The following is the full list of literary works by grade level approved by the State Board of Education in June 2026. Implementation begins in the 2023-31 school year.
Kindergarten
- “April Rain Song” by Langston Hughes
- “The Bald Eagle” by Norman Pearl
- “The Berenstain Bears and the Golden Rule” by Stan Berenstain
- “Blueberries for Sal” by Robert McCloskey
- “The Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss
- “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
- “Cinderella/Cenicienta” by Francesca Boada (adapted by)
- “Classic Nursery Rhymes” (selected excerpts: “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” “Hickory Dickory Dock,” “Humpty Dumpty,” “Jack and Jill,” “Little Boy Blue,” “Little Miss Muffet,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Old King Cole,” “One Two Buckle My Shoe”) by Nicola Baxter (compiler)
- “George Washington and the Cherry Tree” (excerpt from “The Children's Book of Virtues”) by William J. Bennett (editor)
- “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by Jim Aylesworth
- “The Grasshopper and the Ants” by Jerry Pinkney (retold from Aesop)
- “How Grandmother Spider Brought Fire” (A Choctaw Story) (Excerpt from “A Year Full of Stories: 52 Folktales and Legends from Around the World”) by Angela McAllister
- “The Keeping Quilt” by Patricia Polacco
- “L is for Lone Star: A Texas Alphabet” by Carol Crane
- “The Little Red Hen” (excerpt from “The Children's Book of Virtues”) by William J. Bennett (editor)
- “The Lion and the Mouse” (excerpt from “The Children's Book of Virtues”) by William J. Bennett (editor)
- “Luna Loves Art” by Joseph Coelho
- “A Picture Book of George Washington” by David A. Adler
- “A Picture Book of Thomas Alva Edison” by David A. Adler
- “The Runaway Bunny” by Margaret Wise Brown
- “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats
- “The Three Little Pigs” / “Los tres cerditos” Bilingual Storybook by Patricia Seibert
- “The Tortoise and the Hare” (excerpt from “The Children's Book of Virtues”) by William J. Bennett (editor)
- “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle
- “You Are Special” by Max Lucado
First Grade
- “Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books” by Kay Winters
- “Abuela” by Arthur Dorros
- “Ada Twist, Scientist” by Andrea Beaty
- “Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School” by Herman Parish
- “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (selected excerpts: “Won't You Be My Neighbor,” “I Like You As You Are,” “Children Can,” “Smile in Your Pocket,” “Take My Time,” “What Can You Hear?,” “I'd Like to Be Like Mom and Dad,” “Summer Rain,” “Are You Brave?,” “The King and the Ocean,” “Then Your Heart is Full of Love,” “The Truth Will Make You Free,” “You're Special,” “Perfect Day,” “I'm Proud of You”) by Fred Rogers
- “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” (excerpt from “The Children's Book of Virtues”) by William J. Bennett (editor)
- “Classic Nursery Rhymes” (selected excerpts: “Jack Be Nimble,” “Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater,” “Simple Simon,” “Sing a Song of Sixpence,” “There Was an Old Woman,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “Yankee Doodle”) by Nicola Baxter
- “Curious About the White House” by Kate Waters
- “Daniel Boone” (excerpt from “A Book of Americans”) by Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
- “Davy Crockett ” by Emma E. Haldy
- “Invitation” (excerpt from “Where the Sidewalk Ends”) by Shel Silverstein
- “Jack and the Beanstalk” by Thomas Nelson
- “Jonah and the Whale” by Jonah 1:1-5, 10-17, 2:10
- “The Legend of the Bluebonnet” by Tomie dePaola
- “The Life of Paul Revere” by Maria Nelson
- “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper
- “Madeline” by Ludwig Bemelmans
- “Medio Pollito/Half Chicken: A Folktale in Spanish and English” by Alma Flor Ada
- “Now and Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin” by Gene Barretta
- “A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass” by David A. Adler
- “Amazing Americans: Pocahontas” by Sharon Coan
- “Red Riding Hood” by James Marshall
- “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter
- “The Ugly Duckling” by Jerry Pinkney
- “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” (excerpt from “Aesop's Fables: The Classic Edition”) by Charles Santore and Aesop
Second Grade
- “America Is…” by Louise Borden
- “Beauty and the Beast” by Marianna Mayer
- “Bluebonnet at the Alamo” by Mary Brooke Casad
- “The Courage of Sarah Noble” by Alice Dalgliesh
- “David and Goliath” (excerpt from “The Children’s Book of Heroes”) by William J. Bennett (editor)
- “The Donkey in the Lion’s Skin” (excerpt from “Aesop's Fables: The Classic Edition”) by Aesop (illustrated by Charles Santore)
- “Falling Up” (excerpt from “Falling Up”) by Shel Silverstein
- “James Madison: The 4th President” by Josh Gregory
- “John Henry” by Julius Lester
- “Johnny Appleseed” by Steven Kellogg (retold and illustrated by)
- “The Legend of the Dipper” (excerpt from “The Children's Book of Virtues”) by William J. Bennett (editor)
- “Paul Bunyan” by Steven Kellogg (retold and illustrated by)
- “Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom” by Carole Boston Weatherford
- “The Patchwork Quilt” by Valerie Flournoy
- “Sam: The Minuteman” by Nathaniel Benchley
- “Stellaluna” by Janell Cannon
- “Susan B. Anthony” by Laura K. Murray
- “The Swing” by Robert Louis Stevenson
- “Teammates” by Peter Golenbock
- “The Thanksgiving Story” by Alice Dalgliesh
- “Try, Try Again” (excerpt from “The Children's Book of Virtues”) by William J. Bennett (editor)
- “We the Kids: The Preamble of the Constitution of the United States” by David Catrow
- “Winnie-the-Pooh” (Chapter 1 “In Which We Are Introduced to Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees, and the Stories Begin” and Chapter 2 “In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place”) by A. A. Milne
Third Grade
- “Abraham Lincoln” (excerpt from “A Book of Americans”) by Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
- “Archimedes and the Door of Science” (Chapter 1 “Who was Archimedes?,” Chapter 4 “Archimedes and his Lever,” Chapter 9 “Archimedes and Numbers”) by Jeanne Bendick
- “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White
- “Enemy Pie” by Derek Munson
- “The Fisherman and His Wife” by Rachel Isadora
- “George Washington” (excerpt from “A Book of Americans”) by Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
- “Icarus and Daedalus” (excerpt from “Classic Myths to Read Aloud: The Great Stories of Greek and Roman Mythology”) by William F. Russell
- “King Midas and the Golden Touch” by Charlotte Craft
- “ROAR! – Daniel and the Lion’s Den – Children’s Adapted Version” by CBN
- “Miss Rumphius” by Barbara Cooney
- “Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs” by James Rumford
- “Smart” by Shel Silverstein
- “The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf” (excerpt from “Aesop's Fables”) by Aesop (adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney)
- “Stone Soup” by Marcia Brown
- “Benjamin Franklin” (Life Stories/Biografías Bilingual Edition) by Gillian Gosman
- “Stuart Little” by E.B. White
- “Thomas Jefferson” (excerpt from “A Book of Americans”) by Stephen Vincent Benét and Rosemary Benét
- “Tomas and the Library Lady” by Pat Mora
- “Too Many Tamales” by Gary Soto
- “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse” (excerpt from “Aesop's Fables: The Classic Edition”) by Aesop (illustrated Charles Santore)
- “What Do You Do with a Problem?” by Kobi Yamada
- “The Wind in the Willows” (Chapters “The River Bank,” “The Open Road,” “The Wild Wood,” and “Mr. Badger”) by Kenneth Grahame
Fourth Grade
- “The Ant and the Dove” (excerpt from “Aesop's Fables”) by Aesop (adapted and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney)
- “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” (Picture Book Edition) by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
- “Brave Irene” by William Steig
- “Dreams” by Langston Hughes
- “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry
- “Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow” (excerpt from “Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow and Other Legends,” pages 11-21) by Geraldine McCaughrean
- “Sea Fever” by John Masefield
- “Stone Fox” by John Reynolds Gardiner
- “The Story of King Arthur and His Knights” (Part 1 “The Winning of Kinghood” Chapters 1 and 2) by Howard Pyle (adapted by Tania Zamorsky)
- “Sundiata: The Lion King of Mali” by David Wisniewski
- “Treasure Island” (Classic Adventures) by Robert Louis Stevenson (adapted by Jacqueline Dembar Greene)
- “Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci?” (Chapter 1 “Who Was Leonardo DaVinci?”, Chapter 2 “The Unwanted Boy”, Chapter 3 “The Art Studio” and Chapter 4 “The Wider World”) by Roberta Edwards
- “The Necessity of Humility (Luke 14:7-11)” by New International Reader’s Version: New Testament
Fifth Grade
- “Adventures of Don Quixote” (Dover Children's Thrift Classics) by Argentina Palacios
- “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
- “The Colonization of Texas: Missions and Settlers” by Stephanie Kuligowski
- “Declaration of Independence in Translation: What It Really Means?” by Amie Jane Leavitt
- “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” (speech to the Second Virginia Convention) by Patrick Henry
- “Independence Bell – July 4, 1776” by Anonymous
- “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C. S. Lewis
- “The Mayflower Compact” by William Brewster, William Bradford, Edward Winslow
- “The Monkey as King” (excerpts from “Aesop’s Fables”) by Aesop (adapted and illustrated by Charles Santore)
- “A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution” by Betsy Maestro
- “Moses (Exodus 3: The Burning Bush and Exodus 14: The Parting of the Red Sea)” by New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) Bible
- “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster
- “Sam Houston: A Fearless Statesman” by Joanne Mattern
- “Thomas Jefferson” by Mike Venezia
- “Who was Davy Crockett?” (selected excerpts: “Who was Davy Crockett?,” “A Pioneer Family,” “Young David,” “On His Own,” “Crockett Speaks Up,” “David Goes to Washington,” “The Alamo,” “Folk Hero”) by Gail Herman
Sixth Grade
- “Across Five Aprils” by Irene Hunt
- “Abraham Lincoln, A Man of Faith and Courage: Stories of Our Most Admired President” (Chapter 7 “The Road Back to God”) by Joe Wheeler
- “The Blue and The Gray” by Francis Miles Finch
- “General Order 108 to the 'Soldiers of the Armies of the United States'” by Ulysses S. Grant
- “The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln
- “All Creatures Great and Small” by James Herriot
- “The Power of the Dog” by Rudyard Kipling
- “A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett
- “Do Not Be Anxious (Book of Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 25-34)” by English Standard Version: New Testament
- “The Peace of the Wild Things” by Wendell Berry
Seventh Grade
- “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, translated from Dutch by B.M. Mooyaart
- “Blessed is the Match” by Hannah Szenes
- “Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport” by George Washington
- “The Shepherd's Psalm (Book of Psalms, Chapter 23)” by King James Version: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
- “The Outsiders” by S. E. Hinton
- “The Eight Beatitudes (Book of Matthew, Chapter 5 Verses 1- 12)” by King James Version: New Testament
- “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas
- “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes
- “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost
- “Thank You, M'am” by Langston Hughes
- “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
Eighth Grade
- “The Giver” by Lois Lowry
- “Harrison Bergeron” (excerpt from “Welcome to the Monkey House”) by Kurt Vonnegut
- “The Man in the Arena” (excerpt from “Citizenship in a Republic” speech by Teddy Roosevelt in 1910) by Teddy Roosevelt
- “O Me! O Life!” by Walt Whitman
- “To Everything There is a Season (Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3)” by King James Version: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
- “Night” by Elie Wiesel
- “Book of Lamentations, Chapter 3” by Tanakh: Jewish Publication Society 1917
- “The Perils of Indifference” (excerpt from “White House Official Transcript at Remarks of Millenium evening”) by Elie Wiesel
- “The Survivor” by Primo Levi
Ninth Grade
- “Animal Farm” by George Orwell
- “The Clever Teens' Guide to the Russian Revolution” by Felix Rhodes
- “ I, Pencil” by Leonard E. Read
- “ Lyceum Address” by Abraham Lincoln
- “ Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens
- “A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain” (excerpt Chapters 1, 2 and 6) by Michael Paterson
- “Love is not all” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
- “Parable of the Prodigal Son (Book of Luke, Chapter 15, Verses 11-32)” by English Standard Translation: New Testament
10th: Grade
- “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare
- “General Douglas MacArthur's Farewell Speech to the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point” (excerpt paragraph 3: Duty, Honor, Country) by Douglas MacArthur
- “Eulogy for President Reagan” by Margaret Thatcher
- “Pericles' Funeral Oration” (excerpt of Book 2 from Chapters 34 46 of “History of the Peloponnesian War”) by Thucydides (edited by M.I. Finley and translated by Rex Warner)
- “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Inferno” by Dante Alighieri
- “The Book of Job (Book of Job, Chapters 1-7,11,14,19,28,38-42)” by New International Reader's Version: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
- “I've Been to the Mountaintop” by Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Chapter 1 “The 'Middle' Ages?,” Chapter 2 “People and Their Lifestyles,” Chapter 3 “The Big Idea: Christian Salvation,” Chapter 4 “Kingship, Lordship, and Government” (excerpts from “The Middle Ages: A Very Short Introduction”) by Miri Rubin
11th Grade
- “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury
- “Dear Mr. McCarthy, I am very real” (excerpt, Section 1 from “Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage”) by Kurt Vonnegut
- “What is Capitalism?” (excerpt, Section 1 from “Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal”) by Ayn Rand
- “Flattering Unction” (excerpt, Chapter 1 from “The Vision of the Anointed”) by Thomas Sowell
- “The Veldt” (excerpt from “The Illustrated Man”) by Ray Bradbury
- “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- “Adam and Eve (Book of Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3)” by New International Reader's Version: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
- “The Minister's Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar
12th Grade
- “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare
- “Hamlet and His Problems” (excerpt from “The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism”) by T. S. Eliot
- “If” by Rudyard Kipling
- “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot
- “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
- “The Definition of Love (Book of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13)” by English Standard Version: New Testament
- “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson
- “The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne” by Anthony Trollope
- “When I Was One-and-Twenty” by A. E. Housman