# 12th grade books about poverty

**3** books commonly assigned to 12th grade students in US schools that explore poverty. Every title's grade range covers 12th 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 12th grade band is 1185–1385L (Common Core Appendix A). Of the 3 titles here with a Lexile score, 0 are grade-level, 3 more accessible, and 0 a stretch.

**Grade:** 12th grade  ·  **Theme:** poverty
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/grade/12/poverty
**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

## 12th grade poverty reading list

- [Black Boy](https://readinglist.school/book/black-boy) by Richard Wright _(950L · Grades 9–12 · pub 1945)_
- [The Bluest Eye](https://readinglist.school/book/the-bluest-eye) by Toni Morrison _(920L · Grades 11–12 · pub 1970)_
- [The Color Purple](https://readinglist.school/book/the-color-purple) by Alice Walker _(670L · Grades 9–12 · pub 1982)_

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_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. HTML view: https://readinglist.school/grade/12/poverty._