800L–899L books assigned in US schools
US schools assign 28 books in the 800L–899L Lexile band, typically read by students in grades 5–8. Lexile measures the prose complexity of each text — not who should read it. Strong readers comfortably read 100–200L above their measured level; struggling readers benefit from 100L below.
- Books on file
- 28
- Observed range
- 800L–890L
- Grade span
- 2–12
- Band window
- 800L–899L
Themes at 800L–899L
coming of age (6) · family (6) · friendship (5) · identity (5) · imagination (3) · immigration (3)
Authors at 800L–899L
Roald Dahl (2) · Beverly Cleary · Toni Morrison
Genres
Middle Grade Fiction (6) · Literary Fiction (5) · Dystopian Fiction (2) · Historical Fiction (2) · Young Adult Fiction (2)
800L–899L canon
Inside Out & Back AgainThanhha Lai · 800L
RefugeeAlan Gratz · 800L
The Poet XElizabeth Acevedo · 800L
Bridge to TerabithiaKatherine Paterson · 810L
The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins · 810L
Maniac MageeJerry Spinelli · 820L
The Graveyard BookNeil Gaiman · 820L
All Quiet on the Western FrontErich Maria Remarque · 830L
FrindleAndrew Clements · 830L
I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition)Malala Yousafzai · 830L
MatildaRoald Dahl · 840L
The Kite RunnerKhaled Hosseini · 840L
Slaughterhouse-FiveKurt Vonnegut · 850L
The Fault in Our StarsJohn Green · 850L
The Witch of Blackbird PondElizabeth George Speare · 850L
The Mouse and the MotorcycleBeverly Cleary · 860L
BelovedToni Morrison · 870L
Brave New WorldAldous Huxley · 870L
DragonwingsLaurence Yep · 870L
James and the Giant PeachRoald Dahl · 870L
The House on Mango StreetSandra Cisneros · 870L
The Hundred DressesEleanor Estes · 870L
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee · 870L
The Things They CarriedTim O'Brien · 880L
Fahrenheit 451Ray Bradbury · 890L
Jane EyreCharlotte Brontë · 890L
ShilohPhyllis Reynolds Naylor · 890L
Things Fall ApartChinua Achebe · 890L
Common questions
- What does 800L–899L mean on the Lexile scale?
- The Lexile Framework rates text complexity on a numeric scale. A 800L–899L book has prose complexity that typically read by students in grades 5–8. The score predicts comprehension difficulty for a typical reader at that level — higher Lexile = denser sentences, more sophisticated vocabulary.
- How many 800L–899L books does this list cover?
- 28 books measured between 800L and 890L appear across the curricula and state ELA standards tracked by ReadingList. Each one is cited from a state department of education, AP/IB syllabus, or peer-reviewed source.
- What grades assign 800L–899L books?
- Books in the 800L–899L band are assigned across grades 2 through 12 in US schools tracked by ReadingList. Lexile is a complexity measure, not a grade limit — a strong reader in grade 4 may comfortably read books a 2-grade-band higher.
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