
High School Reading List Challenge
I came across this high school reading list at work (I work at the local library) and was so intrigued. Then I noticed that I personally have only read a handful of these books…appalling! So now I’m on a mission to read them all….you know, eventually. Thus is born a new reading challenge!
TOTAL BOOKS: 118 | TOTAL READ: 4 | COMPLETE: 3% | TOTAL TBR: 114 | LEFT: 97% |
Last Updated: August 4
1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
2. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
3. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
4. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
5. 20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne
6. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
7. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
8. Once and Future King by Theodore White
Young Adult
1. The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
2. The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan
3. Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
4. The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
5. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
6. QB 1 by Mike Lupica
7. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
8. Ruined: A Ghost Story by Paula Morris
9. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
10. The Berlin Boxing Club by Rob Sharenow
11. The Lost Songs by Caroline B. Cooney
12. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
13. Four-Four-Two by Dean Hughes
Non–Fiction
1. Fourth Down and Inches: Concussions and Football’s Make-or-Break Moment by Carla K.
McClafferty
2. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
3. Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin
4. A Treasury of Miracles for Teens: True Stories of God’s Presence Today by Karen Kingsbury
5. Grace, Gold, and Glory: My Leap of Faith by Gabrielle Douglas and Michelle Burford
6. Word by Word: Slowing Down with the Hail Mary by Sarah A. Reinhard
Honors English
1. The Chosen by Chaim Potok
1. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
2. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
3. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
4. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
5. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
7. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
8. Don Quxiote by Cervantes
9. A Lesson before Dying by Ernest Gaines
Young Adult
1. Maximum Ride by James Patterson
2. Orleans by Sherri L. Smith
3. Variant by Robison Wells
4. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
5. Matched by Allyson B. Condie
6. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
7. Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
8. Backlash by Sarah Littman
9. A Single Bead by Stephanie Engleman
10. Riders by Veronica Rossi
11. True Legend by Mike Lupica
12. VIII by H. M. Castor
13. Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick
Non-Fiction
1. Throw Like a Girl: How to Dream Big and Believe in Yourself by Jennie Finch
2. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
by Malala Yousafzai
3 Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
4. Steve Jobs: The Man who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal
5. Discovering Wes Moore by Wes Moore
6. A Time to Break Silence: The Essential Works of Martin Luther King, Jr. for Students by
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Honors English
1. Anthem by Ayn Rand
Classics and Contemporary
1. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
4. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
5. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
6. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
7. For One More Day by Mitch Albom
8. Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
Young Adult
1. Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
2. The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
3. The Queen of Water by Laura Resau
4. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith
5. The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
6. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
7. Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano
8. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
9. Being Henry David by Cal Armistead
10. Armada by Ernest Cline
11. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
12. A Single Bead by Stephanie Engleman
13. Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
Non-Fiction
1. Quiet Power: Secret Strengths of Introverted Kids by Susan Cain and Gregory Mone
2. Left for Dead: A Young Man’s Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis by Peter Nelson
3. Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Power of Adversity by Drew Brees
4. Chasing Space: An Astronaut’s Story of Grit, Grace, and Second Chances by Leland Melvin
5. Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza
6. Iron Heart by Brian Boyle
7. Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield
by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
AP English
1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Classics and Contemporary
1. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini
3. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
5. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
6. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
7. Dune by Frank Herbert
8. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
9. Evil under the Sun by Agatha Christie
10. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
11. The Year of the Intern by Robin Cook
12. Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben
Young Adult
1. Shift by Jennifer Bradbury
2. The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
3. Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick
4. Hate List by Jennifer Brown
5. Peak by Roland Smith
6. The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
7. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
8. Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd
9. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
10. Wicked by Gregory McGuire
11. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
12. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Non-Fiction
1. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
2. No Easy Day by Mark Owen and Kevin Maurer
3. Confessions of a Scholarship Winner by Kristina Ellis
4. Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation
by Blake J. Harris
5. Have a Little Faith: A True Story by Mitch Albom
6. Believe: My Faith and the Tackle That Changed My Life
by Eric LeGrand and Mike Yorkey
AP English
1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
2. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy


6 Comments
Kay
That’s interesting. I have read almost all of the Classics, almost none of the YA or nonfiction, and all but one of the Honors novels.
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Books In Bloom
Wow, great job! My reading is severely lacking. Lol.
FictionFan
I’ve also read most of the classic and contemporary fiction and none of the rest – YA didn’t really exist when I was a YA back in the dark ages, and I’m afraid I might be too much of an OA to really get into it now! But I’m glad to see young people still being encouraged to read some of the classics.
Books In Bloom
Yes, me too! I was quite pleased when I saw the list. Looks like a bit of everything. I also noticed that we also got in a collection set of classics for students. It has critical reviews, analysis and discussion questions for each book and features over like 200 classics. Super excited to sift through those!
Brittany
I have read 11 of them! Thanks for sharing the list 🙂 Good luck with your challenge!
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Books In Bloom
Thank you! I really loved the idea of this list!