# 8th grade books about grief

**9** books commonly assigned to 8th grade students in US schools that explore grief. 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 2 titles here with a Lexile score, 0 are grade-level, 2 more accessible, and 0 a stretch.

**Grade:** 8th grade  ·  **Theme:** grief
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/grade/8/grief
**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 grief reading list

- [Between Two Brothers](https://readinglist.school/book/between-two-brothers) by Crystal Allen _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2024)_
- [Duel](https://readinglist.school/book/duel) by Jessixa Bagley _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2023)_
- [Long Way Down](https://readinglist.school/book/long-way-down) by Jason Reynolds _(720L · Grades 7–12 · pub 2017)_
- [Mick Harte Was Here](https://readinglist.school/book/mick-harte-was-here) by Barbara Park _(Grades 5–8 · pub 2011)_
- [Ruby Lost and Found](https://readinglist.school/book/ruby-lost-and-found) by Christina Li _(Grades 6–9 · pub 2023)_
- [The Crossover](https://readinglist.school/book/the-crossover) by Kwame Alexander _(750L · Grades 5–8 · pub 2014)_
- [The Night Train](https://readinglist.school/book/the-night-train) by Lorelei Savaryn _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2024)_
- [The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise](https://readinglist.school/book/the-remarkable-journey-of-coyote-sunrise) by Dan Gemeinhart _(Grades 5–8 · pub 2019)_
- [Wildful](https://readinglist.school/book/wildful) by Kengo Kurimoto _(Grades 4–8 · pub 2025)_

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