Alabama 12th grade reading list
The 117 books most commonly assigned to Alabama 12th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.
117 books cited for Alabama 12th grade
Assignments tied directly to Alabama’s Alabama Course of Study or national curricula with a Alabama-specific citation.
1919 The Year That Changed AmericaMartin W. Sandler
1984George Orwell · 1090L
A Doll's HouseHenrik Ibsen
A Few Red DropsClaire Hartfield
A Lesson Before DyingErnest J. Gaines · 750L
A Midsummer Night's DreamWilliam Shakespeare
A Raisin in the SunLorraine Hansberry
A Streetcar Named DesireTennessee Williams- African TownIrene Latham
All My RageSabaa Tahir
American Born ChineseGene Luen Yang · 530L- Anger Is a GiftMark Oshiro
AnthemAyn Rand · 880L
AntigoneSophocles- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the UniverseBenjamin Alire Sáenz
BelovedToni Morrison · 870L
Black BoyRichard Wright · 950L
Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous WeaponSteve Sheinkin · 920L
Bone GapLaura Ruby
Brave New WorldAldous Huxley · 870L
BrownstoneSamuel Teer- Burn Down, Rise UpVincent Tirado
- Butterfly YellowThanhhà Lại
Challenger DeepNeal Shusterman- Chronically DoloresMaya Van Wagenen
Copper SunSharon Draper- CursedKarol Ruth Silverstein
Day of TearsJulius Lester
Death of a SalesmanArthur Miller
DigA. S. King
Everything Sad Is UntrueDaniel Nayeri
Far From The TreeRobin Benway
FencesAugust Wilson
Firekeeper's DaughterAngeline Boulley- Five Flavors of DumbAntony John
Flowers for AlgernonDaniel Keyes · 910L- Forever Is NowMariama J. Lockington
- FuriaYamile Saied Méndez
- Girls Like UsGail Giles
Going BovineLibba Bray
Great ExpectationsCharles Dickens · 1150L
HamletWilliam Shakespeare
Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad · 1070L
How I Live NowMeg Rosoff- How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the UniverseRaquel Vasquez Gilliland
I'll Give You the SunJandy Nelson
In DarknessNick Lake
Invisible ManRalph Ellison · 950L
Jane EyreCharlotte Brontë · 890L
Jellicoe RoadMelina Marchetta
King LearWilliam Shakespeare
Last Night at the Telegraph ClubMalinda Lo
Life of PiYann Martel · 830L
Looking for AlaskaJohn Green
MacbethWilliam Shakespeare- Marcelo in the Real WorldFrancisco X. Stork
March Book ThreeJohn Lewis
MidwinterbloodMarcus Sedgwick
Much Ado About NothingWilliam Shakespeare
Nigeria JonesIbi Zoboi
Oedipus RexSophocles
OthelloWilliam Shakespeare
Our TownThornton Wilder
Persepolis: The Story of a ChildhoodMarjane Satrapi
Piecing Me TogetherRenée Watson
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen · 1100L
Purple HibiscusChimamanda Ngozi Adichie · 920L
PygmalionGeorge Bernard Shaw- Rose Under FireElizabeth Wein
- Saints of the HouseholdAri Tison
Ship BreakerPaolo Bacigalupi
Shut Up, This Is SeriousCarolina Ixta
Slaughterhouse-FiveKurt Vonnegut · 850L
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time IndianSherman Alexie · 600L
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume IM. T. Anderson
The AwakeningKate Chopin · 960L
The Bluest EyeToni Morrison · 920L
The Collectors StoriesA. S. King
The Color PurpleAlice Walker · 670L- The Color of a LieKim Johnson
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-TimeMark Haddon · 1090L
The Glass MenagerieTennessee Williams
The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald · 1070L
The Handmaid's TaleMargaret Atwood · 750L- The Hired GirlLaura Amy Schlitz
The Importance of Being EarnestOscar Wilde
The Joy Luck ClubAmy Tan · 930L
The Kite RunnerKhaled Hosseini · 840L- The LandMildred D. Taylor
- The Life and Death of Adolf HitlerJames Cross Giblin
The Old Man and the SeaErnest Hemingway · 940L- The Poet Slave of CubaMargarita Engle
The Poet XElizabeth Acevedo · 800L- The River Between UsRichard Peck
- The Running DreamWendelin Van Draanen
The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne · 1420L
The Secret Life of BeesSue Monk Kidd · 840L- The Surrender Tree / El ábol de la rendiciónMargarita Engle
The TempestWilliam Shakespeare- The Tequila WormViola Canales
The Things They CarriedTim O'Brien · 880L- The Unlikely Hero of Room 13BTeresa Toten
The White DarknessGeraldine McCaughrean- The Words We KeepErin Stewart
- The Words in My HandsAsphyxia
Their Eyes Were Watching GodZora Neale Hurston · 1080L
Things Fall ApartChinua Achebe · 890L- This Is My Brain in LoveI. W. Gregorio
Twelfth NightWilliam Shakespeare
Twelve Angry MenReginald Rose- Under the MesquiteGuadalupe Garcia McCall
We Are OkayNina LaCour
What I Saw and How I LiedJudy Blundell- When We CollidedEmery Lord
Where Things Come BackJohn Corey Whaley- Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass: The Graphic NovelMeg Medina
- You're Welcome, UniverseWhitney Gardner
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Other Alabama grades
Same 12th grade in other states
Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut
Browse 12th grade reading by theme
- Identity (30)
- Family (19)
- Power (12)
- Survival (12)
- Love (10)
- Friendship (8)
- Coming Of Age (7)
- Justice (7)
- Mystery (7)
- Marriage And Class (6)
- Mortality (6)
- Class (5)
- Courage (5)
- Grief (5)
- Memory (5)
- Mental Health (5)
- Race (5)
- Religion (5)
- War (5)
- American Dream (4)
- Colonialism (4)
- Freedom (4)
- Gender (4)
- Illusion And Reality (4)
- Immigration (4)
- Resilience (4)
- Social Class (4)
- Holocaust (3)
- Ambition (3)
- Disillusionment (3)
- Father-Son Relationships (3)
- History (3)
- Loyalty (3)
- Madness (3)
- Poverty (3)
- Racism (3)
- Reputation (3)
- Revenge (3)
- Sacrifice (3)
- Voice And Silence (3)
About the Alabama 12th grade reading list
In Alabama schools, 12th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from Alabama Course of Studyalongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 117 titles for 12th grade in Alabama, each tied to a Alabama-specific curriculum citation. Across the list, Lexile measures span 530L–1420L.
12th grade sits in the 9-12 grade band, where students are high-school readers. At this stage the emphasis is on close reading, literary analysis, rhetoric, and preparing for AP, IB, and college coursework. Assigned reading skews toward canonical literature, drama, poetry, and AP/IB set texts, with text complexity that, per Common Core’s Appendix A reading bands, typically falls around roughly 900L to 1300L. Measured against that 1185–1385L range, of the 33 titles here with a Lexile score 0 are grade-level, 32 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 1 is a stretch text that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 12th 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, so the 12th grade list below blends Alabama-specific assignments with the widely-taught national canon. 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 12th 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
- How many books are assigned to 12th grade students in Alabama?
- 117 books appear on ReadingList for 12th grade students in Alabama, sourced from Alabama Course of Study and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
- What's the Lexile range for 12th grade reading in Alabama?
- Lexile measures across the 12th grade Alabama reading list range from 530L to 1420L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
- Where does this reading list come from?
- Entries reference Alabama Course of Study (published at www.alabamaachieves.org) plus national curricula that apply to Alabama schools: Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English Literature and Language, IB Diploma Programme, and Cambridge Assessment International. Every assignment row on each book's detail page links its primary source.