Recommended by the Experts

Michelle recently attended a conference in regards to Best Books for Young Adults. The presenter, Kathleen O'dean shared her compilation of books that "meet the CCSS required Lexile levels for nonfiction." As a group, we scoured and researched the list and determined that it is an amazing resource for teachers of all different subject areas. Although we follow the F&P breakdown of reading levels, we found an easy conversion online from Lexile to F&P. This allowed us to better recommend books to certain teachers of specific grade levels. Here are many resources on the list categorized and shared by O'dean:

Archaeology & the Ancient World
Arnold, Caroline. The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde. 1992. Lexile: 1100
Aronson, Marc. If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge. 2010. Lexile: 1070
Cline, Eric H. Digging for Troy: From Homer to Hisarlik. 2011. Lexile: 1080
Deem, James M. Bodies from the Ashes. 2005. Lexile: 1120
Giblin, James. The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone: Key to Ancient Egypt. 1990. Lexile: 1100
Harrison, David L. and Richard Hilliard. Mammoth Bones and Broken Stones: The Mystery of North America's First People. 2010. Lexile: 1040
O'Connor, Jane. The Emperor's Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China. 2002. Lexile: 980
Ray, Deborah Kogan. Dinosaur Mountain: Digging into the Jurassic Age. 2010. Lexile: 1140
Sloan, Christopher. Bury the Dead: Tombs, Corpses, Mummies, Skeletons, & Rituals. 2002. Lexile: 1160
Tanaka, Shelley. Mummies: The Newest, Coolest, and Creepiest. 2005. Lexile: 1130
Walker, Sally. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. 2005. Lexile: 1060
Walker, Sally. Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland. 2009. Lexile: 1140

Aviators & Astronauts
Chaikin, Andrew and Victoria Kohl. Mission Control, This Is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon. 2009. Lexile: 1150
Collins, Michael. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story. 1994. Lexile: 1170
Fleischman, John. Black and White Airmen: Their True History. 2007. Lexile: 1050
Freedman, Russell. The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane. 1991. Lexile: 1160
Giblin, James. Charles A. Lindbergh: A Human Hero. 1997. Lexile: 1140
O'Grady, Scott and Michael French. Basher Five-Two: The True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O'grady. 1997. Lexile: 1040
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: The True Story of The "Mercury 13" Women. 2009. Lexile: 980
Taylor, Sarah Stewart, and Ben Towle. Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean. 2010. Lexile: 1080
Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. 2006. Lexile: 1060

Black History
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group. 2010. Lexile: 1180
Beals, Melba. Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High. 1995. Lexile: 1000
Blair, Margaret Whitman. Liberty or Death: The Surprising Story of Runaway Slaves Who Sided with the British During the American Revolution. 2010. Lexile: 1160
Bolden, Tonya. Tell All the Children Our Story: Memories and Mementoes of Being Young and Black in America. 2001. Lexile: 1130
Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Remarkable Nineteenth-Century Girl. 2004. Lexile: 1190
Bolden, Tonya, and Bob Adelman. M.L.K.: Journey of a King. 2006. Lexile: 1140
Bolden, Tonya and Field Museum of Natural History. George Washington Carver. 2008. Lexile: 1040
Bowers, Rick. Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network That Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement. 2010. Lexile: 1290
Brimner, Larry Dane. Birmingham Sunday. 2010. Lexile: 1190
Crowe, Chris. Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. 2003. Lexile: 1210
Fradin, Dennis. Fight On! Mary Church Terrell's Battle for Integration. 2003. Lexile: 1030
Hill, Laban. Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance. 2004. Lexile: 1270
Hoose, Phillip M. Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice. 2009. Lexile: 1000
Hopkinson, Deborah. Up before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America. 2006. Lexile: 1060
Myers, Walter Dean. The Greatest: Muhummad Ali. 2001. Lexile: 1030
Myers, Walter Dean. The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage. 2006. Lexile: 1130
Nelson, Kadir. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. 2011. Lexile: 1050

Civil War
Allen, Thomas B. and Roger MacBride Allen. Mr. Lincoln's High-Tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, Railroads, Surveillance Balloons, Ironclads, High-Powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War. 2009. Lexile: 1180
Armstrong, Jennifer. Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War. 2005. Lexile: 1200
Fleming, Candace. The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary. 2008. Lexile: 1050
Giblin, James. Good Brother, Bad Brother: The Story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. 2005. Lexile: 1130
Holzer, Harold. Father Abraham: Lincoln and His Sons. 2011. Lexile: 1060
Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. 1990. Lexile: 1060
Murphy, Jim. The Long Road to Gettysburg. 1992. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. A Savage Thunder: Antietam and the Bloody Road to Freedom. 2009. Lexile: 1180
Swanson, James L. Chasing Lincoln's Killer. 2009. Lexile: 980
Swanson, James L. Bloody Times: The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Manhunt for Jefferson Davis. 2011. Lexile: 1010
Walker, Sally M. Secrets of a Civil War Submarine: Solving the Mysteries of the H.L. Hunley. 2005. Lexile: 1060
Warren, Andrea. Under Siege!: Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg. 2009. Lexile: 1110

Colonial Life & the American Revolution
Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How America Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. 2004. Lexile: 1100
Aronson, Marc. Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. 2003. Lexile: 1180
Aronson, Marc. The Real Revolution: The Global Story of American Independence. 2005. Lexile: 1180
Blair, Margaret Whitman. Liberty or Death: The Surprising Story of Runaway Slaves Who Sided with the British During the American Revolution. 2010. Lexile: 1160
Cooper, Michael L. Jamestown, 1607. 2007. Lexile: 1040
Fleming, Candace. Ben Franklin's Almanac. 2003. Lexile: 1000
Freedman, Russell. Give Me Liberty! The Story of the Declaration of Independence. 2000. Lexile: 1070
Freedman, Russell. Washington at Valley Forge. 2008. Lexile: 1210
Freedman, Russell. Lafayette and the American Revolution. 2010. Lexile: 1160
Fritz, Jean. Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider. 2010. Lexile: 1030
McClafferty, Carla Killough. The Many Faces of George Washington. 2011. Lexile: none
Murphy, Jim. A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy. 1996. Lexile: 1140
Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World. 2008. Lexile:
Sheinkin, Steve. The Notorious Benedict Arnold. 2010. Lexile: 990
Disasters & Tragedies
Aronson, Marc. Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert. 2011. Lexile: 1070
Denenberg, Barry. Titanic Sinks! 2011. Lexile: none yet
Giblin, James. When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, Aids. 1995. Lexile: 1190
Guiberson, Brenda Z. Disasters: Natural and Man-Made Catastrophes through the Centuries. 2010. Lexile: 1080
Landau, Elaine. Heroine of the Titanic: The Real Unsinkable Molly Brown. 2001. Lexile: 1110
Marrin, Albert. Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy. 2011. Lexile: 1000
McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino. Iceberg Right Ahead! The Sinking of the Titanic. 2011. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. The Great Fire. 1995. Lexile: 1130
Murphy, Jim. Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America. 2000. Lexile: 1080
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. 2003. Lexile: 1130
Walker, Sally M. Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917. 2011.

Explorers & Adventurers
Armstrong, Jennifer. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance. 1998. Lexile: 1090
Aronson, Marc. Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado. 2000. Lexile: 1030
Bausum, Ann. Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs: A Photobiography of Explorer Roy Chapman Andrews. 2000. Lexile: 1080
Blumberg, Rhoda. York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition. 2004. Lexile: 1110
Freedman, Russell. The Adventures of Marco Polo. 2006. Lexile: 1270
Freedman, Russell. Who Was First?: Discovering the Americas. 2007. Lexile: 1310
Johnson, Dolores. Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson. 2006. Lexile: 1070
Lawlor, Laurie. Magnificent Voyage: An American Adventurer on Captain James Cook's Final Expedition. 2002. Lexile: 980
Macy, Sue. Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly. 2009. Lexile: 1150
Macy, Sue. Bulls-Eye: A Photobiography of Annie Oakley. 2001. Lexile: 1150
Murphy, Jim. Gone a-Whaling: The Lure of the Sea and the Hunt for the Great Whale. 1998. Lexile: 1150
Revkin, Andrew. The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World. 2006. Lexile: 1300
Ross, Stewart. Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air. 2011. Lexile: 1120

The Great Depression
Blumenthal, Karen. Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition. 2011. Lexile: 1250
Cooper, Michael L. Dust to Eat: Drought and Depression in the 1930's. 2004. Lexile: 1120
Freedman, Russell. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 1990. Lexile: 1070
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. 2005. Lexile: 1170
Marrin, Albert. Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl. 2009. Lexile: 1040
Nau, Thomas. Walker Evans: Photographer of America. 2007. Lexile: 1020
Partridge, Elizabeth and Dorothea Lange. Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange. 1998. Lexile: 970
Stanley, Jerry. Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp. 1992. Lexile: 1120
Inventions & Inventors
Allen, Thomas B. and Roger MacBride Allen. Mr. Lincoln's High-Tech War: How the North Used the Telegraph, Railroads, Surveillance Balloons, Ironclads, High-Powered Weapons, and More to Win the Civil War. 2009. Lexile: 1180
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Inventing the Future: A Photobiography of Thomas Edison. 2002. Lexile: 1140
Fradin, Dennis B. With a Little Luck: Surprising Stories of Amazing Discoveries. 2006. Lexile: 1130
Freedman, Russell and Kate Kiesler. Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille. 1997. Lexile: 1000
Mitchell, Don. Driven: A Photobiography of Henry Ford. 2010. Lexile: 1210
Thimmesh, Catherine. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. 2000. Lexile: 960
Tomecek, Stephen M. What a Great Idea! Inventions That Changed the World. 2003 o.p. Lexile: 1250
Wulffson, Don L. The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle: And Other Surprising Stories About Inventions. 1997. Lexile: 1080

Kids in History
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow. 2005. Lexile: 1050
Bolden, Tonya. Maritcha: A Remarkable Nineteenth-Century Girl. 2004. Lexile: 1190
Colman, Penny. Girls: A History of Growing up Female in America. 2000. Lexile: 1020
Freedman, Russell. Immigrant Kids. 1980. Lexile: 1050
Freedman, Russell. Children of the Great Depression. 2005. Lexile: 1170
Freedman, Russell. Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade against Child Labor. 1994. Lexile: 1140
Hoose, Phillip M. Claudette Colvin: Twice toward Justice. 2009. Lexile: 1000
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Children of the Gold Rush. 2001. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. 1990. Lexile: 1060
Partridge, Elizabeth. Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don't You Grow Weary. 2009. Lexile: 960
Reef, Catherine. Alone in the World: Orphans and Orphanages in America. 2005. Lexile: 1160
Warren, Andrea. Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story. 1996. Lexile: 960
Warren, Andrea. Pioneer Girl: Growing up on the Prairie. 1998. Lexile: 1020
Warren, Andrea. Under Siege!: Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg. 2009. Lexile: 1110

Native Americans
Aaseng, Nathan. Navajo Code Talkers. 1992. Lexile: 1170
Ferris, Jeri. Native American Doctor: The Story of Susan Laflesche Picotte. 1991. Lexile: 1110
Freedman, Russell. Indian Chiefs. 1987. Lexile: 1030
Freedman, Russell and Amos Bad Heart Bull. The Life and Death of Crazy Horse. 1996. Lexile: 1100
Freedman, Russell and Karl Bodmer. An Indian Winter. 1992. Lexile: 1150
Katz, William Loren. Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage. 1986. Lexile: 1130
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. The Buffalo and the Indians: A Shared Destiny. 2006. Lexile: 1120
Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Mayflower and the Pilgrims' New World. 2008. Lexile: 1170
Sullivan, George. Geronimo: Apache Renegade. 2010. Lexile: 980
Walker, Paul Robert. Remember Little Bighorn: Indians, Soldiers, and Scouts Tell Their Stories. 2006. Lexile: 1170

Science & Scientists
Burns, Loree. Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion. 2007. Lexile: 1200
Burns, Loree. The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe. 2010. Lexile: 1120
Carson, Mary Kay. The Bat Scientists. 2010. Lexile: 1010
Collard, Sneed B. The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands. 2005. Lexile: 1090
Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Genius: A Photobiography of Albert Einstein. 2005. Lexile: 1030
Dendy, Leslie A. Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold "Test Pilots" Of Science & Medicine. 2005. Lexile: 1100
Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Allies: How Microbes Shape Our Lives. 2005. Lexile: 1270
Farrell, Jeanette. Invisible Enemies: Stories of Infectious Diseases. 2005 revised. Lexile: 1200
Fleischman, John. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science. 2002. Lexile: 1030
Gore, Albert, & Jane O'Connor. An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming. 2007. Lexile: 1070
Heiligman, Deborah. Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith. 2008. Lexile: 1020
Hoose, Phillip M. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. 2004. Lexile: 1160
Jackson, Donna M. The Wildlife Detectives: How Forensic Scientists Fight Crimes against Nature. 2000. Lexile: 1120
Jackson, Donna M. The Bug Scientists. 2002. Lexile: 1200
Jackson, Donna M. Er Vets. 2005. Lexile: 1190
Jackson, Donna M. Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature's Mysteries from Perilous Places. 2009. Lexile: 1130
Jackson, Ellen. Looking for Life in the Universe: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. 2002. Lexile: 1060
Krull, Kathleen. Isaac Newton. 2006. Lexile: 1000
Krull, Kathleen. Giants of Science: Charles Darwin. 2010. Lexile: 1110
Levine, Ellen. Rachel Carson: A Twentieth-Century Life. 2007. Lexile: 1060
Lourie, Peter. The Polar Bear Scientists. Lexile:
Lourie, Peter. Whaling Season: A Year in the Life of an Arctic Whale Scientist. 2009. Lexile: 1150
Lourie, Peter. The Manatee Scientists: Saving Vulnerable Species. 2011. Lexile: 1210
Macaulay, David and Neil Ardley. The New Way Things Work. 1998. Lexile: 1180
Mallory, Kenneth. Diving to a Deep Sea Volcano. 2006. Lexile: 1250
Marrin, Albert. Oh, Rats! The Story of Rats and People. 2006. Lexile: 960
McClafferty, Carla Killough. Something out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium. 2006. Lexile: 1050
O'Connell, Caitlin, and Donna M. Jackson. The Elephant Scientist. 2011. Lexile: 1260
Osborn, Elinor. Project Ultraswan. 2002. Lexile: 970
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Shaping the Earth. 2000. Lexile: 1120
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Charles Darwin: The Life of a Revolutionary Thinker. 2001. Lexile: 1110
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. When the Wolves Returned: Restoring Nature's Balance in Yellowstone. 2008. Lexile: 1040
Pringle, Laurence. Billions of Years, Amazing Changes. 2011. Lexile: none
Sayre, April. Secrets of Sound: Studying the Calls of Whales, Elephants, and Birds. 2002. Lexile: 1060
Schlosser, Eric and Charles Wilson. Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food. 2006. Lexile: 1110
Sloan, Christopher. Supercroc and the Origin of Crocodiles. 2002. Lexile: 1150
Sullivan, Edward T. The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb. 2007. Lexile: 1170
Turner, Pamela S. Project Seahorse. 2010. Lexile: 1010
Walker, Sally M. Fossil Fish Found Alive: Discovering the Coelacanth. 2002. Lexile: 1000
Webb, Sophie. My Season with Penguins: An Antarctic Journal. 2000. Lexile: 1040
Webb, Sophie. Looking for Seabirds: Journal from an Alaskan Voyage. 2004. Lexile: 1020
Webb, Sophie. Far from Shore: Chronicles of an Open Ocean Voyage. 2011. Lexile: 1030
Wittenstein, Vicki O. Planet Hunter: Geoff Marcy and the Search for Other Earths. 2010. Lexile: 1080

Western Expansion
Blumberg, Rhoda. York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition. 2004. Lexile: 1110
Collard, Sneed B. The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands. 2005. Lexile: 1090
Freedman, Russell. Cowboys of the Wild West. 1985. Lexile: 1160
Freedman, Russell. Indian Chiefs. 1987. Lexile: 1030
Freedman, Russell. In the Days of the Vaqueros: America's First True Cowboys. 2001. Lexile: 1180
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Gold Rush Women. 1997. Lexile: 1280
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Children of the Gold Rush. 2001. Lexile: 1070
Murphy, Jim. Across America on an Emigrant Train. 1993. Lexile: 1180
Murphy, Jim. Inside the Alamo. 2003. Lexile: 1100
Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw. Animals on the Trail with Lewis and Clark. 2002. Lexile: 1090
Stanley, Jerry. Cowboys and Longhorns: A Portrait of the Long Drive. 2003. Lexile: 1060

Women’s History (not biographies)
Bausum, Ann. With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote. 2004. Lexile: 1080
Blumenthal, Karen. Let Me Play: The Story of Title Ix: The Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America. 2005. Lexile: 1140
Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War Ii. 1995. Lexile: 1060
Colman, Penny. Girls: A History of Growing up Female in America. 2000. Lexile: 1020
Colman, Penny. Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War Ii. 2002. Lexile: 1030
Colman, Penny. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World. 2011. Lexile: 1180
Krull, Kathleen. Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought). 2000. Lexile: 1150
Macy, Sue. Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (with a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). 2011. Lexile: 1280
Murphy, Claire Rudolf and Jane G. Haigh. Gold Rush Women. 1997. Lexile: 1280
Stone, Tanya Lee. Almost Astronauts: The True Story of The "Mercury 13" Women. 2009. Lexile: 980
Thimmesh, Catherine and Melissa Sweet. Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women. 2000. Lexile: 960

World War I
Bausum, Ann. Unraveling Freedom: The Battle for Democracy on the Home Front During World War I. Lexile: 1250
Freedman, Russell. The War to End All Wars: World War I. 2010. Lexile: 1220
Murphy, Jim. Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting. 2009. Lexile: 1160
Myers, Walter Dean and William Miles. The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage. 2006. Lexile: 1130
Preston, Diana. Remember the Lusitania! 2003. Lexile: 1030
Walker, Sally M. Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917. 2011.

World War II
Bachrach, Susan D./United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936. 2000. Lexile: 1280
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow. 2005. Lexile: 1050
Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War Ii. 1995. Lexile: 1060
Colman, Penny. Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War Ii. 2002. Lexile: 1030
Denenberg, Barry. Shadow Life: A Portrait of Anne Frank and Her Family. 2005. Lexile: 1000
Fleischman, John. Black and White Airmen: Their True History. 2007. Lexile: 1050
Giblin, James. The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. 2002. Lexile: 1110
Nelson, Peter. Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the Uss Indianapolis. 2002. Lexile: 1260
Sullivan, Edward T. The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb. 2007. Lexile: 1170
Thomson, Ruth. Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust. 2011. Lexile: 980