# 8th grade books about friendship

**52** books commonly assigned to 8th grade students in US schools that explore friendship. Every title's grade range covers 8th 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 8th grade band is 925–1185L (Common Core Appendix A). Of the 8 titles here with a Lexile score, 0 are grade-level, 8 more accessible, and 0 a stretch.

**Grade:** 8th grade  ·  **Theme:** friendship
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/grade/8/friendship
**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

## 8th grade friendship reading list

- [A Boy Named Queen](https://readinglist.school/book/a-boy-named-queen) by Sara Cassidy _(Grades 3–8 · pub 2016)_
- [Bink & Gollie](https://readinglist.school/book/bink-gollie) by Kate DiCamillo _(Grades 2–8 · pub 2010)_
- [Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody](https://readinglist.school/book/chronicles-of-a-lizard-nobody) by Patrick Ness _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2024)_
- [Class Act](https://readinglist.school/book/class-act) by Jerry Craft _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2020)_
- [Closed for the Season](https://readinglist.school/book/closed-for-the-season) by Mary Downing Hahn _(Grades 3–8 · pub 2009)_
- [Confessions of a Class Clown](https://readinglist.school/book/confessions-of-a-class-clown) by Arianne Costner _(Grades 6–8 · pub 2023)_
- [Control Freaks](https://readinglist.school/book/control-freaks) by J.E. Thomas _(Grades 6–8 · pub 2023)_
- [Crash](https://readinglist.school/book/crash) by Jerry Spinelli _(Grades 3–8 · pub 1996)_
- [Drama](https://readinglist.school/book/drama) by Raina Telgemeier _(Grades 5–9 · pub 2012)_
- [Flowers for Algernon](https://readinglist.school/book/flowers-for-algernon) by Daniel Keyes _(910L · Grades 8–11 · pub 1966)_
- [Framed!](https://readinglist.school/book/framed) by James Ponti _(Grades 3–8 · pub 2016)_
- [Grounded](https://readinglist.school/book/grounded-airport) by Aisha Saeed, S.K. Ali, Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow & Huda Al-Marashi _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2023)_
- [Heroes](https://readinglist.school/book/heroes) by Alan Gratz _(Grades 6–8 · pub 2024)_
- [Impossible Creatures](https://readinglist.school/book/impossible-creatures) by Katherine Rundell _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2023)_
- [Just a Pinch of Magic](https://readinglist.school/book/just-a-pinch-of-magic) by Alechia Dow _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2023)_
- [Keeper of the Lost Cities](https://readinglist.school/book/keeper-of-the-lost-cities) by Shannon Messenger _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2025)_
- [Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25](https://readinglist.school/book/michael-vey-the-prisoner-of-cell-25) by Richard Paul Evans _(Grades 6–9 · pub 2012)_
- [Mid-Air](https://readinglist.school/book/mid-air) by Alicia D. Williams _(Grades 5–8 · pub 2024)_
- [Million-Dollar Throw](https://readinglist.school/book/million-dollar-throw) by Mike Lupica _(Grades 5–8 · pub 2009)_
- [Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism](https://readinglist.school/book/molly-moons-incredible-book-of-hypnotism) by Georgia Byng _(Grades 3–8 · pub 2002)_
- [New Kid](https://readinglist.school/book/new-kid) by Jerry Craft _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2019)_
- [Not Nothing](https://readinglist.school/book/not-nothing) by Gayle Forman _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2024)_
- [Of Mice and Men](https://readinglist.school/book/of-mice-and-men) by John Steinbeck _(630L · Grades 8–11 · pub 1937)_
- [Operation Final Notice](https://readinglist.school/book/operation-final-notice) by Matthew Landis _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2022)_
- [Pink and Say](https://readinglist.school/book/pink-and-say) by Patricia Polacco _(Grades 4–8 · pub 1994)_
- [Posted](https://readinglist.school/book/posted) by John David Anderson _(Grades 6–9 · pub 2018)_
- [Real Friends](https://readinglist.school/book/real-friends) by Shannon Hale _(Grades 2–8 · pub 2017)_
- [Roll for Initiative](https://readinglist.school/book/roll-for-initiative) by Jaime Formato _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2022)_
- [Saving Winslow](https://readinglist.school/book/saving-winslow) by Sharon Creech _(Grades 3–8 · pub 2018)_
- [Simon Sort of Says](https://readinglist.school/book/simon-sort-of-says) by Erin Bow _(Grades 6–8 · pub 2023)_
- [Skyriders](https://readinglist.school/book/skyriders) by Polly Holyoke _(Grades 6–8 · pub 2024)_
- [Smile](https://readinglist.school/book/smile) by Raina Telgemeier _(410L · Grades 4–8 · pub 2010)_
- [Stepping Up](https://readinglist.school/book/stepping-up) by Mark Fink _(Grades 3–8 · pub 2009)_
- [The Book Thief](https://readinglist.school/book/the-book-thief) by Markus Zusak _(730L · Grades 8–11 · pub 2005)_
- [The Cay](https://readinglist.school/book/the-cay) by Theodore Taylor _(Grades 5–8 · pub 1969)_
- [The First State of Being](https://readinglist.school/book/the-first-state-of-being) by Erin Entrada Kelly _(Grades 6–8 · pub 2024)_
- [The Last Dragon on Mars](https://readinglist.school/book/the-last-dragon-on-mars) by Scott Reintgen _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2024)_
- [The Lifters](https://readinglist.school/book/the-lifters) by Dave Eggers _(Grades 3–8 · pub 2018)_
- [The Lost Library](https://readinglist.school/book/the-lost-library) by Rebecca Stead & Wendy Mass _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2023)_
- [The Mark of Athena](https://readinglist.school/book/the-mark-of-athena) by Rick Riordan _(Grades 5–9 · pub 2012)_
- [The Maze Runner](https://readinglist.school/book/the-maze-runner) by James Dashner _(Grades 7–12 · pub 2012)_
- [The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien](https://readinglist.school/book/the-mythmakers-lewis-tolkien) by John Hendrix _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2024)_
- [The Outsiders](https://readinglist.school/book/the-outsiders) by S.E. Hinton _(750L · Grades 7–9 · pub 1967)_
- [The Parker Inheritance](https://readinglist.school/book/the-parker-inheritance) by Varian Johnson _(610L · Grades 6–8 · pub 2018)_
- [The Sherlock Society](https://readinglist.school/book/the-sherlock-society) by James Ponti _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2025)_
- [The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants](https://readinglist.school/book/the-sisterhood-of-the-traveling-pants) by Ann Brashares _(Grades 7–10 · pub 2001)_
- [The Stranger Next Door](https://readinglist.school/book/the-stranger-next-door) by Peg Kehret _(Grades 3–8 · pub 2002)_
- [The Witch of Blackbird Pond](https://readinglist.school/book/the-witch-of-blackbird-pond) by Elizabeth George Speare _(850L · Grades 5–8 · pub 1958)_
- [Under the Surface](https://readinglist.school/book/under-the-surface) by Diana Urban _(Grades 7–12 · pub 2024)_
- [Ungifted](https://readinglist.school/book/ungifted) by Gordon Korman _(Grades 5–8 · pub 2012)_
- [When You Reach Me](https://readinglist.school/book/when-you-reach-me) by Rebecca Stead _(750L · Grades 4–8 · pub 2009)_
- [When Zachary Beaver Came to Town](https://readinglist.school/book/when-zachary-beaver-came-to-town) by Kimberly Willis Holt _(Grades 2–8 · pub 1999)_

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_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. HTML view: https://readinglist.school/grade/8/friendship._