Emmy Payne

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  16. Llama Llama Mad at Mama

    Anna Dewdney

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  17. Mad Dog McGraw

    Myron Uhlberg

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2.

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  18. My Teacher Sleeps in School

    Leatie Weiss

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  19. No David!

    David Shannon

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers behavior, human behavior and conduct of life.

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  20. No Jumping on the Bed!

    Tedd Arnold

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2.

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  21. One Potato, Two Potato

    Cynthia DeFelice

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  22. Red Racer

    Audrey Wood

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers bicycles and bicycling, bicycle racing, bicycles.

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  23. The Book with No Pictures

    B.J. Novak

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  24. The Gruffalo

    Julia Donaldson

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2.

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  25. The Pain and the Great One

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  26. The Runaway Bunny

    Margaret Wise Brown

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  27. The Very Impatient Caterpillar

    Ross Burach

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  28. This Book Is Not About Dragons

    Shelley Moore Thomas

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 1.

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  29. Three-Star Billy

    Pat Hutchins

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2.

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  30. Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival

    Kirby Larson

    Cited in 1 Alabama curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers cats.

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32 books cited for Alabama 1st grade

Assignments tied directly to Alabama’s Alabama Course of Study with a Alabama-specific citation.

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322 additional grade-appropriate books for 1st grade readers

The 354-book total above includes 32 titles with direct Alabama citation; these 322 additional titles cover 1st grade in the broader canon. They don't have an Alabama-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

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Other Alabama grades

Kindergarten · 2nd grade · 3rd grade · 4th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

Kindergarten · 2nd grade · 3rd grade · 4th grade

Same 1st grade in other states

California · Texas · Florida · New York · Pennsylvania · Illinois

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About the Alabama 1st grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Alabama Course of Study with books from national sources that list titles for 1st grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Caldecott Medal, the Golden Kite Award and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. ReadingList currently tracks 354 titles for 1st grade in Alabama, of which 32 carry a direct Alabama citation and 322 are grade-appropriate titles whose reading level overlaps 1st grade. Across the list, Lexile measures span 210L–740L.

1st grade sits in the K-2 grade band, where students are emerging and early readers. At this stage the emphasis is on building phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, and a love of being read to. Assigned reading skews toward picture books, decodable texts, and short illustrated chapter books, with text complexity that, per Common Core’s Appendix A reading bands, typically falls around BR (Beginning Reader) to roughly 500L. Because readers in a single 1st grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Alabama’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Alabama Course of Study (alabamaachieves.org). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 1st grade list below blends Alabama-specific assignments with widely taught national titles. Every title links to its primary source on the book’s detail page, so you can confirm exactly where and why it is assigned.

How to use this list:match a title to your child’s most recent Lexile or guided-reading level rather than to the grade alone. Teachers building a 1st grade unit can pair a Alabama-cited core text with a grade-appropriate companion novel; parents previewing summer or supplemental reading can check each book’s content notes and challenge history before assigning it.

Common questions

What books do 1st grade students read in Alabama?
Books with an Alabama-specific citation for 1st grade include If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, A Pocket for Corduroy, Are We There Yet? and Arthur's Nose. Individual schools and districts choose their own titles, so check with your child's teacher for the exact list.
How many books are assigned to 1st grade students in Alabama?
This list has 354 books for 1st grade students in Alabama. 32 of them have an Alabama-specific citation; the other 322 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 1st grade reading in Alabama?
Lexile measures across the 1st grade Alabama reading list range from 210L to 740L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Alabama-specific entries reference Alabama Course of Study (published at www.alabamaachieves.org). The other books come from national sources that list books for 1st grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Caldecott Medal, the Golden Kite Award and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. Each book's page links the primary source for every listing.

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State-specific entries sourced from www.alabamaachieves.org. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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