New Mexico 6th grade reading list

The 597 books most commonly assigned to New Mexico 6th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.

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Books597Lexile410L–1120LSourceNM Common Core✓ 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 New Mexico 6th grade

These are the 12 titles named in New Mexico’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. Maniac Magee

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 New Mexico curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers race, homelessness and family. At 820L it sits just under the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  2. Out of My Mind

    Sharon M. Draper

    Cited in 1 New Mexico curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, inclusion and intelligence. At 700L it reads well below the 925–1185L band for this grade.

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  3. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 New Mexico 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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  4. The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 New Mexico curriculum document and 1 national reference, 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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  5. The Tale of Despereaux

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 New Mexico 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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  6. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 New Mexico 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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  7. Deep and Dark and Dangerous

    Mary Downing Hahn

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

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  8. So B. It

    Sarah Weeks

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

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  9. Stolen Children

    Peg Kehret

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

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  10. The City of Ember

    Jeanne DuPrau

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

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  11. The Hunger Games

    Suzanne Collins

    Cited in 1 New Mexico curriculum document, 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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  12. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom

    Louis Sachar

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

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597 books cited for New Mexico 6th grade

Assignments tied directly to New Mexico’s NM Common Core or national curricula with a New Mexico-specific citation.

Show all 597 titles

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Other New Mexico 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 New Mexico 6th grade reading list

In New Mexico schools, 6th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from NM Common Corealongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 597 titles for 6th grade in New Mexico, each tied to a New Mexico-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 52 titles here with a Lexile score 7 are grade-level, 45 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.

New Mexico’s English Language Arts requirements are set by NM Common Core (webnew.ped.state.nm.us). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework, so the 6th grade list below blends New Mexico-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 New Mexico-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 New Mexico?
597 books appear on ReadingList for 6th grade students in New Mexico, sourced from NM Common Core and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
What's the Lexile range for 6th grade reading in New Mexico?
Lexile measures across the 6th grade New Mexico 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 NM Common Core (published at webnew.ped.state.nm.us) plus national curricula that apply to New Mexico 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 webnew.ped.state.nm.us. National references cited on each book’s detail page.