Maryland 6th grade reading list

Books with a Maryland citation for 6th grade include Holes, El Deafo and The Crossover. This list has 788 total books, 82 of them with a Maryland-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 360L to 1120L.

Top Maryland 6th grade pick: Holes by Louis Sachar — on 1 Maryland list

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Total books788Lexile360L–1120LSourceMaryland College & Career Ready Standards✓ sources cited per book

Most-assigned on state lists: across every US state’s official reading and award lists, the Middle (6–8) titles appearing in the most states are The Giver (20 states), The Hunger Games (14 states), and Ground Zero (8 states). From our 2026 study of 13,258 source-cited assignments (as of 2026-07-13).

Our pick to start — most-cited for Maryland 6th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Maryland’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. Holes

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers fate vs choice, friendship and justice. At 660L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  2. El Deafo

    Cece Bell

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers disability, friendship and self-acceptance. At 420L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  3. The Crossover

    Kwame Alexander

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers family, brotherhood and basketball. At 750L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  4. The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers conformity vs individuality, memory, utopia and dystopia. At 760L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  5. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers facial difference, kindness and bullying. At 790L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  6. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

    Chris Grabenstein

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 6.

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  7. Frindle

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers creativity, language and thought, intelligence. At 830L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  8. Matilda

    Roald Dahl

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers intelligence, overcoming neglect and teacher-student bond. At 840L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  9. Out of My Mind

    Sharon M. Draper

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, inclusion and intelligence. At 700L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  10. Roller Girl

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers friendship, perseverance and growing up. At 440L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  11. Schooled

    Gordon Korman

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers middle school students, teenage boys and home schooling.

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  12. Stepping on the Cracks

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7.

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  13. 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents

    Lee Wardlaw

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers family life, moneymaking projects, parent and child.

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  14. A Night Divided

    Jennifer A. Nielsen

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers courage, freedom and family.

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  15. A Tale Dark and Grimm

    Adam Gidwitz

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers fairy tales, courage and siblings.

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  16. A Wolf Called Wander

    Rosanne Parry

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers new york times bestseller, wolves, fiction and animals, infancy, fiction.

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  17. All the Impossible Things

    Lindsay Lackey

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8.

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  18. All's Faire in Middle School

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers renaissance fairs, middle schools and schools.

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  19. Allergic

    Megan Wagner Lloyd

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers new york times reviewed and comic books, strips, etc..

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  20. Allies

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers war, courage and sacrifice.

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  21. Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity

    Dave Roman

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8.

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  22. Attack of the Black Rectangles

    A. S. King

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers middle grade and censorship.

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  23. Best Friends

    Shannon Hale

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8.

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  24. City Spies

    James Ponti

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6.

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  25. Crush

    Svetlana Chmakova

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers middle schools, graphic novels and comic books, strips.

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  26. Define "Normal"

    Julie Anne Peters

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 9 to 12. Covers peer counseling, friendship in fiction, parent and child in fiction.

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  27. Dogtown

    Katherine Applegate & Gennifer Choldenko

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers friendship, perseverance and humor.

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  28. Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers child abuse, diaries, fathers and daughters.

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  29. Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie

    Jordan Sonnenblick

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers family, illness and music.

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  30. Eerie Tales from the School of Screams

    Graham Annable

    Cited in 1 Maryland curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8.

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82 books cited for Maryland 6th grade

Assignments tied directly to Maryland’s Maryland College & Career Ready Standards with a Maryland-specific citation.

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706 additional grade-appropriate books for 6th grade readers

The 788-book total above includes 82 titles with direct Maryland citation; these 706 additional titles cover 6th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Maryland-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 706 titles

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Teacher or librarian? Print this list as a checklist — free to photocopy for your class or library (details).

Other Maryland grades

5th grade · 7th grade · 4th grade · 8th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

5th grade · 7th grade · 4th grade · 8th grade

Same 6th grade in other states

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

Browse 6th grade reading by theme

About the Maryland 6th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Maryland College & Career Ready Standards with books from national sources that list titles for 6th grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction, the Golden Kite Award and the Newbery Medal. ReadingList currently tracks 788 titles for 6th grade in Maryland, of which 82 carry a direct Maryland citation and 706 are grade-appropriate titles whose reading level overlaps 6th grade. Across the list, Lexile measures span 360L–1120L.

6th grade sits in the 6-8 grade band, where students are middle-grade readers. At this stage the emphasis is on analyzing theme, character, and author's craft across full-length novels and their first classics. Assigned reading skews toward full-length novels, plays, memoir, and frequently-challenged contemporary titles, with text complexity that, per Common Core’s Appendix A reading bands, typically falls around roughly 700L to 1010L. Measured against that 925–1185L range, of the 61 titles here with a Lexile score 8 are grade-level, 53 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 0 are stretch texts that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 6th grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Maryland’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Maryland College & Career Ready Standards (marylandpublicschools.org). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 6th grade list below blends Maryland-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 6th grade unit can pair a Maryland-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 6th grade students read in Maryland?
Books with a Maryland-specific citation for 6th grade include Holes, El Deafo, The Crossover, The Giver and Wonder. 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 6th grade students in Maryland?
This list has 788 books for 6th grade students in Maryland. 82 of them have a Maryland-specific citation; the other 706 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 6th grade reading in Maryland?
Lexile measures across the 6th grade Maryland reading list range from 360L to 1120L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Maryland-specific entries reference Maryland College & Career Ready Standards (published at marylandpublicschools.org). The other books come from national sources that list books for 6th grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction, the Golden Kite Award and the Newbery Medal. Each book's page links the primary source for every listing.

Reading guides for parents

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