# 8th grade books about identity

**14** books commonly assigned to 8th grade students in US schools that explore identity. 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 14 titles here with a Lexile score, 2 are grade-level, 12 more accessible, and 0 a stretch.

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

## 8th 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)_
- [Brown Girl Dreaming](https://readinglist.school/book/brown-girl-dreaming) by Jacqueline Woodson _(990L · Grades 5–8 · pub 2014)_
- [Ender's Game](https://readinglist.school/book/enders-game) by Orson Scott Card _(780L · Grades 6–10 · pub 1985)_
- [Flowers for Algernon](https://readinglist.school/book/flowers-for-algernon) by Daniel Keyes _(910L · Grades 8–11 · pub 1966)_
- [Ghost](https://readinglist.school/book/ghost) by Jason Reynolds _(730L · Grades 5–8 · pub 2016)_
- [I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition)](https://readinglist.school/book/i-am-malala-young-readers) by Malala Yousafzai _(830L · Grades 6–10 · pub 2014)_
- [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)_
- [Speak](https://readinglist.school/book/speak) by Laurie Halse Anderson _(690L · Grades 8–10 · pub 1999)_
- [The Crossover](https://readinglist.school/book/the-crossover) by Kwame Alexander _(750L · Grades 5–8 · pub 2014)_
- [The Graveyard Book](https://readinglist.school/book/the-graveyard-book) by Neil Gaiman _(820L · Grades 5–8 · pub 2008)_
- [The House on Mango Street](https://readinglist.school/book/the-house-on-mango-street) by Sandra Cisneros _(870L · Grades 7–10 · pub 1984)_
- [The Outsiders](https://readinglist.school/book/the-outsiders) by S.E. Hinton _(750L · Grades 7–9 · pub 1967)_
- [The Poet X](https://readinglist.school/book/the-poet-x) by Elizabeth Acevedo _(800L · Grades 8–12 · pub 2018)_

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