# Books written in the 2000s, assigned in US schools

Contemporary YA boom; Persepolis, The Book Thief, Eleanor & Park — many of these reach assigned-reading status within a decade of publication.

**20** books written between 2000 and 2009 that US schools assign across state ELA standards, AP/IB syllabi, and Common Core exemplar lists.

**Decade window:** 2000–2009
**Lexile range:** 530L–1090L
**Grade span:** 3–12
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/decade/2000s
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## Themes of the 2000s

- friendship (7)
- coming of age (6)
- family (4)
- identity (4)
- religion (3)
- bullying (2)
- courage (2)
- forgiveness (2)

## Authors writing in the 2000s

- Kate DiCamillo (2)
- Carl Hiaasen
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Gene Luen Yang
- Jeff Kinney
- Khaled Hosseini
- Laurie Halse Anderson
- Linda Sue Park

## Genres

- Literary Fiction (5)
- Middle Grade Fantasy (3)
- Historical Fiction (Middle Grade) (2)
- Middle Grade Fiction (2)
- Graphic Memoir
- Historical Fiction
- Middle Grade Historical Fiction
- Middle Grade Mystery / Speculative

## The 2000s canon

- [Because of Winn-Dixie](https://readinglist.school/book/because-of-winn-dixie) by Kate DiCamillo _(610L · Grades 3–5 · pub 2000)_
- [Esperanza Rising](https://readinglist.school/book/esperanza-rising) by Pam Muñoz Ryan _(750L · Grades 4–7 · pub 2000)_
- [Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood](https://readinglist.school/book/persepolis) by Marjane Satrapi _(Grades 9–12 · pub 2000)_
- [A Single Shard](https://readinglist.school/book/a-single-shard) by Linda Sue Park _(920L · Grades 5–8 · pub 2001)_
- [Life of Pi](https://readinglist.school/book/life-of-pi) by Yann Martel _(830L · Grades 9–12 · pub 2001)_
- [Hoot](https://readinglist.school/book/hoot) by Carl Hiaasen _(760L · Grades 4–7 · pub 2002)_
- [The Secret Life of Bees](https://readinglist.school/book/the-secret-life-of-bees) by Sue Monk Kidd _(840L · Grades 9–11 · pub 2002)_
- [Purple Hibiscus](https://readinglist.school/book/purple-hibiscus) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie _(920L · Grades 10–12 · pub 2003)_
- [The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time](https://readinglist.school/book/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time) by Mark Haddon _(1090L · Grades 8–12 · pub 2003)_
- [The Kite Runner](https://readinglist.school/book/the-kite-runner) by Khaled Hosseini _(840L · Grades 10–12 · pub 2003)_
- [The Tale of Despereaux](https://readinglist.school/book/the-tale-of-despereaux) by Kate DiCamillo _(670L · Grades 3–6 · pub 2003)_
- [The Book Thief](https://readinglist.school/book/the-book-thief) by Markus Zusak _(730L · Grades 8–11 · pub 2005)_
- [The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)](https://readinglist.school/book/the-lightning-thief) by Rick Riordan _(740L · Grades 4–7 · pub 2005)_
- [American Born Chinese](https://readinglist.school/book/american-born-chinese) by Gene Luen Yang _(530L · Grades 7–12 · pub 2006)_
- [Diary of a Wimpy Kid](https://readinglist.school/book/diary-of-a-wimpy-kid) by Jeff Kinney _(950L · Grades 3–7 · pub 2007)_
- [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 · pub 2007)_
- [Chains](https://readinglist.school/book/chains) by Laurie Halse Anderson _(780L · Grades 5–9 · pub 2008)_
- [The Graveyard Book](https://readinglist.school/book/the-graveyard-book) by Neil Gaiman _(820L · Grades 5–8 · pub 2008)_
- [The Hunger Games](https://readinglist.school/book/the-hunger-games) by Suzanne Collins _(810L · Grades 6–9 · pub 2008)_
- [When You Reach Me](https://readinglist.school/book/when-you-reach-me) by Rebecca Stead _(750L · Grades 4–8 · pub 2009)_

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_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. JSON API: https://readinglist.school/api/decade/2000s · HTML view: https://readinglist.school/decade/2000s._