Kentucky Kindergarten reading list

Books with a Kentucky citation for kindergarten include Hey, Al; Officer Buckle and Gloria and This Is Not My Hat. This list has 353 total books, 43 of them with a Kentucky-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 210L to 740L.

Top Kentucky kindergarten pick: Hey, Al by Arthur Yorinks — on 1 Kentucky list

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Total books353Lexile210L–740LSourceKentucky Academic Standards✓ 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 Kentucky kindergarten

These are the 30 titles named in Kentucky’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. Hey, Al

    Arthur Yorinks

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

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  2. Officer Buckle and Gloria

    Peggy Rathmann

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

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  3. This Is Not My Hat

    Jon Klassen

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

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  4. Tuesday

    David Wiesner

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

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  5. A Lion is a Lion

    Polly Dunbar

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document. Covers lion, humorous stories and lion, fiction.

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  6. A Perfect Pork Stew

    Paul Brett Johnson

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers witches, baba yaga (legendary character) and pigs, fiction.

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  7. Basket

    George Ella Lyon

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers baskets, grandmothers and grandparents, fiction.

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  8. Chalk

    Bill Thomson

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers imagination, wordless book and picture books.

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  9. Chez Bob

    Bob Shea

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

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  10. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

    Bill Martin Jr.

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers stories in rhyme, alphabet and alphabet rhymes.

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  11. Cookiesaurus Rex

    Amy Fellner Dominy

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document.

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  12. Dogku

    Andrew Clements

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

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  13. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

    Mo Willems

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers spanish language books, readers and pigeons.

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  14. Don't Need Friends

    Carolyn Crimi

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers animals, rats and friendship.

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  15. Escargot

    Dashka Slater

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers humorous stories, snails and snails, fiction.

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  16. Find Fergus

    Mike Boldt

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document.

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  17. Good Boy, Fergus

    David Shannon

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers dogs, west highland whiter terrier and west highland white terrier.

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  18. Hair Love

    Matthew A. Cherry

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document. Covers fathers and daughters, fiction, hair, fiction, african americans, fiction.

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  19. Honey, the Dog Who Saved Abe Lincoln

    Shari Swanson

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

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  20. Hoodwinked

    Arthur Howard

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

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  21. Hooway for Wodney Wat

    Helen Lester

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

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  22. Hungry Hen

    Richard Waring

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers chickens, foxes and pictorial works.

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  23. I Ain't Gonna Paint No More

    Karen Beaumont

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

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  24. I'm Terrified of Bath Time

    Simon Rich

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document.

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  25. I'm Trying to Love Spiders

    Bethany Barton

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

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  26. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale

    Mo Willems

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers lost articles.

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  27. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

    Kevin Henkes

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers teachers, schools and mice.

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  28. Madeline Finn and the Library Dog

    Lisa Papp

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers libraries, dogs and dogs, fiction.

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  29. Mother Bruce

    Ryan T. Higgins

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document. Covers bears, geese and animals.

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  30. One Lucky Girl

    George Ella Lyon

    Cited in 1 Kentucky curriculum document, taught from grade K to 2. Covers tornadoes, american authors and family life.

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43 books cited for Kentucky kindergarten

Assignments tied directly to Kentucky’s Kentucky Academic Standards with a Kentucky-specific citation.

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310 additional grade-appropriate books for kindergarten readers

The 353-book total above includes 43 titles with direct Kentucky citation; these 310 additional titles cover kindergarten in the broader canon. They don't have a Kentucky-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

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Other Kentucky grades

1st grade · 2nd grade · 3rd grade · 4th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

1st grade · 2nd grade · 3rd grade · 4th grade

Same kindergarten in other states

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

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About the Kentucky kindergarten reading list

This list combines books cited in Kentucky Academic Standards with books from national sources that list titles for kindergarten: 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 353 titles for kindergarten in Kentucky, of which 43 carry a direct Kentucky citation and 310 are grade-appropriate titles whose reading level overlaps kindergarten. Across the list, Lexile measures span 210L–740L.

Kindergarten 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 kindergarten classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Kentucky’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Kentucky Academic Standards (education.ky.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The kindergarten list below blends Kentucky-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 kindergarten unit can pair a Kentucky-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 kindergarten students read in Kentucky?
Books with a Kentucky-specific citation for kindergarten include Hey, Al; Officer Buckle and Gloria; This Is Not My Hat; Tuesday and A Lion is a Lion. 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 kindergarten students in Kentucky?
This list has 353 books for kindergarten students in Kentucky. 43 of them have a Kentucky-specific citation; the other 310 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for kindergarten reading in Kentucky?
Lexile measures across the kindergarten Kentucky 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?
Kentucky-specific entries reference Kentucky Academic Standards (published at www.education.ky.gov). The other books come from national sources that list books for kindergarten: 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.

Reading guides for parents

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State-specific entries sourced from www.education.ky.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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