Maine 8th grade reading list

The 505 books most commonly assigned to Maine 8th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.

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Books505Lexile410L–1300LSourceMaine Learning Results✓ 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 Maine 8th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Maine’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 Maine 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. Ghost

    Jason Reynolds

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers running, family violence and mentorship. At 730L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  3. Puzzleheart

    Jenn Reese

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers mystery, family and puzzles.

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  4. Smile

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 Maine 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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  5. The Hunger Games

    Suzanne Collins

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers authoritarianism, survival, media and spectacle. At 810L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  6. A Game of Noctis

    Deva Fagan

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers adventure, ambition and fantasy.

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  7. Amir and the Jinn Princess

    M. T. Khan

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers fantasy, family and courage.

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  8. Between Two Brothers

    Crystal Allen

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers family, brothers and grief.

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  9. Boy 2.0

    Tracey Baptiste

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers identity, family and adventure.

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  10. Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody

    Patrick Ness

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers friendship, school and humor.

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  11. Code Name Kingfisher

    Liz Kessler

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers history, courage and family.

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  12. Evidence! How Dr. John Snow Solved the Mystery of Cholera

    Deborah Hopkinson

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers science, history and biography.

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  13. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    J. K. Rowling

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers fantasy fiction, orphans and foster homes.

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  14. Impossible Creatures

    Katherine Rundell

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers fantasy, courage and friendship.

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  15. Love That Dog

    Sharon Creech

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers poetry, fiction, poetry and authorship.

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  16. Math Curse

    Jon Scieszka

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers mathematics, schools and math anxiety.

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  17. Mid-Air

    Alicia D. Williams

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers grief, friendship and growing up.

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  18. Mountain of Fire: The Eruption and Survivors of Mount St. Helens

    Rebecca E. Barone

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers science, history and survival.

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  19. Narwhal: Unicorn of the Arctic

    Candace Fleming

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers nature, science and animals.

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  20. Not Nothing

    Gayle Forman

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers redemption, friendship and history.

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  21. Once They See You: 13 Stories to Shiver and Shock

    Josh Allen

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers horror, short stories and suspense.

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  22. Pink and Say

    Patricia Polacco

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers united states, united states civil war, 1861-1865 and friendship.

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  23. Popcorn

    Rob Harrell

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers anxiety, school and humor.

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  24. Primer

    Jennifer Muro

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers graphic novel, superhero’s and dc.

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  25. Refugee

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 9. Covers refugees, survival and family. At 800L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  26. Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes that Dot Our Planet

    Geo Rutherford

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers science, nature and geography.

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  27. The Dark!: Wild Life in the Mysterious World of Caves

    Lindsey Leigh

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers science, nature and animals.

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  28. The End of the Beginning

    Avi

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers adventure and adventurers, insects, ants.

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  29. The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8. Covers conformity vs individuality, memory, utopia and dystopia. At 760L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  30. The Last Bloodcarver

    Vanessa Le

    Cited in 1 Maine curriculum document, taught from grade 7 to 8. Covers fantasy, healing and identity.

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505 books cited for Maine 8th grade

Assignments tied directly to Maine’s Maine Learning Results or national curricula with a Maine-specific citation.

Show all 505 titles

Reading the whole Maine 8th 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 Maine 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 Maine 8th grade reading list

In Maine schools, 8th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from Maine Learning Resultsalongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 505 titles for 8th grade in Maine, each tied to a Maine-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 32 titles here with a Lexile score 7 are grade-level, 24 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.

Maine’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Maine Learning Results (maine.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework, so the 8th grade list below blends Maine-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 Maine-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 Maine?
505 books appear on ReadingList for 8th grade students in Maine, sourced from Maine Learning Results and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
What's the Lexile range for 8th grade reading in Maine?
Lexile measures across the 8th grade Maine 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 Maine Learning Results (published at www.maine.gov) plus national curricula that apply to Maine 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 www.maine.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.