Visit this page to find links to reading exemplars and resources for students

Grades 6–8 Text Exemplars
Stories
Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
L’Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time
Cooper, Susan. The Dark Is Rising
Yep, Laurence. Dragonwings
Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Hamilton, Virginia. “The People Could Fly.”
Paterson, Katherine. The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks
Cisneros, Sandra. “Eleven.”
Sutcliff, Rosemary. Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad

Drama
Fletcher, Louise. Sorry, Wrong Number
Goodrich, Frances and Albert Hackett. The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play

Poetry
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
Whitman, Walt. “O Captain! My Captain!”
Carroll, Lewis. “Jabberwocky.”
Navajo tradition. “Twelfth Song of Thunder.”
Dickinson, Emily. “The Railway Train.”
Yeats, William Butler. “The Song of Wandering Aengus.”
Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.”
Sandburg, Carl. “Chicago.”
Hughes, Langston. “I, Too, Sing America.”
Neruda, Pablo. “The Book of Questions.”
Soto, Gary. “Oranges.”
Giovanni, Nikki. “A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long.”

Informational Texts: English Language Arts
Adams, John. “Letter on Thomas Jefferson.”
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
an American Slave, Written by Himself

Common Core State Standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects
appendix B | 9
Churchill, Winston. “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat:
Address to Parliament on May 13th, 1940.”
Petry, Ann. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad
Steinbeck, John. Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Informational Texts: History/Social Studies
United States. Preamble and First Amendment
to the United States Constitution. (1787, 1791)
Lord, Walter. A Night to Remember
Isaacson, Phillip. A Short Walk through the Pyramids
and through the World of Art
Murphy, Jim. The Great Fire.
Greenberg, Jan, and Sandra Jordan. Vincent Van Gogh:
Portrait of an Artist
Partridge, Elizabeth. This Land Was Made for You and Me:
The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie
Monk, Linda R. Words We Live By:
Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution
Freedman, Russell. Freedom Walkers:
The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Informational Texts: Science, Mathematics, and Technical Subjects
Macaulay, David. Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction
Mackay, Donald. The Building of Manhattan
Enzensberger, Hans Magnus. The Number Devil:
A Mathematical Adventure
Peterson, Ivars and Nancy Henderson. Math Trek:
Adventures in the Math Zone
Katz, John. Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet out of Idaho
Petroski, Henry. “The Evolution of the Grocery Bag.”
“Geology.” U*X*L Encyclopedia of Science
“Space Probe.” Astronomy & Space:
From the Big Bang to the Big Crunch
“Elementary Particles.” New Book of Popular Science
California Invasive Plant Council. Invasive Plant Inventory