# The Bluest Eye

**Author:** Toni Morrison
**Lexile:** 920L
**Grade range:** Grades 11–12
**Age range:** 16–18
**First published:** 1970
**Page count:** 224
**Genre:** Literary Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780307278449`
**ISBN-10:** `0307278441`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-bluest-eye
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Morrison's first novel, set in 1941 Lorain, Ohio, follows Pecola Breedlove, an eleven-year-old Black girl who prays for blue eyes, believing they will make her beautiful and loved. A frequent AP Literature text, it is also one of the most frequently challenged books in American schools in the 2020s.

## Themes

- internalized racism
- beauty standards
- sexual abuse
- family dysfunction
- poverty
- trauma

## Content notes

- sexual abuse of a child
- rape
- incest
- racial violence

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 16+

## Where this book is assigned

### AP English Literature & Composition

- **required** · 12th grade — [source: AP Lit — frequently cited FRQ3 text](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition)

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 12th grade · Ohio — [source: Ohio Learning Standards grade 12 aligned text (Ohio setting)](https://education.ohio.gov/)

### IB Diploma Programme — English A: Literature

- **recommended** · 12th grade — [source: IB DP English A Literature Prescribed Reading List](https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/)

## Banned / challenged record

Documented removals or formal challenges in at least one school district in 6 states: TX, FL, VA, MO, IA, UT. Source: [PEN America's Index of School Book Bans](https://pen.org/banned-book-list/) 2022-2024.

---

_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. For the full HTML view with reading-list cross-references, see https://readinglist.school/book/the-bluest-eye._