# Books about race assigned in US schools

**16** books in the US-school assigned-reading canon explore _race_. Sourced from state ELA standards, AP/IB syllabi, and Common Core exemplar lists.

**Lexile range:** 360L–1130L
**Grade span:** 3–12
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/theme/race
**Wikipedia (entity):** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(human_categorization)
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## Authors who explore race

- [Angie Thomas](https://readinglist.school/author/angie-thomas)
- [Christopher Paul Curtis](https://readinglist.school/author/christopher-paul-curtis)
- [Jerry Craft](https://readinglist.school/author/jerry-craft)
- [Jerry Spinelli](https://readinglist.school/author/jerry-spinelli)
- [Jewell Parker Rhodes](https://readinglist.school/author/jewell-parker-rhodes)
- [Rita Williams-Garcia](https://readinglist.school/author/rita-williams-garcia)
- [Sharon M. Draper](https://readinglist.school/author/sharon-m-draper)
- [Theodore Taylor](https://readinglist.school/author/theodore-taylor)

## race canon

- [Black Boy](https://readinglist.school/book/black-boy) by Richard Wright _(950L · Grades 9–12)_
- [Blended](https://readinglist.school/book/blended) by Sharon M. Draper _(610L · Grades 3–7)_
- [Bud, Not Buddy](https://readinglist.school/book/bud-not-buddy) by Christopher Paul Curtis _(950L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Class Act](https://readinglist.school/book/class-act) by Jerry Craft _(Grades 4–8)_
- [Fences](https://readinglist.school/book/fences) by August Wilson _(Grades 9–12)_
- [Front Desk](https://readinglist.school/book/front-desk) by Kelly Yang _(640L · Grades 3–7)_
- [Ghost Boys](https://readinglist.school/book/ghost-boys) by Jewell Parker Rhodes _(360L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults)](https://readinglist.school/book/just-mercy-young-adult) by Bryan Stevenson _(1130L · Grades 9–12)_
- [Maniac Magee](https://readinglist.school/book/maniac-magee) by Jerry Spinelli _(820L · Grades 4–7)_
- [One Crazy Summer](https://readinglist.school/book/one-crazy-summer) by Rita Williams-Garcia _(750L · Grades 5–8)_
- [Othello](https://readinglist.school/book/othello) by William Shakespeare _(Grades 10–12)_
- [Swim Team](https://readinglist.school/book/swim-team) by Johnnie Christmas _(Grades 3–7)_
- [The Cay](https://readinglist.school/book/the-cay) by Theodore Taylor _(Grades 5–8)_
- [The Hate U Give](https://readinglist.school/book/the-hate-u-give) by Angie Thomas _(590L · Grades 9–12)_
- [The Parker Inheritance](https://readinglist.school/book/the-parker-inheritance) by Varian Johnson _(610L · Grades 6–8)_
- [The Secret Life of Bees](https://readinglist.school/book/the-secret-life-of-bees) by Sue Monk Kidd _(840L · Grades 9–11)_

---

_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. JSON API: https://readinglist.school/api/theme/race · HTML view: https://readinglist.school/theme/race._