# Great Lakes Great Books Award reading list

**42** books referenced by Great Lakes Great Books Award, a reading-program curriculum framework spanning applicable K-12 grade levels.

The Great Lakes Great Books Award (GLGBA) is Michigan's statewide student-choice reading program, run by the Michigan Reading Association since 1989. Each year Michigan students read from an annual grade-band shortlist and vote for a winner plus honor books in Grades 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12 (the program also runs K-1 and 2-3 picture-book divisions, outside this list's scope). Winners and shortlist titles run from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Tale of Despereaux, The Thief Lord, The Giver, and The BFG through The One and Only Ivan, Wonder, Fish in a Tree, El Deafo, Out of My Mind, New Kid, Ghost, Front Desk, Blended, Ghost Boys, Long Way Down, We Were Liars, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, and Firekeeper's Daughter.

**Framework type:** reading-program
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/curriculum/great-lakes-great-books-award
**Primary source:** https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books (michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## Great Lakes Great Books Award reading list

- [A Mango-Shaped Space](https://readinglist.school/book/a-mango-shaped-space) by Wendy Mass _(Grades 5–8)_
- [Amari and the Night Brothers](https://readinglist.school/book/amari-and-the-night-brothers) by B. B. Alston _(Grades 4–7)_
- [Black Brother, Black Brother](https://readinglist.school/book/black-brother-black-brother) by Jewell Parker Rhodes _(Grades 5–8)_
- [Blended](https://readinglist.school/book/blended) by Sharon M. Draper _(610L · Grades 3–7)_
- [Class Act](https://readinglist.school/book/class-act) by Jerry Craft _(Grades 4–8)_
- [Divergent](https://readinglist.school/book/divergent) by Veronica Roth _(Grades 8–12)_
- [El Deafo](https://readinglist.school/book/el-deafo) by Cece Bell _(420L · Grades 4–6)_
- [Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library](https://readinglist.school/book/escape-from-mr-lemoncellos-library) by Chris Grabenstein _(Grades 4–6)_
- [Ferris](https://readinglist.school/book/ferris) by Kate DiCamillo _(Grades 3–6)_
- [Fish in a Tree](https://readinglist.school/book/fish-in-a-tree) by Lynda Mullaly Hunt _(550L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Flora and Ulysses](https://readinglist.school/book/flora-and-ulysses) by Kate DiCamillo _(Grades 4–7)_
- [Front Desk](https://readinglist.school/book/front-desk) by Kelly Yang _(640L · Grades 3–7)_
- [Ghost](https://readinglist.school/book/ghost) by Jason Reynolds _(730L · Grades 5–8)_
- [Ghost Boys](https://readinglist.school/book/ghost-boys) by Jewell Parker Rhodes _(360L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Ground Zero](https://readinglist.school/book/ground-zero) by Alan Gratz _(Grades 6–8)_
- [Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone](https://readinglist.school/book/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone) by J.K. Rowling _(880L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Long Way Down](https://readinglist.school/book/long-way-down) by Jason Reynolds _(720L · Grades 7–12)_
- [New Kid](https://readinglist.school/book/new-kid) by Jerry Craft _(Grades 4–8)_
- [One Crazy Summer](https://readinglist.school/book/one-crazy-summer) by Rita Williams-Garcia _(750L · Grades 5–8)_
- [Orbiting Jupiter](https://readinglist.school/book/orbiting-jupiter) by Gary D. Schmidt _(Grades 7–10)_
- [Out of My Mind](https://readinglist.school/book/out-of-my-mind) by Sharon M. Draper _(700L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Rules](https://readinglist.school/book/rules) by Cynthia Lord _(Grades 4–7)_
- [Simon Sort of Says](https://readinglist.school/book/simon-sort-of-says) by Erin Bow _(Grades 6–8)_
- [The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian](https://readinglist.school/book/the-absolutely-true-diary-of-a-part-time-indian) by Sherman Alexie _(600L · Grades 7–10)_
- [The BFG](https://readinglist.school/book/the-bfg) by Roald Dahl _(720L · Grades 3–6)_
- [The Crossover](https://readinglist.school/book/the-crossover) by Kwame Alexander _(750L · Grades 5–8)_
- [The Giver](https://readinglist.school/book/the-giver) by Lois Lowry _(760L · Grades 6–8)_
- [The House of the Scorpion](https://readinglist.school/book/the-house-of-the-scorpion) by Nancy Farmer _(Grades 7–10)_
- [The Indian in the Cupboard](https://readinglist.school/book/the-indian-in-the-cupboard) by Lynne Reid Banks _(Grades 3–6)_
- [The Labors of Hercules Beal](https://readinglist.school/book/the-labors-of-hercules-beal) by Gary D. Schmidt _(Grades 3–7)_
- [The Lost Library](https://readinglist.school/book/the-lost-library) by Rebecca Stead & Wendy Mass _(Grades 4–8)_
- [The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane](https://readinglist.school/book/the-miraculous-journey-of-edward-tulane) by Kate DiCamillo _(Grades 3–6)_
- [The One and Only Ivan](https://readinglist.school/book/the-one-and-only-ivan) by Katherine Applegate _(570L · Grades 3–7)_
- [The Penderwicks](https://readinglist.school/book/the-penderwicks) by Jeanne Birdsall _(Grades 4–7)_
- [The Tale of Despereaux](https://readinglist.school/book/the-tale-of-despereaux) by Kate DiCamillo _(670L · Grades 3–6)_
- [The Thief Lord](https://readinglist.school/book/the-thief-lord) by Cornelia Funke _(Grades 4–6)_
- [Unspeakable](https://readinglist.school/book/unspeakable-the-tulsa-race-massacre) by Carole Boston Weatherford _(Grades 3–7)_
- [Walk Two Moons](https://readinglist.school/book/walk-two-moons) by Sharon Creech _(770L · Grades 5–7)_
- [When Stars Are Scattered](https://readinglist.school/book/when-stars-are-scattered) by Victoria Jamieson _(Grades 5–8)_
- [When You Reach Me](https://readinglist.school/book/when-you-reach-me) by Rebecca Stead _(750L · Grades 4–8)_
- [Wonder](https://readinglist.school/book/wonder) by R.J. Palacio _(790L · Grades 3–7)_
- [Wonderstruck](https://readinglist.school/book/wonderstruck) by Brian Selznick _(Grades 4–7)_

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