# 10th grade books about identity

**31** books commonly assigned to 10th grade students in US schools that explore identity. Every title's grade range covers 10th grade, so each is grade-appropriate by curriculum placement. Sourced from Common Core exemplars, AP, IB, Cambridge, and 50 state ELA curricula.

**Reading difficulty:** the typical 10th grade band is 1050–1335L (Common Core Appendix A). Of the 15 titles here with a Lexile score, 2 are grade-level, 13 more accessible, and 0 a stretch.

**Grade:** 10th grade  ·  **Theme:** identity
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/grade/10/identity
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.
**Primary source — Common Core ELA exemplars:** https://achievethecore.org/page/2699

## 10th grade identity reading list

- [American Born Chinese](https://readinglist.school/book/american-born-chinese) by Gene Luen Yang _(530L · Grades 7–12 · pub 2006)_
- [Anthem](https://readinglist.school/book/anthem) by Ayn Rand _(880L · Grades 8–12 · pub 1938)_
- [Black Boy](https://readinglist.school/book/black-boy) by Richard Wright _(950L · Grades 9–12 · pub 1945)_
- [Divergent](https://readinglist.school/book/divergent) by Veronica Roth _(Grades 8–12 · pub 2012)_
- [Ender's Game](https://readinglist.school/book/enders-game) by Orson Scott Card _(780L · Grades 6–10 · pub 1985)_
- [Everything We Never Had](https://readinglist.school/book/everything-we-never-had) by Randy Ribay _(Grades 7–12 · pub 2024)_
- [Flowers for Algernon](https://readinglist.school/book/flowers-for-algernon) by Daniel Keyes _(910L · Grades 8–11 · pub 1966)_
- [I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition)](https://readinglist.school/book/i-am-malala-young-readers) by Malala Yousafzai _(830L · Grades 6–10 · pub 2014)_
- [I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings](https://readinglist.school/book/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings) by Maya Angelou _(1070L · Grades 10–12 · pub 1969)_
- [Life of Pi](https://readinglist.school/book/life-of-pi) by Yann Martel _(830L · Grades 9–12 · pub 2001)_
- [Louder Than Hunger](https://readinglist.school/book/louder-than-hunger) by John Schu _(Grades 7–12 · pub 2024)_
- [Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave](https://readinglist.school/book/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass) by Frederick Douglass _(1080L · Grades 8–12 · pub 1845)_
- [Never Thought I'd End Up Here](https://readinglist.school/book/never-thought-id-end-up-here) by Ann Liang _(Grades 7–12 · pub 2025)_
- [Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait of Eugene Bullard](https://readinglist.school/book/now-let-me-fly) by Ronald Wimberly _(Grades 9–12 · pub 2023)_
- [Oedipus Rex](https://readinglist.school/book/oedipus-rex) by Sophocles _(Grades 9–12 · pub -429)_
- [Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood](https://readinglist.school/book/persepolis) by Marjane Satrapi _(Grades 9–12 · pub 2000)_
- [Pygmalion](https://readinglist.school/book/pygmalion) by George Bernard Shaw _(Grades 9–12 · pub 1913)_
- [Shut Up, This Is Serious](https://readinglist.school/book/shut-up-this-is-serious) by Carolina Ixta _(Grades 9–12 · pub 2024)_
- [Speak](https://readinglist.school/book/speak) by Laurie Halse Anderson _(690L · Grades 8–10 · pub 1999)_
- [That's Not My Name](https://readinglist.school/book/thats-not-my-name) by Megan Lally _(Grades 9–12 · pub 2023)_
- [The Catcher in the Rye](https://readinglist.school/book/the-catcher-in-the-rye) by J.D. Salinger _(790L · Grades 9–12 · pub 1951)_
- [The Color Purple](https://readinglist.school/book/the-color-purple) by Alice Walker _(670L · Grades 9–12 · pub 1982)_
- [The Forbidden Book](https://readinglist.school/book/the-forbidden-book) by Sacha Lamb _(Grades 7–12 · pub 2024)_
- [The House of the Scorpion](https://readinglist.school/book/the-house-of-the-scorpion) by Nancy Farmer _(Grades 7–10 · pub 2022)_
- [The House on Mango Street](https://readinglist.school/book/the-house-on-mango-street) by Sandra Cisneros _(870L · Grades 7–10 · pub 1984)_
- [The Joy Luck Club](https://readinglist.school/book/the-joy-luck-club) by Amy Tan _(930L · Grades 9–12 · pub 1989)_
- [The Poet X](https://readinglist.school/book/the-poet-x) by Elizabeth Acevedo _(800L · Grades 8–12 · pub 2018)_
- [The Reappearance of Rachel Price](https://readinglist.school/book/the-reappearance-of-rachel-price) by Holly Jackson _(Grades 7–12 · pub 2024)_
- [The Silence That Binds Us](https://readinglist.school/book/the-silence-that-binds-us) by Joanna Ho _(Grades 9–12 · pub 2022)_
- [Twelfth Night](https://readinglist.school/book/twelfth-night) by William Shakespeare _(Grades 9–12 · pub 1602)_
- [Unwind](https://readinglist.school/book/unwind) by Neal Shusterman _(Grades 8–12 · pub 2007)_

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_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. HTML view: https://readinglist.school/grade/10/identity._