Nebraska 6th grade reading list

Books with a Nebraska citation for 6th grade include The Giver; The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) and The War That Saved My Life. This list has 754 total books, 46 of them with a Nebraska-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 360L to 1120L.

Top Nebraska 6th grade pick: The Giver by Lois Lowry — on 1 Nebraska list

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Total books754Lexile360L–1120LSourceNebraska ELA 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 Nebraska 6th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Nebraska’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. The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Nebraska 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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  2. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

    Rick Riordan

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers Greek mythology, neurodivergence (dyslexia, ADHD) and friendship. At 740L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  3. The War That Saved My Life

    Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers war, resilience and disability. At 580L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  4. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Nebraska 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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  5. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

    Chris Grabenstein

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

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  6. Stepping on the Cracks

    Mary Downing Hahn

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

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  7. Superfudge

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  8. The Hunger Games

    Suzanne Collins

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers authoritarianism, survival, media and spectacle. At 810L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  9. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom

    Louis Sachar

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

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  10. Wait Till Helen Comes

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers ghosts, family and jealousy.

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  11. Alone

    Megan E. Freeman

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

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  12. Cracker The Best Dog in Vietnam

    Cynthia Kadohata

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

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  13. Danger Zone

    David Klass

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9.

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  14. Deep and Dark and Dangerous

    Mary Downing Hahn

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

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

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

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

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  16. Escaping the Giant Wave

    Peg Kehret

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

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  17. Flight #116 Is Down!

    Caroline B. Cooney

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers aeronautics, fiction, airplanes, juvenile literature and airplanes, fiction.

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  18. Freak the Mighty

    W. R. Philbrick

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers learning disabilities, people with disabilities and friendship.

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  19. Ghost Boys

    Jewell Parker Rhodes

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers race, justice and family. At 360L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  20. Heart of a Champion

    Carl Deuker

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers baseball, friendship and baseball, fiction.

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  21. High Heat

    Carl Deuker

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers baseball, family problems and fathers.

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  22. House Arrest

    K. A. Holt

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers stories in rhyme and family, fiction.

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  23. Legend

    Marie Lu

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers dystopia, justice and loyalty.

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  24. Mississippi Trial, 1955

    Chris Crowe

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers race relations, fathers and sons, racism.

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  25. Night Hoops

    Carl Deuker

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers basketball, divorce and interpersonal relations.

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  26. Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade

    Barthe DeClements

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

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  27. Perfect

    Natasha Friend

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers grief, death and bulimia.

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  28. Prisoner B-3087

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers jews, history and holocaust, jewish (1939-1945).

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  29. Red Queen

    Victoria Aveyard

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 9 to 12.

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  30. Restart

    Gordon Korman

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers identity, bullying and memory. At 730L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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46 books cited for Nebraska 6th grade

Assignments tied directly to Nebraska’s Nebraska ELA Standards with a Nebraska-specific citation.

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708 additional grade-appropriate books for 6th grade readers

The 754-book total above includes 46 titles with direct Nebraska citation; these 708 additional titles cover 6th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Nebraska-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 708 titles

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Other Nebraska 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 Nebraska 6th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Nebraska ELA 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 754 titles for 6th grade in Nebraska, of which 46 carry a direct Nebraska citation and 708 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 58 titles here with a Lexile score 8 are grade-level, 50 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.

Nebraska’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Nebraska ELA Standards (education.ne.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 6th grade list below blends Nebraska-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 Nebraska-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 Nebraska?
Books with a Nebraska-specific citation for 6th grade include The Giver; The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1); The War That Saved My Life; Wonder and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. 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 Nebraska?
This list has 754 books for 6th grade students in Nebraska. 46 of them have a Nebraska-specific citation; the other 708 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 6th grade reading in Nebraska?
Lexile measures across the 6th grade Nebraska 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?
Nebraska-specific entries reference Nebraska ELA Standards (published at www.education.ne.gov). 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.

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

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