Louisiana 8th grade reading list

The 475 books most commonly assigned to Louisiana 8th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.

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Books475Lexile410L–1300LSourceLouisiana Student 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 Louisiana 8th grade

These are the 8 titles named in Louisiana’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 Louisiana curriculum document and 2 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 Louisiana 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. Smile

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers growing up, friendship and self-acceptance. At 410L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  4. Game Changer

    Tommy Greenwald

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers football, injury and truth.

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  5. Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25

    Richard Paul Evans

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers powers, friendship and courage.

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  6. So B. It

    Sarah Weeks

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers family, identity and journey.

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  7. The False Prince

    Jennifer A. Nielsen

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers identity, adventure and power.

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  8. Weslandia

    Paul Fleischman

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers civilization, gardening and individualism.

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475 books cited for Louisiana 8th grade

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

Show all 475 titles

Reading the whole Louisiana 8th grade reading list? Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.

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

Other Louisiana grades

7th grade · 9th grade · 6th grade · 10th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

7th grade · 9th grade · 6th grade · 10th grade

Same 8th grade in other states

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

Browse 8th grade reading by theme

About the Louisiana 8th grade reading list

In Louisiana schools, 8th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from Louisiana Student Standardsalongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 475 titles for 8th grade in Louisiana, each tied to a Louisiana-specific curriculum citation. Across the list, Lexile measures span 410L–1300L.

8th 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 30 titles here with a Lexile score 7 are grade-level, 22 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 1 is a stretch text that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 8th grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Louisiana’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Louisiana Student Standards (louisianabelieves.com). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework, so the 8th grade list below blends Louisiana-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 8th grade unit can pair a Louisiana-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 8th grade students in Louisiana?
475 books appear on ReadingList for 8th grade students in Louisiana, sourced from Louisiana Student Standards and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
What's the Lexile range for 8th grade reading in Louisiana?
Lexile measures across the 8th grade Louisiana reading list range from 410L to 1300L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Entries reference Louisiana Student Standards (published at www.louisianabelieves.com) plus national curricula that apply to Louisiana 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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