Pennsylvania 8th grade reading list

Books with a Pennsylvania citation for 8th grade include New Kid; Bud, Not Buddy and Eragon. This list has 570 total books, 35 of them with a Pennsylvania-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 410L to 1300L.

Top Pennsylvania 8th grade pick: New Kid by Jerry Craft — on 1 Pennsylvania list

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Total books570Lexile410L–1300LSourcePA Core 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 Pennsylvania 8th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Pennsylvania’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. New Kid

    Jerry Craft

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers race and identity, code-switching, middle school adjustment.

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  2. Bud, Not Buddy

    Christopher Paul Curtis

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers family, identity and perseverance. At 950L it falls inside the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  3. Eragon

    Christopher Paolini

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers dragons, destiny and courage.

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  4. Refugee

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers refugees, survival and family. At 800L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  5. The Diary of a Young Girl

    Anne Frank

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 7 to 10. Covers Holocaust, coming of age and hope. At 1080L it falls inside the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  6. The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 1 national reference, 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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  7. When Stars Are Scattered

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers refugees, family and hope.

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  8. Among the Hidden

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers freedom, identity and resistance.

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  9. Awkward

    Svetlana Chmakova

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers basic reader, middle schools and comics & graphic novels.

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  10. Black Brother, Black Brother

    Jewell Parker Rhodes

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers racism, identity and justice.

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  11. Chomp

    Carl Hiaasen

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers television, reality television programs and missing persons.

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  12. Crash

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers conduct of life, family life and friendship.

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  13. Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie

    Jordan Sonnenblick

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

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  14. Fish in a Tree

    Lynda Mullaly Hunt

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, friendship and school. At 550L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  15. Found

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

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

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  16. Gregor the Overlander

    Suzanne Collins

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers family, courage and destiny.

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  17. Ground Zero

    Alan Gratz

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

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  18. Heart of a Champion

    Carl Deuker

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

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  19. Holes

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, 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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  20. Hoot

    Carl Hiaasen

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers environmentalism, friendship and activism. At 760L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  21. Invisible

    Christina Diaz Gonzalez

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

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  22. Maniac Magee

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers race, homelessness and family. At 820L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  23. Out of My Mind

    Sharon M. Draper

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, 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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  24. Parachute Kids

    Betty C. Tang

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers immigration, family and resilience.

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  25. Peter and the Starcatchers

    Dave Barry

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers characters in literature, humorous stories and magic.

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  26. Prisoner B-3087

    Alan Gratz

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

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  27. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers animal welfare, morality and family. At 890L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  28. Spying on Miss Müller

    Eve Bunting

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers world war, 1939-1945, fathers and daughters, boarding schools.

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  29. The Fourteenth Goldfish

    Jennifer L. Holm

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers scientists, aging and grandfathers.

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  30. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

    Rick Riordan

    Cited in 1 Pennsylvania curriculum document, 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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35 books cited for Pennsylvania 8th grade

Assignments tied directly to Pennsylvania’s PA Core Standards with a Pennsylvania-specific citation.

Show all 35 titles

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535 additional grade-appropriate books for 8th grade readers

The 570-book total above includes 35 titles with direct Pennsylvania citation; these 535 additional titles cover 8th grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Pennsylvania-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 535 titles

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Other Pennsylvania grades

7th grade · 9th grade · 6th grade · 10th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

7th grade · 9th grade · 6th grade · 10th grade

Same 8th grade in other states

California · Texas · Florida · New York · Illinois · Ohio

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About the Pennsylvania 8th grade reading list

This list combines books cited in PA Core Standards with books from national sources that list titles for 8th 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 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. ReadingList currently tracks 570 titles for 8th grade in Pennsylvania, of which 35 carry a direct Pennsylvania citation and 535 are grade-appropriate titles whose reading level overlaps 8th grade. Across the list, Lexile measures span 410L–1300L.

8th 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 40 titles here with a Lexile score 8 are grade-level, 31 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 1 is a stretch text that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 8th grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Pennsylvania’s English Language Arts requirements are set by PA Core Standards (education.pa.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 8th grade list below blends Pennsylvania-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 8th grade unit can pair a Pennsylvania-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 8th grade students read in Pennsylvania?
Books with a Pennsylvania-specific citation for 8th grade include New Kid; Bud, Not Buddy; Eragon; Refugee and The Diary of a Young Girl. 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 8th grade students in Pennsylvania?
This list has 570 books for 8th grade students in Pennsylvania. 35 of them have a Pennsylvania-specific citation; the other 535 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 8th grade reading in Pennsylvania?
Lexile measures across the 8th grade Pennsylvania reading list range from 410L to 1300L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Pennsylvania-specific entries reference PA Core Standards (published at www.education.pa.gov). The other books come from national sources that list books for 8th 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 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. Each book's page links the primary source for every listing.

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

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