Arkansas 6th grade reading list

The 626 books most commonly assigned to Arkansas 6th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.

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Books626Lexile410L–1120LSourceArkansas ELA Standards✓ sources cited per book

Most-assigned nationally: across every US state’s official reading and award lists, the Middle (6–8) titles appearing in the most states are The Giver (20 states), The Hunger Games (14 states), and Ground Zero (8 states). From our 2026 study of 13,258 source-cited assignments (as of 2026-07-13).

Start here — most-cited for Arkansas 6th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Arkansas’s own curriculum documents for this grade — everything below is the wider national list. Read against the Common Core Appendix A complexity band; reading level is not thematic maturity, and several sit below the band because they are assigned for discussion.

  1. New Kid

    Jerry Craft

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 3 national references, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers race and identity, code-switching, middle school adjustment.

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  2. The Crossover

    Kwame Alexander

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers family, brotherhood and basketball. At 750L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  3. The War That Saved My Life

    Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers war, resilience and disability. At 580L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  4. Lifeboat 12

    Susan Hood

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7.

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  5. Number the Stars

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers courage, friendship and Holocaust. At 670L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  6. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers animal welfare, morality and family. At 890L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  7. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers love, loss and journey.

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  8. The Tale of Despereaux

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers courage, forgiveness and light vs dark. At 670L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  9. The Whipping Boy

    Sid Fleischman

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers friendship, adventure and courage.

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  10. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers facial difference, kindness and bullying. At 790L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  11. All About Sam

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers brothers and sisters, family, family life.

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  12. All the Money in the World

    Bill Brittain

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers motion pictures, leprechauns and television.

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  13. Allergic

    Megan Wagner Lloyd

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers new york times reviewed and comic books, strips, etc..

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  14. Alvin's Swap Shop

    Clifford B. Hicks

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers mystery and detective stories, swap shops.

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  15. Attaboy, Sam!

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers gifts, birthdays and family life.

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  16. Banana Twist

    Florence Parry Heide

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers humorous stories.

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  17. Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days

    Stephen Manes

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers humorous stories, behavior and boys, fiction.

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  18. Big Ben

    David Harry Walker

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers saint bernard dog and dogs, fiction.

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  19. City Spies

    James Ponti

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6.

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  20. Do Bananas Chew Gum?

    Jamie Gilson

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers bananas.

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  21. Eight Keys

    Suzanne M. LaFleur

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers middle schools, schools and orphans.

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  22. Flying Solo

    Ralph J. Fletcher

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers death, elective mutism and schools.

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  23. Four Eyes

    Rex Ogle

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6.

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  24. Four Eyes: A Graphic Novel

    Rex Ogle

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers self-image, middle school and family.

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  25. Frindle

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers creativity, language and thought, intelligence. At 830L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  26. Loser

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers families, family and elementary schools.

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  27. My Horrible Secret

    Stephen Roos

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers humorous stories, brothers and baseball stories.

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  28. No Talking

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8.

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  29. Ramona's World

    Beverly Cleary

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers family life, schools and families.

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  30. Restart

    Gordon Korman

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers identity, bullying and memory. At 730L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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626 books cited for Arkansas 6th grade

Assignments tied directly to Arkansas’s Arkansas ELA Standards or national curricula with a Arkansas-specific citation.

Show all 626 titles

Reading the whole Arkansas 6th grade reading list? Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.

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New members only · many assigned titles are included with the membership. As an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases and membership trials at no extra cost to you.

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Teacher or librarian? Print this list as a checklist — free to photocopy for your class or library (details).

Other Arkansas grades

5th grade · 7th grade · 4th grade · 8th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

5th grade · 7th grade · 4th grade · 8th grade

Same 6th grade in other states

California · Texas · Florida · New York · Pennsylvania · Illinois

Browse 6th grade reading by theme

About the Arkansas 6th grade reading list

In Arkansas schools, 6th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from Arkansas ELA Standardsalongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 626 titles for 6th grade in Arkansas, each tied to a Arkansas-specific curriculum citation. Across the list, Lexile measures span 410L–1120L.

6th grade sits in the 6-8 grade band, where students are middle-grade readers. At this stage the emphasis is on analyzing theme, character, and author's craft across full-length novels and their first classics. Assigned reading skews toward full-length novels, plays, memoir, and frequently-challenged contemporary titles, with text complexity that, per Common Core’s Appendix A reading bands, typically falls around roughly 700L to 1010L. Measured against that 925–1185L range, of the 53 titles here with a Lexile score 7 are grade-level, 46 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 0 are stretch texts that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 6th grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Arkansas’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Arkansas ELA Standards (dese.ade.arkansas.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework, so the 6th grade list below blends Arkansas-specific assignments with the widely-taught national canon. Every title links to its primary source on the book’s detail page, so you can confirm exactly where and why it is assigned.

How to use this list:match a title to your child’s most recent Lexile or guided-reading level rather than to the grade alone. Teachers building a 6th grade unit can pair a Arkansas-cited core text with a grade-appropriate companion novel; parents previewing summer or supplemental reading can check each book’s content notes and challenge history before assigning it.

Common questions

How many books are assigned to 6th grade students in Arkansas?
626 books appear on ReadingList for 6th grade students in Arkansas, sourced from Arkansas ELA Standards and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
What's the Lexile range for 6th grade reading in Arkansas?
Lexile measures across the 6th grade Arkansas reading list range from 410L to 1120L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Entries reference Arkansas ELA Standards (published at dese.ade.arkansas.gov) plus national curricula that apply to Arkansas schools: Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English Literature and Language, IB Diploma Programme, and Cambridge Assessment International. Every assignment row on each book's detail page links its primary source.

Reading guides for parents

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State-specific entries sourced from dese.ade.arkansas.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.