Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level A
Characteristics of Level A Books
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Simple, factual texts, simple animal fantasy and realistic fiction
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Focused on a single idea or one simple topic
•
Picture books
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All text and concepts highly supported by pictures
•
One line of text on each page
•
Repeating language patterns (3-7 words per page)
•
Some words with inflectional endings –s and -ing
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Very familiar themes and ideas
•
Short, very predictable sentences
•
Consistent placement of print
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Print clearly separated from pictures
•
Almost all vocabulary familiar to children – strongly sight-word based
Characteristics of Readers at Level A
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•
•
•
•
Recognize and apply repeating language patterns
Awareness of left-to-right directionality
Awareness of 1-1 matching
Able to distinguish and identify many letters according to their distinct
features
Developing an understanding of the connection between sounds and letters,
especially first and last sounds
Can recognize a few easy, high-frequency words (eg: the, to, my, is, are,
like), and can locate them in text
Sample Texts
Level A
All-Star Examples: Anno’s Counting Book (Anno), Do You Want to Be My Friend?
(Carle), Look What I Can Do (Aruego), Growing Colors (McMillan)
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level B
Characteristics of Level B Books
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Simple, factual texts, animal fantasy and realistic fiction
•
Simple, one-dimensional characters
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Picture books
•
All text and concepts highly supported by pictures
•
Two or more lines of text on each page
•
Some sentences turn over to the next line
•
Repeating language patterns (3-7 words per page)
•
Some words with inflectional endings –s and -ing
•
Very familiar themes and ideas
•
Short, predictable sentences
•
Almost all vocabulary familiar to children – strongly sight-word based
Characteristics of Readers at Level B
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Recognize and apply repeating language patterns
Stronger awareness of left-to-right directionality
Stronger awareness of 1-1 matching
Learning concept of return sweep (moving from one line of text to the next)
Line breaks match ends of phrases and sentences
Able to distinguish and identify more letters according to their distinct
features
Developing stronger understanding of the connection between sounds and
letters
Expanding their core of easy, high-frequency words
Sample Texts
Level B
All-Star Examples: Cat on the Mat (Wildsmith), Have You Seen My Cat?
(Carle), How Many Fish? (Cohen), Fun With Hats (Malka), Here’s Skipper (Salem)
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level C
Characteristics of Level C Books
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Simple, factual texts, animal fantasy and realistic fiction
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Picture books
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Amusing, one-dimensional characters
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Familiar, easy content
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Introduction of dialogue (assigned by said in most cases)
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Many sentences with prepositional phrases and adjectives
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Almost all vocabulary familiar to children – greater range of highfrequency words
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Some words with inflectional endings –s and -ing
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All concepts are supported by pictures
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Some simple contractions and possessives (words with apostrophes)
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Two to five lines of text on each page
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Some bolded words
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Punctuation other than periods: some ellipses, commas, quotation marks,
question marks, and exclamation marks
Characteristics of Readers at Level C
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Begin to move smoothly across the printed page when reading
Begin to use some expression when reading
Eyes are taking over the process of matching the spoken word to the
printed word (removal of finger tracking after this level)
Developing phrased reading
Noticing dialogue and punctuation and reflecting this with the voice
Developing a larger core of high-frequency words
Consistently monitoring reading and cross-checking one source of
information against another, self-correcting
Sample Texts
Level C
All-Star Examples: Some Brand New Readers, I Went Walking (Williams), Brown
Bear, Brown Bear (Martin), Boots (Schreiber)
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level D
Characteristics of Level D Books
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Simple, factual texts, animal fantasy and realistic fiction
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Picture books
•
Amusing, one-dimensional characters
•
Familiar, easy content, themes and ideas
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Most concepts are supported by pictures
•
Simple dialogue (some split dialogue)
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Many sentences with prepositional phrases and adjectives
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Some longer sentences (some with more than 6 words)
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Some words with inflectional endings –s and -ing
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Some simple contractions and possessives
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Two to six lines of text on each page
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Less consistent placement of print
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Some sentences turn over to the next line
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Some words with –s, -ed, and –ing endings
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Fewer repetitive language patterns
Characteristics of Readers at Level D
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Eyes can track print over two to six lines per page
Can process texts with fewer repeating language patterns
Voice-print match is smooth and automatic; finger pointing is rarely
needed, if ever
Notices and uses a range of punctuation and reads dialogue, reflecting the
meaning through phrasing
Can solve many regular two-syllable words, including ones with –s, –ed and
–ing endings
Consistently monitors reading and cross-checks one source of information
against another, self-correcting
Sample Texts
Level D
All-Star Examples: Some Brand New Readers, My Messy Room (Packard), Chick
and the Duckling (Ginsburg), Bears on Wheels (Berenstain), Sleepy Dog (Ziefert)
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level E
Characteristics of Level E Books
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Simple informational texts, simple animal fantasy, realistic fiction
•
Some texts with sequential information
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Familiar content that expands beyond home, neighborhood, school
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Most concepts supported by pictures
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More literary stories and language
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Language structures are not repetitious
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Concrete, easy-to-understand ideas
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Some longer sentences – more than ten words
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Some three-syllable words
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Some sentences with verb before subject
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Some words with inflectional endings –s, -ed, and –ing
•
•
Both simple and split dialogue, speaker usually assigned
Variation of words to assign dialogue (said, cried, shouted)
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Easy contractions
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Mostly words with easy, predictable spelling patterns
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Two to eight lines of print per page, eight to sixteen pages of print
Characteristics of Readers at Level E
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•
•
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•
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Flexible enough to process texts with varied placement of print and full
range of punctuation
Attend to more subtle ideas and complex stories
Solve longer words with endings
Read sentences that carry over 2-3 lines or over two pages
Rely much more on the print, pictures becoming less supportive
Left-to-right directionality and voice-print match are automatic
Oral reading demonstrates fluency and phrasing
Read without finger pointing; uses finger only at a point of difficulty
Recognize a large number of high-frequency words
Easily solve words with regular letter-sound relationships, as well as some
irregular words
Sample Texts
Level E
All-Star Examples: Just Clowning Around (MacDonald), The Pet That I Want
(Pakcard), Funny Man (Jensen), A Bug, A Bear & A Boy Go For a Ride (McPhail)
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level F
Characteristics of Level F Books
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Simple information texts, simple animal fantasy, realistic fiction, very
simple retellings of traditional tales, simple plays
Some texts with sequential information
Familiar content that expands beyond home, neighborhood, and school
Both simple and split dialogue, speaker usually assigned
Some longer stretches of dialogue
Variety in text structure beyond description (eg: compare/contrast)
Some longer sentences-more than ten words-with prepositional phrases,
adjectives, and dialogue
Variation in placement of subject, verb, adjectives, and adverbs
Some compound sentences conjoined by and
Many words with inflectional endings (-s, -es, -ed, -ing)
More details in the illustrations
Most texts have 3-8 lines of text per page
Periods, commas, quotation marks, exclamation points, questions marks, and
ellipses
Characteristics of Readers at Level F
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•
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Beginning to build knowledge of the characteristics of different genres of
texts
Read stretches of both simple and split dialogue
Recognize a large number of high-frequency words quickly and automatically
Use letter-sound information to take apart simple, regular words as well as
some multisyllable words
Beginning to read fiction with more well-developed characters
Left-to-right directionality and voice-print match are completely automatic
Read without pointing and with appropriate rate, phrasing, intonation, and
stress
Self-corrects close to the point of error
Sample Texts
Level F
All-Star Examples: Biscuit Series (Capucilli), Noodles Series (Wilhelm), Itchy, Itchy
Chicken Pox (Maccarone), Teeny Tiny Woman (O’Connor), Soccer Game (Maccarone)
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level G
Characteristics of Level G Books
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•
•
•
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Informational texts, simple animal fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional
literature (folktales)
Some longer texts with repeating longer and more complex patterns, and
more episodes included
Some unusual formats, such as questions followed by answers,
compare/contrast, or letters
Some texts with sequential information
Familiar content that expands beyond home, neighborhood, and school;
concrete themes and ideas
Some texts with settings that are not typical of many children’s
experience
Some sentences that are questions in simple sentences and in dialogue
Sentences with clauses and embedded phrases, even introductory
(The boy who came is his cousin. Because he was hungry, he ate.)
Some complex letter-sound relationships in words
Some content-specific words introduced, explained, and illustrated in the
text
Complex illustrations depicting multiple ideas
Most texts 3-8 lines of print per page
Slightly smaller print
Characteristics of Readers at Level G
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•
•
•
•
•
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Able to internalize more and deeper knowledge of different genres
Early reading behaviors now completely automatic
Recognize a large number of high-frequency words
Able to attend to more complex story lines and ideas
Use a range of word-solving strategies (letter-sound information, making
connections between words, using word parts) to read unknown words
Read texts with some content-specific words
Demonstrate appropriate rate, phrasing, intonation, and word stress
Sample Texts
Level G
All-Star Examples: Mittens Series (Schaefer), I Am… Series (Marzollo), Harry the
Hippo Series (Ziefert), The Carrot Seed (Kraus), Each Peach, Pear Plum
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level H
Characteristics of Level H Books
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•
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Informational texts, simple animal fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional
literature (folktales)
Narratives with more episodes and less repetition
Accessible content that expands beyond home, school and neighborhood;
greater variety in themes – beyond the everyday
Some stretches of descriptive language
Wide variety in words used to assign dialogue to speaker
Some complex letter-sound relationships in words
Some complex spelling patterns
Some easy compound words
Most texts with no or only minimal illustrations
Italics indicating unspoken thought
Most texts 3-8 lines of print per page
Characteristics of Readers at Level H
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Encounter more complex language and vocabulary
Read longer, more literary stories
Able to process a great deal of dialogue and reflect it through appropriate
word stress and phrasing
Solve a large number of multisyllable words, plurals, contractions, and
possessives
Able to read a larger and larger number of high-frequency words
Able to think at increasingly deeper levels
Solve words with complex spelling patterns
Begin to read more new texts silently, in order to achieve efficient and
smooth processing
Sample Texts
Level H
All-Star Examples: Katie Woo Series (Manushkin), Messy Bessey Series
(McKissack), Rex and Lilly Series (Brown), Goodnght Moon, Small Pig (Lobel)
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level I
Characteristics of Level I Books
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Informational texts, simple animal fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional
literature (folktales)
Some informational texts with a table of contents and/or a glossary
Narratives with multiple episodes and little repetition of similar episodes;
more elaborated episodes taking place over time; some short chapter books
Underlying organizational structures used and presented clearly
(description, compare and contrast, problem and solution)
Some unusual formats, such as letters or questions followed by answers
Both familiar content and some new content children may not know
Variety of dialogue – perhaps between more than two characters
Most texts told from a single point of view; some with multiple POV
Contain a few abstract concepts/themes that are highly supported by text
and illustrations
Longer sentences that can carry over to two or three lines, and some over
two pages; use of compound sentences
Use of commas for direct address (Sam, let’s go), qualifiers (however,) and
items in a series (nouns, verbs, or adjectives)
Many two-to-three-syllable words from all parts of speech
Some complex spelling patterns and letter-sound relationships
8-16 pages of print (some easy chapter books of 50-60 pages)
3-8 lines of text per page
Characteristics of Readers at Level I
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Able to process mostly short texts (8-16 pages); some easy illustrated
chapter books
Able to sustain attention and memory over longer periods of time
Can process longer (ten words or more) and more complex sentences
Have a large sight-word vocabulary
Able to use word-solving strategies for complex spelling patterns,
multisyllable words, and words with inflectional endings, plurals,
contractions, and possessives
Read many texts silently, following text with their eyes and without
pointing
Oral reading reflects appropriate rate, stress, intonation, phrasing, and
pausing
Sample Texts
Level I
All-Star Examples: Fly Guy (series), Dragon (series), The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe
Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear (Audrey Wood)
Books titles at my level include:
TITLE
Airport
All Tutus Should Be Pink
Apples and Pumpkins
Are You My Mother?
Baby Dolphin’s First Day
Barney’s Horse
Ben and the Bear
Big Dog, Little Dog
Big Fat Enormous Lie
Bike Lesson
Carry Me! Animal Babies …
Cassie’s Word Quilt
Danny and the Dinosaur
First Grade Friends
Froggy
Girl Named Helen Keller
Handa’s Hen
Happy Birthday, Sam
Hattie and the Fox
The Kissing Hand
AUTHOR
Byron Barton
Sheri Brownrigg
Anne Rockwell
Philip Eastman
Roop
Syd Hoff
Chris Riddell
Philip Eastman
Sharmat
Berenstain
Susan Stockdale
Faith Ringgold
Syd Hoff
Grace Maccarone
Jonathan London
Karen Schmidt
Eileen Browne
Pat Hutchins
Mem Fox
Audrey Penn
TITLE
Leo the Late Bloomer
Little Toot
Lola
Messy Bessey
Mice at Bat
Mrs. Brice’s Mice
My Visit to the Dinosaurs
The Little House
The Napping House
Night in the Country
No Good in Art
Quick as a Cricket
The Quilt
Spot’s Birthday Party
This is the Place for Me
Tidy Titch
The Very Busy Spider
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
White Rabbit’s Color Book
Willie’s Wonderful Pet
AUTHOR
Robert Kraus
Hardie Gramatky
Anna McQuinn
McKissack
Kelly Oechsli
Syd Hoff
Aliki
Virginia L Burton
Audrey Wood
Cynthia Rylant
Miriam Cohen
Audrey Wood
Ann Jonas
Eric Hill
Joanna Cole
Pat Hutchins
Eric Carle
Michael Rosen
Alan Baker
Mel Cebulash
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level J
Characteristics of Level J Books
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•
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•
•
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Informational texts, simple animal fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional
literature (folktales), some simple biographies on familiar subjects
Beginning chapter books with illustrations (40-75 pages); many series,
some graphic texts
Chapters connected by character and plot
Underlying organizational structures used and presented clearly
(description, compare and contrast, problem and solution)
Some unusual formats, such as letters or questions followed by answers
Some ideas/settings new to most children - some abstract concepts that
are highly supported by text and illustrations
Some texts, including graphic novels, require the reader to infer the story
from pictures or dialogue – more elaboration of characters/traits
Some have several points of view
Varied placement of subject, verb, adjectives and adverbs in sentences
Texts require more interpretation on the part of the reader
Many longer and complex sentences - phrases, clauses, some parentheses
Some complex spelling patterns and setter-sound relationships in words
Many lines of print on a page
Characteristics of Readers at Level J
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•
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•
•
•
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Able to process a variety of texts (short fiction texts, short informational
texts, and longer narrative texts that have illustrations, short chapters)
Adjust reading strategies as needed to process different genres
Process increasingly more complex sentences
Have a large, expanding sight-word vocabulary
Able to quickly apply word-solving strategies for complex spelling patterns,
multisyllable words, and words with inflectional endings, plurals,
contractions, and possessives
Read silently during independent reading
Oral reading reflects appropriate rate, stress, intonation, phrasing, and
pausing
Sample Texts
Level J
All-Star Examples: Mr. Putter and Tabby (series), Henry and Mudge (series), Young
Cam Jansen (series), Iris and Walter (series) Shortcut (Crews) Books titles at my level include:
TITLE
AUTHOR
TITLE
AUTHOR
Danny And The Dinosaur
Aardema, Verna
Hoff, Syd
Harry The Dirty Dog
Aunt Eater Loves A Mystery
Big Max
Detective Dinosaur
Poppleton
Zion, Gene
Cushman, Doug
Platt, Kin
Skofield, James
Rylant, Cynthia
And I Mean It, Stanley
Farmer Brown & Dapple Gray
Fox And His Friends
Ghosts!: Ghostly Tales from…
The Author on My Street
Bonsall, Crosby N.
Brown, Craig
Marshall, Edward
Schwartz, Alvin
Cook, Lisa Broadie
Minnie and Moo
Goggles!
Oliver Button Is A Sissy
Little Bear
Young Cam Jansen
Cazet, Denys
Keats, Ezra Jack
dePaola, Tomie
Menarik, Else H.
Adler, David
Author: A True Story
Mr. Putter and Tabby
Henry and Mudge
Froggy
Lester, Helen
Rylant, Cynthia
Rylant, Cynthia
London, Jonathan
Buster
Where the Wild Things Are
Zelda and Ivy Series
Brown, Marc
Sendak, Maurice
Kvasnosky, Laura M
How a Seed Grows
How To Make Salsa
I Am a Rock
Living on the Plains
Neil Armstrong
Space Race
The Dumb Bunnies
Nurse Shark (other shark)
Octopuses (other sea…)
On the Open Plains
Cowley, Joy
Pilkey, Dav
Nuzzolo, Deborah
Lindeen, Carol
Marilyn Woolley
Over in the Meadow
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
Scaly Animals
Sharks
Snow
Wadsworth, Olive
Ehlert, Lois
Nelson, May
Guiberson, Brenda
Bauer, Marion
Susan Meyers
The Grouchy Ladybug
Carle, Eric
Bringing The Rain To Kapiti Plain
Puppies! Puppies!...
*Bold titles are Series books.
Little House (for younger)
Small Wolf
The Persian Cinderella
Ming Lo Loves the Mountain
Celebrating Chinese New Year:
Wilder, Laura I
Benchley, Nathani
Climo, Shirley
Lobel, Arnold
Drew, Rosa
The Tortilla Factory
Shortcut
Apple Pie Fourth of July
Friends at School
Fire Fighter
Paulsen, Gary
Crews, Donald
Wong, Janet S.
Bunnett, Rochelle
Royston, Angela
Inclined Planes
The Little Red Hen
Somebody and the Three Blairs
Beautiful Blackbird
Dahl, Michael
Galdone, Paul
Tolhurst, Marilyn
Bryan, Ashley
The Gingerbread Man
Raven: A Trickster Tale from…
Fantastic Frogs!
Great White Shark
Hammerhead Shark
Aylesworth, Jim
McDermott,Gerald
Robinson, Fay
Nuzzolo, Deborah
Nuzzolo, Deborah
Helene, Jordan
Lucerno, Jamie
Marzollo, Jean
Fowler, Allan
Rau, Dana M
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level K
Characteristics of Level K Books
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Informational texts, simple animal fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional
literature (folktales), some simple biographies on familiar subjects
Beginning chapter books (sixty to one hundred pages of print)
Varied organization in nonfiction text formats (question/answer, boxes,
legends, etc.); nonfiction books may present multiple topics and use multiple
graphics on the same page
Some texts with plots, situations, and settings outside what a child would
typically find familiar
Texts with universal themes illustrating important human issues (courage)
More complex and memorable characters
Some figurative language (metaphor, simile)
Setting is important to understanding plot in some texts
Longer (more than fifteen words), more complex sentences
Variety of words used to assign dialogue, with verbs and adverbs essential
to meaning
Multisyllable words that are challenging to take apart or decode
Longer stretches of print without support of pictures
Characteristics of Readers at Level K
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•
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•
•
•
•
•
Able to accommodate the higher-level processing of several fiction texts
with multiple episodes connected to a single plot
Read about and understand characters that are increasingly more complex
Able to process a great deal of dialogue within a story
Challenged to read stories based on concepts that are distant in time and
space and reflect diverse cultures
Have a large, expanding sight-word vocabulary
Able to quickly apply word-solving strategies for complex spelling patterns,
multisyllable words, and words with inflectional endings, plurals,
contractions, and possessives
Read silently during independent reading
Oral reading fully demonstrates all aspects of fluent reading
Sample Texts
Level K
All-Star Examples: Nate the Great (series), Frog and Toad (series), Cowgirl Kate
and Cocoa (series), Houndsley and Catina (series), Koala Lou
Books titles at my level include:
TITLE
AUTHOR
TITLE
AUTHOR
Little Bill
Houndsley and Catina
Commander Toad in Space
Minnnie and Moo
Cosby, Bill
Howe, James
Yolen, Jane
Cazet, Denys
Who Sank The Boat?
Zack's Alligator
Zelda And Ivy
Fluffy Meets The Tooth Fairy
Allen, Pamela
Mozelle, Shirley
Kvasnosky, Laura
McMullan, Kate
Mercy Watson
Curious George
Nate the Great
High Rise Private Eyes
Frog and Toad
DiCamillo, Kate
Rey, H.A.
Sharmat, Marjorie W
Rylant, Cynthia
Lobel, Arnold
Koala Lou
Owen
Rainbow Boys
The Paper Bag Princess
The Relatives Came
Fox, Mem
Henkes, Kevin
Sanchez, Alex
Munsch, Robert
Rylant, Cynthia
Young Amber Brown
Iris And Walter
Madeline
Strega Nona
A Letter To Amy
Danziger, Paula
Guest, Elissa Haden
Bemelmans, Ludwig
dePaola, Tomie
Keats, Ezra Jack
Guiberson, Brenda
Heller, Ruth
Lakin, Patricia
Lilian Hoban
Nina Pellegrini
Don't Let The Pigeon…
In Grandma Rita's Garden
Inch By Inch
It's Halloween
Willems, Mo
Olsen, Lyle
Lionni, Leo
Prelutsky, Jack
Cactus Hotel
Chickens Aren't The Only Ones
Helen Keller And The Big Storm
Arthur
Families Are Different
Martin/School Friends
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie
Jamaica's Find
M & M
My Name is Erica Montoya…
Ruby The Copycat
Sheila Rae, The Brave
Havill, Juanita
Ross, Pat
Zirin, David
Rathman, Peggy
Henkes, Kevin
Grandmas
Sheila Rae, the Brave
Shortest Kid in the World
Snowshoe Thompson
Emily McCully
Kevin Henkes
Corinne Bliss
Levinson Smiler
Small Bad Wolf
The Last Puppy
Smallest Cow in the World
Walking by the Rio
Taylor, Sean
Asch, Frank
Paterson, Katherine
Warren, Adrian
Cleary, Brian
Soap Soup and Other Verses
Three Smart Pals
Zack’s Alligator
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa
Aunt Eater
Karla Kuskin
Joanne Rocklin
Shirley Mozelle
Erica Silverman
Doug Cushaman
Little Witch
Golly Sisters
Little Bear
Benny and Penny (toon)
Deborah Hautzig
Betsy Byars
Else H Minarik
Geoffrey Hayes
When I Go To Grandma's House
When Sophie Gets Angry-*Bold titles are Series books.
Bang, Molly
Chardiet&Maccarone
P & C Roop
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level L
Characteristics of Level L Books
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Informational texts, simple fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional literature
(folktales), simple biographies, simple mysteries, some graphic novels
Underlying nonfiction organizational structures (description, compare/
contrast, problem/solution); longer texts with sections for different info.
Some technical content that is challenging and not typically known
Narrative structure including chapters with many episodes related to same
plot; characters more sophisticated; some embedded letters/directions
More characters are speaking with unassigned dialogue
Some texts with plots, settings, and situations outside typical experience
Figurative and descriptive language
Multisyllable words that are challenging to take apart or decode
Some new vocabulary and content-specific words in nonfiction text
introduced, explained, and illustrated in text
New vocabulary in fiction texts (largely unexplained)
Chapter books (60-100 pages of print); 5-24+ lines of print per page; some
longer texts have small fonts
Characteristics of Readers at Level L
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Able to process easy chapter books, including series, with few illustrations
and more sophisticated plots, as well as shorter informational texts
Adjust reading to process a variety of genres
Understand that chapter books have multiple episodes connected to a
single plot – reader must remember and keep track of plot information and
the way characters change
Bring background knowledge to new reading in order to process and learn
new information
Begin to recognize themes across texts (friendship, courage)
Able to understand some abstract ideas
Able to see multiple perspectives of characters through description
Able to flexibly apply word-solving strategies for complex spelling patters,
multisyllable words, and words with inflectional endings, plurals,
contractions, and possessives
Read silently during independent reading
Oral reading fully demonstrates all aspects of fluent reading
Sample Texts
Level L
All-Star Examples: Amelia Bedelia (series), Pinky and Rex (series), Horrible Harry (series),
Cam Jansen (series), Looking at Insects, The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy
Books titles at my level include:
TITLE
AUTHOR
Amanda/Oliver Pig
Two Times the Fun
Shop Talk
Polk Street School (some are M)
Minnie And Moo
Van Leeuwen, Jean
Beverly Cleary
Ford, Juwanda G.
Giff, Patricia Reilly
Cazet, Denys
Gregory the Terrible Eater
Tooth Trouble
Marco? Polo!
Raven’s Gift
Something Beautiful
Weinmann Sharmat, Marjorie
Klein, Abby
Scieszka, Jon
Kuharski, Janice
Wyeth, Sharon Dennis
Horrible Harry/Song Lee
The Pain And The Great One
The Three Little Pigs
Whistle For Willie
Kline, Suzy
Blume, Judy
Marshall, James
Keats, Ezra Jack
Fancy Nancy
Red Riding Hood
Scaredy Squirrel
An Earthworm's Life
By My Brother's Side
O'Connor, Jane
Marshall, James Vance
Watt, Milanie
Himmelman, John
Barber, Tiki and Ronde Barber
Cowboys
Save The Rain Forests
Nate The Great Series
The Post Office Book
No Backbone! Insects
Penner, Lucille Recht
Fowler, Allan
Sharmat, Marjorie W.
Gibbons, Gail
Goldish, Meish, Smith, Molly
Dino Times Trivia
Werewolf Club Series
When the Giants Came to Town
Dogzilla
Loretta and the Little Fairy
Lunis, White, Zimmerman
Pinkwater, Daniel Manus
Leonard, Marcia
Pish and Posh
The Magic Hat
The Wretched Stone
Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella
Houdini Club Magic Mysteries
Sly the Sleuth Mysteries
*Bold titles are Series books.
Pilkey, Dav
Scheidl, Gerda Marie
Bottner, Barbara
Fox, Mem
Van Allsburg, Chris
Lowell, Susan
Adler, David
Napoli, Donna Jo
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have
on Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the
level we use at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a nice leveled book list at her website:
http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level M
Characteristics of Level M Books
•
Informational texts, simple fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional literature
(folktales, legends, tall tales), simple mysteries, biographies, more graphic
texts; hybrid texts with more than one genre (60-100 pages); some
sentences with 15 or more words
•
Most of the content carried by print, rather than pictures
•
Some abstract themes & lessons requiring inferential thinking to derive
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Complex plots with numerous episodes and time passing
•
Multiple characters (some complex & memorable) to understand and notice
how they develop and change
•
Some technical content is challenging, not typically known
•
Figurative and descriptive language; setting important to understand plot
•
Multisyllable words that are challenging to take apart or decode
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words
introduced, explained, and illustrated in informational text
Characteristics of Readers at Level M
•
•
•
•
•
•
Know the characteristics of a range of genres
Developing preferences for specific forms of reading (mysteries,
biographies)
Can understand and process narratives with more elaborate plots and
multiple characters that develop and change over time
Able to identify and use underlying organizational structures (description,
compare and contrast, problem and solution, cause and effect) to help
navigate through text
Word solving is smooth and automatic with both oral and silent reading
Can read and understand descriptive words, some complex content-specific
words, and some technical words
Sample Texts - Level M
All-Star Examples: The Magic Tree House (series), Pee Wee Scouts (series), My Father’s Dragon
(trilogy), Riverside Kids (series), Monty (series) Molly’s Pilgrim, Young Matt Christopher books
Books titles at my level include:
TITLE
AUTHOR
Hey L’il D! Series
Stink
Goldilocks And The Three Bears
Jingle Dancer
Players In Pigtails
Lanier, Bob and Goodyear, Heather
McDonald, Megan
Marshall, James
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Corey, Shana
Selavi, That Is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope
Stone Soup
Thank You, Mr. Falker
Third Grade Is Terrible
Youme Landowne
Forest, Heather
Polacco, Patricia
Baker, Barbara
Abe Lincoln's Hat
Buddy, The First Seeing Eye Dog
Twisters!
Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures Of The John J. Harvey
World's Biggest Series
Brenner, Martha
Moore, Eva
Hayden, Kate
Kalman, Maira
Goldish, Meish
Great White Sharks
Andy Russell/Andy and Tamika
Jigsaw Jones
Nancy Drew Notebooks
Dinosaurs!, From Seed to Plant
Markle, Sandra
Adler, David
Preller, James
Keene, Carolyn
Gibbons, Gail
Animal Babies
Ice Hockey
Color Fairies
Unicorn’s Secret
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Squire, Ann O.
Ditchfield, Christin
Meadows, Daisy
Invisible in the Third Grade
Stuart Goes to School/Stuart’s Cape
Wings
Jumanji
The Amazing Bone
Princess Furball
The Empty Pot
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky: A Message from Chief Seattle
Too Many Tamales
When This World Was New
Abuela's Weave
Diego
Erandi's Braids
First Day In Grapes
Frida
Gracias, The Thanksgiving Turkey
My Mexico/Mexico Mio
The Rainbow Tulip
*Bold titles are Series books.
Duey, Kathleen
Barrett, Judi
Cuyler, Margery
Pennypacker, Sara
Myers, Christopher
Van Allsburg, Chris
Steig, William
Huck, Charlotte
Demi
Chief Seattle
Soto, Gary
Figueredo, D.H.
Castaneda, Omar
Winter, Jonah
Madrigal, Antonio H.
Perez, L. King
Winter, Jonah
Cowley, Joy
Johnston, Tony
Mora, Pat
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level N
Characteristics of Level N Books
•
Informational texts, simple fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional literature,
biographies, simple mysteries, historical fiction
•
Most content in print, not pictures
•
In information texts, a presentation of multiple topics that represent subtopics
of a larger topic or theme; prior knowledge often required
•
In fiction texts, content requiring the reader to take perspectives of diverse
cultures, or bring cultural knowledge to understanding; deeper meanings
applicable to important human problems and social issues
•
Various ways of showing characters’ attributes (description, dialogue, thoughts,
others’ perspectives); multiple characters to understand, but factors related to
their change are explicit and obvious
•
Complex plots with numerous episodes and time passing
•
A few abstract themes & lessons requiring inferential thinking to derive
•
Figurative/descriptive language & setting are important to understand plot
•
Variety in sentence length and complexity
•
Multisyllable words that are challenging to take apart or decode; words
hyphenated across lines
•
Words with prefixes and suffixes; longer descriptive words
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words
introduced, explained, and illustrated in informational text
•
Vocabulary words are used figuratively/to show an abstract idea and/or must be
figured out from context in order to fully understand the story
Characteristics of Readers at Level N
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Know the characteristics of and can process the full range of genres
Developing preferences for specific forms of reading (mysteries, biographies)
Can understand and process narratives with more elaborate plots and multiple
characters that develop/change over time, though some themes are unfamiliar
Able to identify and use underlying organizational structures (description,
compare and contrast, problem and solution, cause and effect) to help navigate
through text
Word solving is smooth and automatic with oral and silent reading
Reader will slow down to problem solve or search for information, then resume
normal reading pace
Most word solving is unconscious and automatic; little overt problem solving
needed
Can read and understand descriptive words, some complex content-specific
words, some technical words, and some difficult multisyllable proper nouns
Sample Texts - Level N
All-Star Examples: Gooney Bird Greene, The Enormous Crocodile, The Magic Finger,
Julian (series – Huey and Gloria), Amber Brown (series), Something Queer (series)
Books titles at my level include:
TITLE
AUTHOR
Be A Perfect Person In Just Three Days!
Donavan's Word Jar
Manes, Stephen
DeGross, Monalisa
Stanley And The Magic Lamp
Herbie Jones
Melvin Beederman, Superhero
Don't Sit On My Lunch
Elisa In The Middle
Brown, Jeff
Kline, Suzy
Trine, Greg
Klein, Abby
Hurwitz, Johanna
Shoeshine Girl
The Chocolate Touch
The Year Of The Panda
Why Mosquitoes Buzz In People's Ears
Bulla, Clyde Robert
Catling, Patrick Skene
Schlein, Miriam
Aardema, Verna
Zack Files
Chicken Sunday
Fables
Gadget War
Hey, New Kid!
Greenburg, Dan
Polacco, Patricia
Lobel, Arnold
Duffey, Betsy
Duffey, Betsy
I Was A Third Grade Science Project
Julius, The Baby Of The World/ Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
Key To The Treasure
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
My Name Is Maria Isabel
Auch, Mary Jane
Henkes, Kevin
Parish, Peggy
Steptoe, John
Ada, Alma Flor
School's Out
The Boy Who Ate Dog Biscuits
The Enormous Crocodile (Chapter Book)/ The Magic Finger
The Math Wiz
Keepers
Hurwitz, Johanna
Sachs, Betsy
Dahl, Roald
Duffey, Betsy
Watts, Jeri Hanel
Meet Danitra Brown
Ruby Lu, Brave And True
Sylvester And The Magic Pebble
A to Z Mysteries (Series)
Capital Mysteries (Series)
Grimes, Nikki
Look, Lenore
Steig, William
Roy, Ron
Roy, Ron
Pompeii... Buried Alive!
The Popcorn Book
Natural Disasters
The Cod's Tale
Kunhardt, Edith
DePaola, Tomie
Boskey, Madeline
Kurlansky, Mark
The Story Of Money/ The Story Of The Statue Of Liberty
Trapped By The Ice: Shackleton's Amazing Antarctic Adventure
*Bold titles are Series books.
Maestro, Betsy
McCurdy, Michael
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level O
Characteristics of Level O Books
•
Informational texts, simple fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional literature,
biographies, simple mysteries, historical fiction; most content in the print
•
In information texts, a presentation of multiple topics that represent subtopics
of a larger topic or theme; prior knowledge often required; texts are organized
into a few simple categories
•
In fiction texts, content requiring the reader to bring cultural knowledge to
understanding; deeper meanings applicable to important human problems & social
issues; some more challenging themes (eg: war, the environment)
•
Various ways of showing characters’ attributes; multiple characters to
understand, but factors related to their change are explicit and obvious;
memorable characters have both good and bad traits that change over time
•
Complex plots with numerous episodes & time passing; many stories have moral
lessons close to the end of the story & some have parallel or circular plots
•
A few abstract themes & lessons requiring inferential thinking to derive
•
Figurative/descriptive language & setting are important to understand plot
•
Multisyllable words that are challenging to take apart or decode; words
hyphenated across lines
•
Words with prefixes and suffixes; longer descriptive words
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words
introduced, explained, and illustrated in informational text
•
Vocabulary words are used figuratively/to show an abstract idea and/or must be
figured out from context in order to fully understand the story
Characteristics of Readers at Level O
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can understand and process narratives with more elaborate plots and multiple
characters that develop/change over time, though some themes are unfamiliar
Able to identify and use underlying organizational structures (description,
compare and contrast, problem and solution, cause and effect) to help navigate
through text
Word solving is smooth and automatic with oral and silent reading
Reader will slow down to problem solve or search for information, then resume
normal reading pace; will form implicit questions and search for answers
Can read and understand the connotative meaning of words, and when words are
used figuratively; can add new and interesting words to his/her vocabulary
Can identify and use words with multiple meanings, or difficult proper nouns
Can manage the challenge of working with characters who are multidimensional – not all good or all bad
Sample Texts - Level O
All-Star Examples: Beezus and Ramona (series), Clementine (series), Night Crossing,
Pippi Longstocking (series), The Secret Soldier: The Story of Deborah Sampson Books titles at my level include:
TITLE
AUTHOR
Spider Kane and the Mystery at Jumbo Nightcrawlers
Harriet Bean And The League Of Cheats
Bud Barkin, Private Eye
The Boxcar Children (Series)
Einstein Anderson Mysteries (series)
Osborne, Mary Pope
Smith, Alexander M.
Howe, James
Warner, Gertrude C.
Seymour Simon
The Golden Glove
The New Kid At School
Officer Spence Makes No Sense!
Babysitter’s Club Graphic Novels (series)
Pony Pals: A Pony In Trouble
Bowen, Fred
McMullan, Kate
Gutman, Dan
Martin, Ann M. and Raina Telgemeier
Betancourt, Jeanne
Sable
Seven Kisses in a Row
Smasher
Starring Grace
Summer Wheels
Hesse, Karen
MacLachlan, Patricia
King-Smith, Dick
Hoffman, Mary Ann
Bunting, Eve
Tornado
Gettin' Through Thursday
Saving Sweetness
Talk About A Family
Byars, Betsy
Cooper, Melrose
Stanley, Diane
Greenfield, Eloise
The Gold-Threaded Dress
Three On Three
A Mother's Journey
Baseball's Best: Five True Stories
How My Family Lives In America
Marsden, Carolyn
Walters, Eric
Markle, Sandra
Gutelle, Andrew
Kuklin, Susan
Disasters At Sea
Mailing May
My Visit To The Aquarium
Abiyoyo
Evil Elves, The
Fairy Called Hilary, A
Fairy’s Mistake, The
Donkin, Andrew
Tunnell, Michael O.
Aliki
Pete Seeger
Bruce Coville
Linda Leopold Strauss
Gail Carson Levine
Garden of Abdul Gasazi, The
Happily Ever After
Iron Giant, The
Magic Dogs of the Volcano
Magic Elements Quartets Series
Chris Van Allsburg
Anna Quindlen
Ted Hughes
Manilo Argueta
Mallory Loehr
Night of the White Sage, The
Raising Dragons
Treasure of a Dragon Stories
Wizzil
*Bold titles are Series books.
M. C. Helldorfer
Jerdine Nolan
M. Clark
William Steig
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level P
Characteristics of Level P Books
•
Wide range of genre and forms
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics and categories within them; prior
knowledge often required;
•
In fiction texts, content that goes well beyond readers’ personal experiences and
content knowledge; deeper meanings applicable to important human problems &
social issues; some more challenging themes (eg: war, the environment)
•
Various ways of showing characters’ attributes; multiple characters to
understand; factors related to their change are less explicit and obvious;
memorable characters have both good and bad traits that change over time
•
Complex plots with numerous episodes & time passing; many stories have moral
lessons close to the end of the story & some have parallel or circular plots
•
Some texts - abstract themes & lessons requiring inferential thinking to derive;
many ideas and themes require an understanding of cultural diversity
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Descriptive language (including setting) has details important to understand plot
•
Extensive use of figurative language important to understand plot
•
Settings are in times/places distant from students’ experiences
•
Multisyllable words that are challenging to decode; words hyphenated across lines
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words
introduced, explained, and illustrated in informational text
•
Vocabulary words are used figuratively/to show an abstract idea and/or must be
figured out from context in order to fully understand the story
Characteristics of Readers at Level P
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can understand and process narratives with more elaborate plots and multiple
characters that develop/change over time, though many themes are unfamiliar
Reader will slow down to problem solve or search for information, then resume
normal reading pace; will form implicit questions and search for answers
Can read and understand the connotative meaning of words, and when words are
used figuratively; can add new and interesting words to his/her vocabulary
Can identify and use words with multiple meanings, or difficult proper nouns
Can infer characters’ feelings/motivations, using cause/effect, dialogue, or what
other characters say about them; can manage multidimensional characters
Can take unfamiliar perspectives when interpreting about characters
Can summarize longer narrative texts with multiple episodes, or categorize sets
of related ideas in informational texts
Can identify important ideas in a text and report them in an organized way
Sample Texts - Level P
All-Star Examples: Encyclopedia Brown, Fantastic Mr. Fox, George's Marvelous Medicine,
Stone Fox, Thank You, Jackie Robinson, Riding Freedom, Time Warp Trio
Books titles at my level include: TITLE
Captain Underpants (Series)
David Mortimore Baxter (series)
Pilkey, Dav
Tayleur, Karen
Bunnicula (series)
Felita
Jake Maddox (sports stories series)
The Not-Just-Anybody Family
Owls In The Family
Howe, James
Mohr, Nicholasa
Maddox, Jake
Byars, Betsy Cromer
Mowat, Farley
Trapped In Space
Skinnybones
Tales from the Odyssey (series)
The Hundred Penny Box
The Indian School
Johnson, David
Park, Barbara
Osborne, Mary Pope
Mathis, Sharon Bell
Whelan, Gloria
Time Warp Trio (Series)
Yang The Youngest And His Terrible Ear
A Girl Called Al
Fly Away Home
Fourth Grade Is A Jinx
Scieszka, Jon
Namioka, Lensey
Greene, Constance C.
Bunting, Eve
McKenna, Colleen O'Shaug
Gooseberry Park
Knots On A Counting Rope
Martin's Mice
My Mother Got Married (And Other Disasters)
No Flying In The House
Rylant, Cynthia
Martin, Jr., Bill
King-Smith, Dick
Park, Barbara
Brock, Betty
Oh, Brother
Tar Beach
Thank You, Jackie Robinson
The Giraffe and The Pelly And Me
Wilson, Johnniece Marshall
Ringgold, Faith
Cohen, Barbara
Dahl, Roald
The Lotus Seed
Wayside School (series)
Weslandia
Yang The Third And Her Impossible Family
Baseball, Snakes, And Summer Squash
Garland, Sherry
Sachar, Louis
Fleischman, Paul
Namioka, Lensey
Graves, Donald
DeShawn Days
Indian Shoes
Jake's 100th Day of School
John, Paul, George And Ben
Joyful Noise: Poems For Two Voices
Medina, Tony
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Laminack, Lester
Smith, Lane
Fleischman, Paul
Mammalabilia
Oliver's Game
The Stinky Cheese Man And Other Fairly Stupid Tales
Who Stole "The Wizard Of Oz?"
Yeh-Shen
*Bold titles are Series books.
AUTHOR
Florian, Douglas
Tavares, Matt
Scieszka, Jon
Avi
Louie, Ai-Ling
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level Q
Characteristics of Level Q Books
•
Wide range of genre and forms – new genre: more complex fantasy, science fiction,
memoir, autobiography, historical fiction, short stories and diaries
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics and categories within them; prior
knowledge often required;
•
Fiction texts contain settings requiring knowledge of content (history, geography);
address important problems & social issues; some more challenging themes; complex
ideas on many different topics requiring real or vicarious (reading) experiences
•
Various ways of showing characters’ attributes; multiple characters to understand;
factors related to their change are less explicit and obvious; memorable characters
have both good and bad traits that change over time
•
Complex plots with numerous episodes & time passing; many stories have moral
lessons close to the end of the story & some have parallel or circular plots
•
Some texts - abstract themes & lessons requiring inferential thinking to derive;
many ideas and themes require an understanding of cultural diversity
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Descriptive language (including setting) has details important to understand plot
•
Extensive use of figurative language important to understand plot
•
Settings are in times/places distant from students’ experiences
•
Some words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words are
mostly defined in text, illustrations or glossary
•
Vocabulary words are used figuratively/to show an abstract idea and/or must be
figured out from context in order to fully understand the story
Characteristics of Readers at Level Q
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can understand and process complex narratives, though many themes are unfamiliar
Will vary the pace of reading, as needed; will form questions & search for answers
Can read and understand the connotative meaning of words, and when words are
used figuratively; can add new and interesting words to his/her vocabulary
Can process texts with dense print
Can determine the meaning of academic and topic-related words in text
Can solve complex multisyllable (3+) words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, etc)
Can identify and use words with multiple meanings, or difficult proper nouns
Can infer characters’ feelings/motivations, using cause/effect, dialogue, or what
other characters say about them; can manage multidimensional characters
Can take unfamiliar perspectives when interpreting about characters
Can summarize longer narrative texts with multiple episodes (orally or in writing),
or categorize sets of related ideas in information texts; Can identify/report
important ideas in an organized way
Sample Texts - Level Q
All-Star Examples: James and the Giant Peach, Peter and Fudge Books (Blume),
Betsy-Tacy Series, many American Girl books, Little House on the Prairie (series)
Books titles at my level include: TITLE
Humphrey (series)
Full Court Fever
Jake Maddox Impact Books (series-Paintball Blast, Go-Kart Rush)
Stranded
AUTHOR
Birney, Betty G.
Bowen, Fred
Maddox, Jake
Mikaelsen, Ben
Spiderwick Chronicles (series, books 1-3)
Fight For Life: Maggie Vet Volunteer
Nothing Ever Happens On 90th Street
The Lucky Stone
The Other Side
DiTerlizzi, Tony & Black, Holly
Anderson, Laurie Halse
Schotter, Roni
Clifton, Lucille
Woodson, Jacqueline
The Toilet Paper Tigers
The True Story Of The 3 Little Pigs
There's A Boy In The Girls' Bathroom
There's An Owl In The Shower
You Be The Jury
Korman, Gordon
Scieszka, Jon
Sachar, Louis
George, Jean Craighead
Miller, Marvin
Drita, My Homegirl
Moon Runner
Amazing But True Sports Stories
Johnny Appleseed
Lombard, Jenny
Marsden, Carolyn
Hollander, Phyllis and Zander
Kellogg, Steven
Immigrant Kids
The Snake Scientist
Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing
Castaways in Lilliput
Dragonling, The
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg
Girl, the Dragon and the Wild Magic, The
Freedman, Russell
Montgomery, Sy
Prince, April Jones
Henry Winterfeld
Jackie Koller
Gail Carson Levin
David Luckett
James and the Giant Peach
Keisha The Fairy Snow Queen
Magician’s Boy, The
Help! I’m a Prisoner in the Library
Secrets of Ms. Snickle’s Class, The
Roald Dahl
Teresa Reed
Susan Cooper
Eth Clifford
Laurie Miller Hornik
All About… Manatees, Sharks, Turtles
If You Lived… (series)
Big Cats
Arnosky, Jim
McGovern, Levine, Moore, Kamma
Simon, Seymour
Chet Gecko Mysteries (Series – Q and R)
Animal Ark Series
Hale, Bruce
Baglio, Ben
Matt Christopher Sports Books
Sam Krupnik (series)
Christopher, Matt
Lowry, Lois
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level R
Characteristics of Level R Books
•
Wide range of genre and forms – including historical fiction & short stories – some
collections that have interrelated themes or build a single plot across the book
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics and categories within them; prior
knowledge often required
•
Fiction texts contain settings requiring knowledge of content (history, geography);
address important problems & social issues; some more challenging themes; complex
ideas on many different topics requiring real or vicarious (reading) experiences
•
Various ways of showing characters’ attributes; multiple characters to understand;
factors related to their change are less explicit and obvious; memorable characters
have both good and bad traits that change over time
•
Complex plots with numerous episodes & time passing; many stories have moral
lessons close to the end of the story & some have parallel or circular plots
•
Some texts - abstract themes & lessons requiring inferential thinking to derive;
many ideas and themes require an understanding of cultural diversity
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Long strings of unassigned dialogue from which story action must be inferred; long
stretches of descriptive language important to understanding setting, characters
•
Extensive use of figurative language important to understand plot
•
Some words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words are
mostly defined in text, illustrations or glossary
•
Vocabulary words are used figuratively/to show an abstract idea and/or must be
figured out from context in order to fully understand the story
Characteristics of Readers at Level R
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can remember information in summary form over chapters, a series of short
stories, or sequels in order to understand larger themes (&report in organized way)
Make connections between characters in different texts (setting, problem, person)
Can explain how an author supports particular points in a text
Will vary the pace of reading, as needed; will form questions & search for answers
Can read and understand the connotative meaning of words, and when words are
used figuratively; can add new and interesting words to his/her vocabulary
Can process texts with dense print
Can solve complex multisyllable (3+) words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, etc)
Can identify and use words with multiple meanings, or difficult proper nouns
Can infer characters’ feelings/motivations, using cause/effect, dialogue, or what
other characters say about them; can manage multidimensional characters
Can take unfamiliar perspectives when interpreting about characters
Sample Texts - Level R
All-Star Examples:Because of Winn-Dixie, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, The Midnight Fox, Sadako
& the Thousand Paper Cranes, Sarah, Plain and Tall, The Trouble with Tuck, Hatchet, Shiloh, Strider Books titles at my level include: TITLE
On The Run (Series)
AUTHOR
Korman, Gordon
Shredderman (series)
The Backyard Animal Show
Caddie Woodlawn
Charlotte's Web/Stuart Little/Trumpet of the Swan
Frindle/Landry News/Report Card/The Jacket/School Story/Lunch Money
Van Draanen, Wendelin
Draper, Sharon M
Brink, Carol Ryrie
White, E.B.
Clements, Andrew
Otherwise Known As Sheila The Great
The Journey
Hank Zipzer (series)
Hatchet
How To Eat Fried Worms
Blume, Judy
Lasky, Kathryn
Winkler, Henry
Paulsen, Gary
Rockwell, Thomas
Iggie's House
Misty Of Chincoteague
Our Only May Amelia
Secret Identity
Snow Treasure
Blume, Judy
Henry, Marguerite
Holm, Jennifer L.
Van Draanen, Wendelin
McSwigan, Marie
The 39 Clues (series)
The Castle In The Attic
The Edge Chronicles (series)
Spiderwick Chronicles (series – some)
How Tia Lola Came To Stay
Riordan, Rick
Winthrop, Elizabeth
Stewart, Paul and Riddell, Chris
DiTerlizzi, Tony and Black, Holly
Alvarez, Julia
A Dog Called Kitty/Danger on Panther Peak
Every Living Thing
Fig Pudding
Freaky Friday
Wallace, Bill
Rylant, Cynthia
Fletcher, Ralph
Rodgers, Mary
Mystery Stories
Nasty Stinky Sneakers
Rules
Sun And Spoon
The Celery Stalks At Midnight
Cresswell, Helen, Ed.
Bunting, Eve
Lord, Cynthia
Henkes, Kevin
Howe, James
The
The
The
The
The
Byars, Betsy
Godden, Rumer
Paulsen, Gary
Spinelli, Jerry
King-Smith, Dick
Computer Nut
Doll's House
Island
Library Card
Stray
The Whipping Boy
They Came From Center Field
A Dime A Dozen
Chocolate By Hershey: A Story About Milton S. Hershey
Desert Giant
Fleischman, Sid
Gutman, Dan
Grimes, Nikki
Burford, Betty
Bash, Barbara
Owen And Mzee: The True Story Of A Remarkable Friendship
Crocodiles/Killer Whales/Lions/Polar Bears/Wolves
Hatkoff, Isabella/Craig w. Kahumbu
Markle, Sandra
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level S
Characteristics of Level S Books
•
Wide range of genre and forms – including historical fiction & short stories – some
collections that have interrelated themes or build a single plot across the book
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics and categories within them; prior
knowledge often required
•
Fiction texts contain settings requiring knowledge of content, others’ experiences;
address important problems, social issues, challenging themes; complex plots with
subplots and/or multiple storylines; content appealing to preadolescents
•
Various ways of showing characters’ attributes; multiple characters to understand;
factors related to their change are less explicit and obvious; memorable characters
have both good and bad traits that change over time
•
Complex plots with numerous episodes & time passing; many stories have moral
lessons close to the end of the story & many have parallel or circular plots
•
Some texts - abstract themes & lessons requiring inferential thinking to derive;
many ideas and themes require an understanding of cultural diversity
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Long strings of unassigned dialogue from which story action must be inferred; long
stretches of descriptive language important to understanding setting, characters
•
Extensive use of figurative language important to understand plot
•
Words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words are
mostly defined in text, illustrations or glossary
•
Vocabulary words are used figuratively/to show an abstract idea and/or must be
figured out from context in order to fully understand the story
Characteristics of Readers at Level S
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can remember information in summary form over chapters, a series of short
stories, or sequels in order to understand larger themes (&report in organized way)
Make connections between characters in different texts (setting, problem, person)
Can explain how an author supports particular points in a text
Can express changes in ideas or perspective after and while reading
Will vary the pace of reading, as needed; will form questions & search for answers
Can read and understand the connotative & figurative meaning of words
Can process texts with dense print
Can solve complex multisyllable (3+) words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, etc)
Can identify and use words with multiple meanings, or difficult proper nouns
Can infer characters’ feelings/motivations, using cause/effect, dialogue, or what
other characters say about them; can manage multidimensional characters
Can take unfamiliar perspectives when interpreting about characters
Sample Texts - Level S
All-Star Examples: Matilda, A Taste of Blackberries, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The
Great Gilly Hopkins, Journey To Jo'burg, Trouble River, In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
Books titles at my level include: TITLE
AUTHOR
The Dollhouse Murders
Wright, Betty Ren
The Robe Of Skulls
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup
French, Vivian
Creech, Sharon
The Sea Of Monsters
The Onts
The Pirate, Big Fist, And Me
Riordan, Rick
Greenburg, Dan
Cosson, M.J.
The Young Man And The Sea
Uncle Jed's Barbershop
Philbrick, Rodman
Mitchell, Margaree King
A Maze Me: Poems For Girls
Project Mulberry
Nye, Naomi Shihab
Park, Linda Sue
The Penderwicks (trilogy)
Mosquito Bite
Owls
Three Good Deeds
Birdsall, Jeanne
Siy, Alexandra and Kunkel, Dennis
Markle, Sandra
Vivian Vande Velde
Warriors Series: Books 1-6
Weeping Werewolf, The
Eric Hunter
Bruce Coville
Which Witch?
Awake and Dreaming
Bell, the Book, and the Spellbinder, The
Eva Ibbotson
Kit Pearson
Brad Strickland
Borrowers, The
Brave
Mary Norton
Irene William Steig
Cricket in Times Square, A
Dragon of Lonely Island, The
Dragons of Deltora Series
George Selden
Rebecca Rupp
Emily Rodda
Island of the Aunts
My Teacher is … Series
Eva Ibotson
Bruce Coville
Perloo the Bold
Avi
Caleb's Choice
Children Of The Longhouse
Facing West
Wisler, G. Clifton
Bruchac, Joseph
Kudlinski, Kathleen V.
Mississippi Bridge
Tales From Homeplace
Taylor, Mildred D.
Dale, Shelley
The Friendship
Uncle Jed's Barbershop
Taylor, Mildred D.
Margaree King
In The Year Of The Boar And Jackie Robinson
Letters From Rifka
When Jessie Came Across The Sea
Lord, Bette
Hesse, Karen
Hest, Amy
titles are Series books.
*Bold
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level T
Characteristics of Level T Books
•
Wide range of genre and forms – including historical fiction & short stories – some
collections that have interrelated themes; some myths and legends; some sentences
have more than 20 words
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics and categories within them; prior
knowledge often required
•
Fiction texts address important problems, social issues, challenging themes; highly
literary texts containing themes presenting mature issues and problems in society
(eg: racism) and human problems (war, hardship, economic issues); complex plots
with subplots and/or multiple storylines; content appealing to preadolescents;
complex fantasy showing good vs. evil; some obvious symbolism
•
Various ways of showing characters’ attributes; multiple characters to understand;
memorable characters have both good and bad traits that change over time;
themes that evoke alternative interpretations
•
Many stories have moral lessons & many have parallel or circular plots
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Long strings of unassigned dialogue from which story action must be inferred; long
stretches of descriptive language important to understanding setting, characters
•
Extensive use of figurative language important to understand plot
•
Words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words are
mostly defined in text, illustrations or glossary
•
Vocabulary words are used figuratively/to show an abstract idea and/or must be
figured out from context in order to fully understand the story
Characteristics of Readers at Level T
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can remember information in summary form over chapters, a series of short
stories, or sequels in order to understand larger themes (&report in organized way)
Make connections among characters in different texts (setting, problem, person)
Can explain how author supports points in a text; collects evidence for arguments
Can express changes in ideas or perspective after and while reading
Will vary the pace of reading, as needed; will form questions & search for answers
Can process texts with dense print and a variety of complex layouts
Can solve complex multisyllable words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, word origins…)
Can understand words with multiple meanings, difficult proper nouns, can derive
meaning from words from dialects and languages other than English
Can infer characters’ feelings/motivations, using cause/effect, dialogue, or what
other characters say about them; can manage multidimensional characters
Integrates content knowledge while reading to consciously create new understandings
Sample Texts - Level T
Abel's Island, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Bridge to
Terabithia, Sounder, Sing Down the Moon, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
All-Star Examples:
Books titles at my level include: TITLE
Baby
Jackie And Me, Shoeless Joe and Me, Honus and Me…
AUTHOR
MacLachlan, Patricia
Gutman, Dan
Deltora Quest (series); Rowan of Rin (series)
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid
Emily Windsnap
Fair Weather
Black Beauty (Graphic Adaptation)
Rodda, Emily
Kinney, Jeff
Kessler, Liz
Peck, Richard
Sewell, Anna
Harriet The Spy
Inkspell (trilogy)
Lupita Manana
Nory Ryan's Song (trilogy)
Sammy Keyes
Fitzhugh, Louise
Funke, Cornelia
Beatty, Patricia
Giff, Patricia Reilly
Van Draanen, Wendelin
Surviving The Applewhites
The Barn/Something Upstairs/Bright Shadow
The Great Brain
The Sign Of The Beaver
A Week In The Woods
Tolan, Stephanie S.
Avi
Fitzgerald, John D.
Speare, Elizabeth G.
Clements, Andrew
An Angel For Solomon Singer
Becoming Joe DiMaggio
Cousins
Love That Dog/Hate That Cat/Replay
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret/Blubber/Then Again, Maybe I Won’t
Rylant, Cynthia
Testa, Maria
Hamilton, Virginia
Creech, Sharon
Blume, Judy
Here's To You, Rachel Robinson/Not the End of the World/Just As Long As …
Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key
Leon's Story
My Louisiana Sky
Blume, Judy
Gantos, Jack
Tillage, Leon Walter
Holt, Kimberly Willis
Sees Behind Trees
Six Innings: A Game in the Life
The Kid Who Ran For President
The Night Journey
The Rifle/The Schernoff Discoveries/Tracker/The Time Hackers
Dorris, Michael
Preller, James
Gutman, Dan
Lasky, Kathryn
Paulsen, Gary
The Secret Life Of Amanda K. Woods
The Toothpaste Millionaire
What Jamie Saw
Amalee
Molly Moon (series)
Cameron, Ann
Merrill, Jean
Coman, Carolyn
Williams, Dar
Byng, Georgia
Kids At Work: Lewis Hine And The Crusade Against Child Labor
Shh! We're Writing The Constitution
Walk In The Tundra
George Vs. George: The American Revolution As Seen From Both Sides
Chasing Vermeer/The Wright 3
Freedman, Russell
Fritz, Jean
Johnson, Rebecca
Schanzer, Rosalyn
Balliett, Blue
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level U
Characteristics of Level U Books
•
Wide range of genre and forms – including historical fiction with settings different
from students’ own cultural histories; some sentences have more than 20 words
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics and categories within them; prior
knowledge often required; variety of structures combined in complex ways
•
Fiction texts address important problems, social issues, challenging themes; highly
literary texts –most containing themes presenting mature issues and problems in
society (eg: racism) and human problems (war, hardship, economic issues); complex
plots with subplots and/or multiple storylines; content appealing to preadolescents;
complex fantasy showing good vs. evil; some obvious symbolism
•
Require inference to understand characters and why they change; multidimensional
characters that develop over time; themes that evoke alternative interpretations
•
Many stories have moral lessons & many have parallel or circular plots
•
Long strings of unassigned dialogue from which story action must be inferred; long
stretches of descriptive language important to understanding setting, characters
•
Literary devices such as story w-in story, symbolism, flashback&figurative language
•
Words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode; long
multisyllable words requiring attention to roots to read and understand
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words are
mostly defined in text, illustrations or glossary
•
Vocabulary words are used figuratively/to show an abstract idea and/or must be
figured out from context in order to fully understand the story
Characteristics of Readers at Level U
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can remember information in summary form to understand larger themes; can
follow complex plots, including texts with literary devices (flashbacks…)
Search for/use information from texts with many new/unfamiliar concepts; can
organize important ideas in summary form&later use them as background knowledge
Can explain how author supports points in a text; collects evidence for arguments
Can express changes in ideas or perspective after and while reading
Will vary the pace of reading, as needed; will form questions & search for answers
Can process texts with very small fonts and more difficult layouts
Can solve complex multisyllable words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, word origins…)
Can understand words with multiple meanings, difficult proper nouns, can derive
meaning from words from dialects and languages other than English
Can infer characters’ feelings/motivations, using cause/effect, dialogue, or what
other characters say about them; can manage multidimensional characters
Integrates content knowledge while reading to consciously create new understandings
Crafts and revises many predictions using knowledge of genre and evidence from text
Sample Texts - Level U
All-Star Examples: Julie of the Wolves, The Secret Garden, Wringer, Baseball in April and Other
Stories, Nothing But the Truth, Number the Stars, The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
Books titles at my level include: TITLE
AUTHOR
Heaven
The Burning Questions Of Bingo Brown
Freeglader
The View From Saturday
Thunder Rolling In The Mountains
Johnson, Angela
Byars, Betsy
Stewart, Paul and Chris Riddell
Konigsburg, E.L.
O'Dell, Scott
Who Really Killed Cock Robin?: An Ecological Mystery
Words By Heart
Bud, Not Buddy
Evangeline Mudd's Great Mink Rescue
The Graduation Of Jake Moon
George, Jean Craighead
Sebestyen, Ouida
Curtis, Christopher Paul
Elliott, David
Park, Barbara
The Miraculous Journey Of Edward Tulane
The Voyage Of Patience Goodspeed
The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar And Six More/BFG
Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story
Rules Of The Road
DiCamillo, Kate
Frederick, Heather Vogel
Dahl, Roald
Hahn, Mary Downing
Bauer, Joan
So Hard To Say
Buried In Ice: The Mystery of a Lost Arctic Expedition
The Tarantula Scientist/Quest for the Tree Kangaroo
Who Really Killed Cock Robin?
The Calder Game
Sanchez, Alex
Beattie, Owen And Geiger, John
Montgomery, Sy
George, Jean C.
Balliett, Blue
Eleven
Half Moon Investigations
Secret Series
The House On The Gulf
Giff, Patricia Reilly
Colfer, Eoin
Bosch, Pseudonymous
Haddix, Margaret P.
Animorphs (series)
Charlie Bone (series)
Land of Loss
The Ruins Of Gorlan
Sisters Grimm (series)
Applegate, K.A.
Nimmo, Jenny
Applegate, K.A.
Warriors (series)
Book Of Three
Dragon Slippers
Ella Enchanted
Merlin and the Dragons
The Boggart and the Monster
The Magician's Elephant/The Tale of Despereaux
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Castle In The Air
Room One: A Mystery Or Two
John Lewis In The Lead
Passage To Freedom: The Sugihara Story
Flanagan, John
Buckley, Michael
Hunter, Erin
Alexander, Lloyd
George, Jessica Day
Levine, Gail Carson
Yolen, Jane
Cooper, Susan
DiCamillo, Kate
J.K. Rowling
Jones, Diana Wynne
Clements, Andrew
Haskins, James & Kathleen Benson
Mochizuki, Ken
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level V
Characteristics of Level V Books
•
Wide range of genre & forms, incl. satire; some sentences have more than 20 words
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics and categories within them; prior knowledge
often required; variety of structures combined in complex ways
•
Fiction texts address important problems, social issues, challenging themes, highly literary
texts containing themes presenting mature issues and problems in society; complex plots;
content appealing to preadolescents and adolescents
•
Interpretation of characters essential to understanding theme
•
Many texts requiring knowledge of history or other heavy content load; critical thinking
required to judge authenticity of texts
•
Some switching through dialogue from setting to setting, often unsignaled
•
Require inference to understand characters and why they change; multidimensional
characters that develop over time; themes that evoke alternative interpretations
•
Many stories have moral lessons & many have parallel or circular plots
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Long strings of unassigned dialogue from which story action must be inferred; long
stretches of descriptive language important to understanding setting, characters
•
Literary devices such as story w-in story, symbolism, flashback&figurative language
•
Words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode; long multisyllable
words requiring attention to roots to read and understand
•
New vocabulary in fiction largely unexplained, while content-specific words are mostly
defined in text, illustrations or glossary
•
Vocabulary words used figuratively or with unusual or hard-to-understand connotations;
archaic words or non-English words not following conventional pronunciation patterns
Characteristics of Readers at Level V
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can remember information in summary form, to understand larger themes; can follow
complex plots, including texts with literary devices (flashbacks…)
Search for/use information from texts with many new/unfamiliar concepts; can organize
important ideas in summary form & later use them as background knowledge
Can adjust stance to better understand genre, like fantasy, or stance, like satire
Notice and reflect on purpose of author’s use of idiom, irony, and satire
Can explain how author supports points in a text; collects evidence for arguments
Can express changes in ideas or perspective after and while reading
Will vary the pace of reading, as needed; will form questions & search for answers
Can process texts with very small fonts and more difficult layouts
Can solve complex multisyllable words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, word origins…)
Can understand words with multiple meanings, difficult proper nouns, words from dialects
and languages other than English
Can infer characters’ feelings/motivations, using cause/effect, dialogue, or what other
characters say about them; can manage multidimensional characters
Integrates content knowledge while reading to consciously create new understandings
Crafts and revises many predictions using knowledge of genre and evidence from text
Sample Texts - Level V
All-Star Examples: Crash, Dragonsong, Rascal, Tom's Midnight Garden, Yolanda's Genius, The Cay, Esperanza
Rising, Island of Blue Dolphins, Old Yeller, Pictures of Hollis Woods, Tuck Everlasting, The Westing Game, Holes
Books titles at my level include: TITLE
Skeleton Man
Things Hoped For
Bernie Magruder & the Bats in the Belfry
Jackie Robinson Breaks The Color Line
The California Gold Rush
An American Plague: The True And Terrifying Story Of The Yellow Fever Epidemic
Bodies From The Ash: Life And Death In Ancient Pompeii
AUTHOR
Bruchac, Joseph
Clements, Andrew
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds
Santella, Andrew
Stein, R. Conrad
Murphy, Jim
Series of Unfortunate Events
Chasing Redbird/The Wanderer/Pleasing The Ghost/Ruby Holler
Lord Of The Shadows
Deem, James M.
Peck, Richard
Snicket, Lemony
Creech, Sharon
Shan, Darren
Everything On A Waffle
The Dark Stairs
Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH
Olive's Ocean
The Fighting Ground
Horvath, Polly
Byars, Betsy
O'Brien, Robert C.
Henkes, Kevin
Avi
The Golden Goblet
The House Of Dies Drear
The Same Stuff As Stars
The Thief Lord
Things Not Seen
McGraw, Eloise Jarvis
Hamilton, Virginia
Paterson, Katherine
Funke, Cornelia
Clements, Andrew
Underland Chronicles (series)
Becoming Naomi Leon
Birdwing
Dragon Rider
Getting Near To Baby
Collins, Suzanne
Ryan, Pam Munoz
Martin, Rafe
Funke, Cornelia
Couloumbis, Audrey
Habibi
Harris And Me
Kensuke's Kingdom
Locomotion
Nye, Naomi Shihab
Paulsen, Gary
Morpurgo, Michael
Woodson, Jacqueline
Princess Academy
Scary Stories 3: More Tales To Chill Your Bones
Silent To The Bone
Stargirl
The Eyes Of The Amaryllis
Hale, Shannon
Schwartz, Alvin
Konigsburg, E.L.
Spinelli, Jerry
Babbitt, Natalie
The Maze
The Music Of Dolphins
The Mysterious Benedict Society (series)
The True Confessions Of Charlotte Doyle
The Young Merlin Trilogy: Passager, Hobby, And Merlin
Words Of Stone
The Search For Belle Prater
The California Gold Rush
Hobbs, Will
Hesse, Karen
Stewart, Trenton
Avi
Yolen, Jane
Henkes, Kevin
White, Ruth
Stein, R. Conrad
A Long Way From Chicago/A Year Down Yonder/ The Ghost Belonged To Me
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level W
Characteristics of Level W Books
•
Wide range of complex genre & forms, incl. satire, photo essays, high fantasy
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics and categories within them; prior knowledge
often required
•
Fiction texts have complex themes revealing insight into the human condition and focusing
on human problems (war, racism, social class barriers), present mature social issues (family,
growing up, sexuality) ; content appealing to adolescents
•
Interpretation of characters essential to understanding theme
•
Many texts requiring knowledge of history, other heavy content load, or current events;
critical thinking required to judge authenticity of texts
•
Some switching through dialogue from setting to setting, often unsignaled
•
Some with larger-than-life characters who represent struggle between good/evil; multiple
themes that may be understood in many layers; wide range of challenging themes building
social awareness and revealing insights into the human condition
•
Many stories have moral lessons & many have parallel or circular plots
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Long strings of unassigned dialogue from which story action must be inferred; long
stretches of descriptive language important to understanding setting, characters
•
Extensive use of figurative language important to understand plot
•
Words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode; long multisyllable
words requiring attention to roots to read and understand
•
Vocabulary words used figuratively or with unusual or hard-to-understand connotations;
archaic words or non-English words not following conventional pronunciation patterns
Characteristics of Readers at Level W
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can remember information in summary form, to understand larger themes; can follow
complex plots, including texts with literary devices (flashbacks…)
Search for/use information from texts with many new/unfamiliar concepts; can organize
important ideas in summary form & later use them as background knowledge
Can adjust stance to better understand genre, like fantasy, or stance, like satire
Notice and reflect on purpose of author’s use of idiom, irony, and satire
Can explain how author supports points in a text; collects evidence for arguments
Can express changes in ideas or perspective after and while reading
Monitors understanding closely, searching within and outside the text, as needed
Can process texts with dense print, complex layouts, & almost no illustrations
Can solve complex multisyllable words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, word origins…)
Can understand words with multiple meanings, difficult proper nouns, words from
dialects/languages other than English; can understand meaning when satire is used
Can infer about characters’ traits, motivations, and changes; can manage multidimensional
characters; use situations focusing on the problems of adolescents to develop new
perspectives on own lives
Integrates content knowledge while reading to consciously create new understandings
Crafts and revises many predictions using knowledge of genre and evidence from the text
Sample Texts - Level W
All-Star Examples: The Skin I’m In, Maniac Magee, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, A Stone in My
Hand, Year of Impossible Goodbyes, The House on Mango Street
Books titles at my level include: TITLE
Out From Boneville
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You
The Lightning Thief (series)
Tuck Everlasting
A Wrinkle in Time
Book of a Thousand Days
Ember Series
Coraline
Daniel X: Alien Hunter
Dead Girls Don't Write Letters
Drive-By
Elijah of Buxton
Freak the Mighty
Inkheart
Max the Mighty
The Green Glass Sea
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Tunnels
Walk Two Moons/Heartbeat
Broken China
Dairy Queen
Hoot
The Ghost's Grave
Silver On The Tree
Everworld Series
Eldest
Curse Of The Bane/Revenge of the Witch
Leven Thumps (series)
Septimus Heap (series) – Flyte, Magyk
Among The Enemy
Enna Burning
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Artemis Fowl Files
The Goose Girl
Sweetgrass Basket
The
The
The
The
The
Game Of Silence
Rough-Face Girl
Pot That Juan Built
Mouse Rap
People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
Black Diamond: The Story Of The Negro Baseball Leagues
The Great Fire
AUTHOR
Smith, Jeff
Carter, Ally
Riordan, Rick
Babbitt, Natalie
L'Engle, Madeleine
Hale, Shannon
DuPrau, Jeanne
Gaiman, Neil
Patterson, James
Giles, Gail
Ewing, Lynne
Curtis, Christopher Paul
Philbrick, Rodman
Funke, Cornelia
Philbrick, Rodman
Klages, Ellen
Selznick, Brian
Gordon, Roderick & Williams, Brian
Creech, Sharon
Williams, Lori Aurelia
Murdock, Catherine G.
Hiaasen, Carl
Kehret, Peg
Cooper, Susan
Applegate, K.A.
Paolini, Christopher
Delaney, Joseph
Skye, Obert
Sage, Angie
Haddix, Margaret P.
Hale, Shannon
Juster, Norton
Colfer, Eoin
Hale, Shannon
Carvell, Marlene
Erdrich, Louise
Martin, Rafe
Andrews-Goebel, Nancy
Myers, Walter Dean
Hamilton, Virginia
McKissack, Patricia and Fredrick
Murphy, Jim
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level X
Characteristics of Level X Books
•
Wide range of complex genre & forms, incl. parody, allegory and monologue; some sentences
of 30 or more words
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics/categories; prior knowledge often required
•
Fiction texts have elaborate plots and subplots; complex themes revealing insight into the
human condition & human problems (war, racism, social class barriers), present
mature/adolescent social issues (growing up, sexuality, abuse, poverty)
•
Interpretation of characters essential to understanding theme
•
Many texts requiring knowledge of history, other heavy content load, or current events;
critical thinking required to judge authenticity of texts
•
Some switching through dialogue from setting to setting, often unsignaled
•
Some with larger-than-life characters who represent struggle between good/evil; fantasy
texts may incorporate classical motifs, such as “the quest;” multiple themes that may be
understood in many layers; wide range of challenging themes building social awareness and
revealing insights into the human condition
•
Many stories have moral lessons & many have parallel or circular plots
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Long strings of unassigned dialogue from which story action must be inferred; long
stretches of descriptive language important to understanding setting, characters
•
Extensive use of figurative language important to understand plot
•
Words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode; long multisyllable
words requiring attention to roots to read and understand
•
Vocabulary words used figuratively or with unusual or hard-to-understand connotations;
archaic words or non-English words not following conventional pronunciation patterns
Characteristics of Readers at Level X
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can remember information in summary form over chapters, to understand larger themes
Search for/use information from texts with many new/unfamiliar concepts; can organize
important ideas in summary form & later use them as background knowledge
Can adjust stance to better understand genre, like fantasy, or stance, like satire
Notice & reflect on purpose of author’s use of irony, satire, parody and allegory and the
resulting changes to surface meaning; can determine point of view or bias
Can explain how author supports points in a text; collects evidence for arguments
Monitors understanding closely, searching within and outside the text, as needed
Can process texts with dense print, complex layouts, & almost no illustrations
Can solve complex multisyllable words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, word origins…)
Can understand words with multiple meanings, difficult proper nouns, words from
dialects/languages other than English; can understand meaning when satire is used
Can infer about characters’ traits, motivations, and changes; can manage multidimensional
characters; use situations focusing on the problems of adolescents to develop new
perspectives on own lives
Integrates content knowledge while reading to consciously create new understandings
Crafts and revises many predictions using knowledge of genre and evidence from the text
Sample Texts - Level X
All-Star Examples: Ties that Bind, Ties that Break, Where the Red Fern Grows, The
Egypt Game, Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo Books titles at my level include: TITLE
Bartimaeus Trilogy - Ptolemy’s Gate, Golem’s Eye…
Maximum Ride Novels Saving The World, Angel Experiment …
AUTHOR
Stroud, Jonathan
Patterson, James
The Ruins of Gorlan
The Looking Glass Wars
Homecoming (Trilogy)
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Feathers
Flanagan, John
Beddor, Frank
Voight, Cynthia
Choldenko, Gennifer
Woodson, Jacqueline
Harlem Summer
Homeless Bird
The Graveyard Book
The High King
The Postcard
Myers, Walter Dean
Whelan, Gloria
Gaiman, Neil
Alexander, Lloyd
Abbot, Tony
A Cool Moonlight
America
Criss Cross
Misfits
The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp
Johnson, Angela
Frank, E. R.
Perkins, Lynne Rae
Howe, James
Yancey, Rick
Can We Save Them?
Japan: The People
Artemis Fowl Series
Dark is Rising Series - Greenwitch, Over Sea Under Stone…
Lionboy Trilogy
Dobson, David
Kalman, Bobbie
Colfer, Eoin
Cooper, Susan
Corder, Zizou
The Final Warning
Peter And The Starcatchers Series
Pit Dragon Chronicles Series
The Burning Bridge
Patterson, James
Barry, Dave & Ridley Pearson
Yolen, Jane
Flanagan, John
High Rhulain
Queste
The Everworld Series (Mystify the Magician)
Kingdom Of The Golden Dragon
The Little Prince
Jacques, Brian
Sage, Angie
Applegate, K.A.
Allende, Isabel
De Saint-Exupery, Antoine
The Hunting of the Last Dragon
The Last Of The Really Great Whangdoodles
The Realms Of The Gods
Out Of The Dust
Let The Circle Be Unbroken
Jordan, Sherryl
Edwards, Julie Andrews
Pierce, Tamora
Hesse, Karen
Taylor, Mildred D.
Letters From A Slave Girl: The Story Of Harriet Jacobs
River Between Us
Dawn Of Fear
Growing Up In Coal Country
Lyons, Mary E.
Peck. Richard
Cooper, Susan
Freedman, Russell
Bartoletti, Susan C.
Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes
Oh, Rats! The Story Of Rats And People
Turner, Pamela S.
Marrin, Albert
Children Of The Wild West/Cowboys Of The Wild West/Freedom Walkers
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level Y
Characteristics of Level Y Books
•
Wide range of complex genre & forms; some sentences of 30 or more words; many texts
with the complex structure of adult-level reading
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics/categories; prior knowledge often required
•
Fiction texts have elaborate plots and subplots; complex themes revealing insight into the
human condition & human problems (war, racism, social class barriers), present
mature/adolescent social issues (growing up, sexuality, abuse, poverty)
•
Interpretation of characters essential to understanding theme
•
Many texts requiring knowledge of history, other heavy content load, or current events;
critical thinking required to judge authenticity of texts
•
Some switching through dialogue from setting to setting, often unsignaled
•
Some with larger-than-life characters who represent struggle between good/evil; fantasy
texts may incorporate classical motifs, such as “the quest;” multiple themes that may be
understood in many layers; wide range of challenging themes building social awareness and
revealing insights into the human condition
•
Many stories have moral lessons & many have parallel or circular plots
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Long strings of unassigned dialogue from which story action must be inferred; long
stretches of descriptive language important to understanding setting, characters
•
Extensive use of figurative language important to understand plot
•
Words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode; long multisyllable
words requiring attention to roots to read and understand
•
Vocabulary words used figuratively or with unusual or hard-to-understand connotations;
archaic words or non-English words not following conventional pronunciation patterns
Characteristics of Readers at Level Y
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can remember information in summary form over chapters, to understand larger themes
Search for/use information from texts with many new/unfamiliar concepts; can organize
important ideas in summary form & later use them as background knowledge
Can adjust stance to better understand genre, like fantasy, or stance, like satire
Notice & reflect on purpose of author’s use of irony, satire, parody and allegory and the
resulting changes to surface meaning; can determine point of view or bias
Make connections among characters in different texts (setting, problem, person)
Can explain how author supports points in a text; collects evidence for arguments
Monitors understanding closely, searching within and outside the text, as needed
Can process texts with dense print, complex layouts, & almost no illustrations
Can solve complex multisyllable words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, word origins…)
Can understand words with multiple meanings, difficult proper nouns, words from
dialects/languages other than English; can understand meaning when satire is used
Can infer about characters’ traits, motivations, and changes; can manage multidimensional
characters; use situations focusing on the problems of adolescents to develop new
perspectives on own lives
Integrates content knowledge while reading to consciously create new understandings
Crafts and revises many predictions using knowledge of genre and evidence from the text
Sample Texts - Level Y
All-Star Examples: The Schwa Was Here, The Giver, My Brother Sam is Dead
Books titles at my level include: TITLE
The Amulet of Samarkand
The Man Who Was Poe
Artemis Fowl
Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories
AUTHOR
Stroud, Jonathan
Avi
Colfer, Eon
Crutcher, Chris
Dangerous Days of Daniel X
House of the Scorpion
Milkweed
The Evolution Of Calpurnia Tate
The Underneath
Patterson, James
Farmer, Nancy
Spinelli, Jerry
Kelly, Jacqueline
Appelt, Kathi
Touching Spirit Bear
The Arctic Incident
Seeing Stone, The
Here There Be Dragons
Mikaelsen, Ben
Colfer, Eoin
Crossley-Holland, Kevin
Yolen, Jane
The Thief Of Always
The Timekeeper
Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide To The Fantastical World Around You
Just Ella
The Saint Of Dragons
Barker, Clive
Kidd, Rob
Black, Holly & Tony DiTerlizzi
Haddix, Margaret P.
Hightman, Jason
Victory
Ashes Of Roses
Rodzina
A House Of Tailors
Numbering All The Bones
Cooper, Susan
Auch, Mary J.
Cushman, Karen
Giff, Patricia Reilly
Rinaldi, Ann
With Every Drop Of Blood
Bull Run
Dawn Of Fear
The Boy Who Dared
Aleutian Sparrow
Collier, James Lincoln
Fleischman, Paul
Cooper, Susan
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell
Hesse, Karen
Gloria Estefan
Do You Know The Monkey Man?
Hana's Suitcase
Black Potatoes: The Story Of The Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850
Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America
Benson, Michael
Butler, Dori Hillestad
Levine, Karen
Bartoletti, Susan C.
Murphy, Jim
Chew On This (Young Readers Edition)
Freedom Riders: John Lewis And Jim Zwerg On The Front Lines…
Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler's Shadow
Secrets Of A Civil War Submarine: Solving The Mysteries Of the…
Schlosser, Eric
Bausum, Ann
Bartoletti, Susan C.
Walker, Sally M.
Shipwreck At The Bottom Of The World: Extraordinary True Story Of Shackleton…
Armstrong, Jennifer
Thimmesh, Catherine
Kurlansky, Mark
Darren Shan
Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed "Apollo 11" On The Moon
The Story Of Salt
Saga of Darren Shan Series (Allies of the Night, Hunters of the Dusk…)
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.
Independent (“Just Right”) Reading Descriptions
Level Z
Characteristics of Level Z Books
•
Wide range of complex genre & forms; some sentences of 30 or more words; many texts
with the complex structure of adult-level reading; texts that explicitly present mature
issues such as sexuality, murder, abuse, nuclear war
•
In information texts, texts with multiple topics/categories; prior knowledge often required
•
Fiction texts have elaborate plots and subplots; complex themes revealing insight into the
human condition & human problems;present mature/adolescent social issues
•
Interpretation of multiple characters essential to understanding theme
•
Many texts requiring knowledge of history, other heavy content load, or current events;
critical thinking required to judge authenticity of texts
•
Some switching through dialogue from setting to setting, often unsignaled
•
Some with larger-than-life characters who represent struggle between good/evil; fantasy
texts may incorporate classical motifs, such as “the quest;” multiple themes that may be
understood in many layers; wide range of challenging themes building social awareness and
revealing insights into the human condition
•
Many stories have moral lessons & many have parallel or circular plots
•
Texts with multiple points of view revealed through characters’ behaviors
•
Long strings of unassigned dialogue from which story action must be inferred; long
stretches of descriptive language important to understanding setting, characters
•
Extensive use of figurative language important to understand plot
•
Words that are seldom used in oral language and are difficult to decode; long multisyllable
words requiring attention to roots to read and understand
•
Vocabulary words used figuratively or with unusual or hard-to-understand connotations;
archaic words or non-English words not following conventional pronunciation patterns
Characteristics of Readers at Level Z
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can remember information in summary form over chapters, to understand larger themes
Search for/use information from texts with many new/unfamiliar concepts; can organize
important ideas in summary form & later use them as background knowledge
Can adjust stance to better understand genre, like fantasy, or stance, like satire
Notice & reflect on purpose of author’s use of irony, satire, parody and allegory and the
resulting changes to surface meaning; can determine point of view or bias
Make connections among characters in different texts (setting, problem, person)
Can explain how author supports points in a text; collects evidence for arguments
Monitors understanding closely, searching within and outside the text, as needed
Can process texts with dense print, complex layouts, & almost no illustrations
Can solve complex multisyllable words (vowels, phonograms, affixes, word origins…)
Can understand words with multiple meanings, difficult proper nouns, words from
dialects/languages other than English; can understand meaning when satire is used
Can infer about characters’ traits, motivations, and changes; can manage multidimensional
characters; use situations focusing on the problems of adolescents to develop new
perspectives on own lives
Integrates content knowledge while reading to consciously create new understandings
Crafts and revises many predictions using knowledge of genre and evidence from the text
Sample Texts - Level Z
All-Star Examples: Johnny Tremain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Breadwinner, The Outsiders, Witness, Animal Farm,
Farewell to Manzanar, The Golden Compass, Monster, Night, The Pearl, Scorpions, 145th Street Short Stories, Fahrenheit 451 Books titles at my level include: TITLE
AUTHOR
Stormbreaker: The Graphic Novel
A Wizard of Earthsea
Fever 1793
Treasure Island (Graphic Adaptation)
Horrowitz, Anthony
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Anderson, Laurie Halse
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Forged By Fire
The Golden Compass
Miracle's Boys/From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun/I Hadn’t Meant to Tell…
Monster/Scorpions
Shadow Children Series (Among The Betrayed, Among the Brave…)
Draper, Sharon M.
Pullman, Philip
Woodson, Jacqueline
Myers, Walter Dean
Haddix, Margaret Peterson
Tears Of A Tiger
A Matter Of Trust/Lost and Found
Bluford High Series (Brothers In Arms, Summer of Secrets…)
Until We Meet Again
The Moves Make The Man
Draper, Sharon M.
Schraff, Anne
Langan, Paul & Alirez, Ben
Schraff, Anne
Brooks, Bruce
Uglies
American Eyes
Catalyst/Speak
Guys Write For Guys Read
If A Tree Falls At Lunch Period
Westerfeld, Scott
Carlson, Lori M., Ed.
Anderson, Laurie Halse
Scieszka, John
Choldenko, Gennifer
Life as We Knew It
Rain Is Not My Indian Name
Samir And Yonatan
Small Steps
Stuck In Neutral
Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Carmi, Daniella
Sachar, Louis
Trueman, Terry
The Princess Diaries
Woman Hollering Creek And Other Stories
Cirque du Freak Series (The Vampire Prince, The Vampire’s Assistant…)
His Dark Materials Series (The Amber Spyglass, The Golden Compass…)
Cabott, Meg
Cisneros, Sandra
Shan, Darren
Pullman, Philip
The Kiesha’ra Series (Hawksong, Falcondance…)
The Hobbit
Redwall Series
Abarat
King of Shadows
Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia
Tolkien, J.R.R.
Jacques, Brian
Barker, Clive
Cooper, Susan
Across Five Aprils
Little Women
The Land
A Dream Of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement From 1954 To 1968
Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold Self-Experimenters In Science And Medicine
Hunt, Irene
Alcott, Louisa May
Taylor, Mildred D.
McWhorter, Diane
Dendy, Leslie and Boring, Mel
Left For Dead: A Young Man's Search For Justice For The USS Indianapolis
Revenge Of The Whale: The True Story Of The Whaleship Of Essex
The Race To Save The Lord God Bird
Witch-Hunt: Mysteries Of The Salem Witch Trials
Nelson, Peter
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Hoose, Phillip M.
Aronson, Marc
(some)
*Bold titles are Series books.
REMEMBER: You can sometimes find titles at your level or check the level of a book you already have on
Scholastic’s Book Wizard site. Look for the initials GRL (meaning Guided Reading Level) – this is the level we use
at school. www.scholastic.com/bookwizard
Nancy Giansante is a librarian who keeps a leveled book list at her website: http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante
This site is searchable by grade level suggestions, titles, and author names.