Nebraska 9th grade reading list

Books with a Nebraska citation for 9th grade include Red Queen, Alone and Cracker The Best Dog in Vietnam. This list has 629 total books, 23 of them with a Nebraska-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 530L to 1170L.

Top Nebraska 9th grade pick: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard — on 1 Nebraska list

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Total books629Lexile530L–1170LSourceNebraska ELA Standards✓ sources cited per book

Most-assigned on state lists: across every US state’s official reading and award lists, the High (9–12) titles appearing in the most states are The Hate U Give (4 states), Their Eyes Were Watching God (3 states), and The Great Gatsby (2 states). From our 2026 study of 13,258 source-cited assignments (as of 2026-07-13).

Full curriculum guides: Common Core State Standards (ELA) · IB Diploma Programme — English A: Literature · Cambridge IGCSE English Literature (0475) · AP English Language & Composition · AP English Literature & Composition · AP European History · AP Psychology

Our pick to start — most-cited for Nebraska 9th grade

These are the 23 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. Red Queen

    Victoria Aveyard

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

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  2. Alone

    Megan E. Freeman

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

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  3. Cracker The Best Dog in Vietnam

    Cynthia Kadohata

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

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  4. Danger Zone

    David Klass

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

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  5. 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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  6. 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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  7. 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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  8. 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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  9. 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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  10. 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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  11. 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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  12. 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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  13. Perfect

    Natasha Friend

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

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  14. 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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  15. Run, Hide, Fight Back

    April Henry

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers survival, fiction, teenagers and shootout.

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  16. Stung

    Bethany Wiggins

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

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  17. The Compound

    S. A. Bodeen

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

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  18. The Haunting

    Joan Lowery Nixon

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers haunted houses, ghosts and mystery.

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  19. The Inheritance Games

    Jennifer Lynn Barnes

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 9 to 12. Covers new york times bestseller.

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  20. The Transall Saga

    Gary Paulsen

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers science fiction, survival and time travel.

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  21. The True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson

    Carol Lynch Williams

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers abandoned children, child abuse, mothers and daughters.

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  22. Twilight

    Stephenie Meyer

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 9 to 12. Covers series:luz_e_escuridão, series:twilight and new york times bestseller.

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  23. Whispers from the Dead

    Joan Lowery Nixon

    Cited in 1 Nebraska curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers mystery and detective stories.

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23 books cited for Nebraska 9th grade

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

606 additional grade-appropriate books for 9th grade readers

The 629-book total above includes 23 titles with direct Nebraska citation; these 606 additional titles cover 9th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Nebraska-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 606 titles

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Other Nebraska grades

8th grade · 10th grade · 7th grade · 11th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

8th grade · 10th grade · 7th grade · 11th grade

Same 9th grade in other states

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

Browse 9th grade reading by theme

About the Nebraska 9th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Nebraska ELA Standards with books from national sources that list titles for 9th grade: Cambridge IGCSE English Literature (0475) and the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and the William C. Morris YA Debut Award. ReadingList currently tracks 629 titles for 9th grade in Nebraska, of which 23 carry a direct Nebraska citation and 606 are grade-appropriate titles whose reading level overlaps 9th grade. Across the list, Lexile measures span 530L–1170L.

9th 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 1050–1335L range, of the 24 titles here with a Lexile score 3 are grade-level, 21 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 0 are stretch texts that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 9th 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 9th 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 9th 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 9th grade students read in Nebraska?
Books with a Nebraska-specific citation for 9th grade include Red Queen; Alone; Cracker The Best Dog in Vietnam; Danger Zone and Don’t You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey. 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 9th grade students in Nebraska?
This list has 629 books for 9th grade students in Nebraska. 23 of them have a Nebraska-specific citation; the other 606 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 9th grade reading in Nebraska?
Lexile measures across the 9th grade Nebraska reading list range from 530L to 1170L. 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 9th grade: Cambridge IGCSE English Literature (0475) and the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and the William C. Morris YA Debut 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.ne.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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