Dr. Akash Garg · K–12 Library

The Reading Room

Every text the Common Core standards list as an exemplar, grade band by grade band. Where the work is in the public domain it is here in full and works offline. Where it is still in copyright it cannot be hosted, so it is marked for you to find at a library.

Why most of this list is not hosted here. Appendix B is largely modern writing, and modern writing is under copyright. Of the 329 exemplars, 31 have entered the public domain in the United States and are included in full. The other 298 are marked Find at a library, which links to a catalogue search rather than a copy. Listing a title is not distributing it.

Grades K–1

54 texts · 1 free to read here

Stories

Little Bear · Minarik, Else HolmelundFind at a library
Are You My Mother? · Eastman, P. DFind at a library
Green Eggs and Ham · Seuss, DrFind at a library
Put Me in the Zoo · Lopshire, RobertFind at a library
Frog and Toad Together · Lobel, ArnoldFind at a library
Owl at Home · Lobel, ArnoldFind at a library
Pancakes for Breakfast · DePaola, TomieFind at a library
Hi! Fly Guy · Arnold, TeddFind at a library

Poetry

As I Was Going to St. Ives · . AnonymousFind at a library
Mix a Pancake · Rossetti, ChristinaFind at a library
Singing-Time · Fyleman, RoseFind at a library
Halfway Down · Milne, A. AFind at a library
Drinking Fountain · Chute, MarchetteFind at a library
Poem · Hughes, LangstonFind at a library
Wouldn't You? · Ciardi, JohnFind at a library
Laughing Boy · Wright, RichardFind at a library
By Myself · Greenfeld, EloiseFind at a library
Covers · Giovanni, NikkiFind at a library
It Fell in the City · Merriam, EveFind at a library
Celebration · Lopez, AlonzoFind at a library
Two Tree Toads · Agee, JonFind at a library

Read-aloud stories

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz · Baum, L. FrankRead now →
Little House in the Big Woods · Wilder, Laura IngallsFind at a library
Mr. Popper's Penguins · Atwater, Richard and FlorenceFind at a library
Finn Family Moomintroll · Jansson, ToveFind at a library
A Story, A Story · Haley, Gail EFind at a library
The Paper Crane · Bang, MollyFind at a library
Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China · Young, EdFind at a library
Family Pictures · Garza, Carmen LomasFind at a library
Tomás and the Library Lady · Mora, PatFind at a library
Kitten's First Full Moon · Henkes, KevinFind at a library

Read-aloud poetry

The Fox's Foray · . AnonymousFind at a library
Over in the Meadow · Langstaff, JohnFind at a library
The Owl and the Pussycat · Lear, EdwardFind at a library
April Rain Song · Hughes, LangstonFind at a library
Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin · Moss, LloydFind at a library

Informational texts

A Tree Is a Plant · Bulla, Clyde RobertFind at a library
My Five Senses · . AlikiFind at a library
Starfsh · Hurd, Edith ThacherFind at a library
A Weed is a Flower: The Life of George Washington Carver · . AlikiFind at a library
Truck · Crews, DonaldFind at a library
I Read Signs · Hoban, TanaFind at a library
Let's Find Out About Ice Cream · Reid, Mary EbeltoftFind at a library
Garden Helpers." National Geographic Young ExplorersFind at a library
Wind Power." National Geographic Young ExplorersFind at a library

Read-aloud informational texts

The Year at Maple Hill Farm · Provensen, Alice and MartinFind at a library
Fire! Fire! · Gibbons, GailFind at a library
Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean · Dorros, ArthurFind at a library
Water, Water Everywhere · Rauzon, Mark, and Cynthia Overbeck BixFind at a library
Earthworms · Llewellyn, ClaireFind at a library
What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? · Jenkins, Steve, and Robin PageFind at a library
From Seed to Pumpkin · Pfeffer, WendyFind at a library
Amazing Whales! · Thomson, Sarah LFind at a library
How People Learned to Fly · Hodgkins, Fran, and True KelleyFind at a library

Grades 2–3

56 texts · 3 free to read here

Stories

My Father's Dragon · Gannett, Ruth StilesRead now →
The Fire Cat · Averill, EstherFind at a library
Amos & Boris · Steig, WilliamFind at a library
The Treasure · Shulevitz, UriFind at a library
The Stories Julian Tells · Cameron, AnnFind at a library
Sarah, Plain and Tall · MacLachlan, PatriciaFind at a library
Henry and Mudge: The First Book of Their Adventures · Rylant, CynthiaFind at a library
Tops and Bottoms · Stevens, JanetFind at a library
The Raft · LaMarche, JimFind at a library
Poppleton in Winter · Rylant, CynthiaFind at a library
The Lighthouse Family: The Storm · Rylant, CynthiaFind at a library
Find at a library
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa · Silverman, EricaFind at a library

Poetry

Autumn · Dickinson, EmilyFind at a library
Who Has Seen the Wind? · Rossetti, ChristinaFind at a library
Vincent. "Afternoon on a Hill · Millay, Edna StFind at a library
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening · Frost, RobertFind at a library
Something Told the Wild Geese · Field, RachelFind at a library
Grandpa's Stories · Hughes, LangstonFind at a library
A Bat Is Born · Jarrell, RandallFind at a library
Knoxville, Tennessee · Giovanni, NikkiFind at a library
Weather · Merriam, EveFind at a library
Eating While Reading · Soto, GaryFind at a library

Read-aloud stories

How the Camel Got His Hump · Kipling, RudyardFind at a library
The Thirteen Clocks · Thurber, JamesFind at a library
Charlotte's Web · White, E. BFind at a library
The Cricket in Times Square · Selden, GeorgeFind at a library
The Search for Delicious · Babbitt, NatalieFind at a library
Bud, Not Buddy · Curtis, Christopher PaulFind at a library
The Sign Painter · Say, AllenFind at a library

Read-aloud poetry

The Jumblies · Lear, EdwardRead now →
The Pied Piper of Hamelin · Browning, RobertRead now →
Your World · Johnson, Georgia DouglasFind at a library
The Song of the Jellicles · Eliot, T. SFind at a library
Firefies · Fleischman, PaulFind at a library

Informational texts

A Medieval Feast · . AlikiFind at a library
From Seed to Plant · Gibbons, GailFind at a library
Bats: Creatures of the Night · Milton, JoyceFind at a library
Tooth Traditions Around the WorldFind at a library
Art Around the World · Leonard, HeatherFind at a library
Martin Luther King and the March on Washington · Ruffn, Frances EFind at a library
George, Judith. So You Want to Be President? · . StFind at a library
Crittercam · Einspruch, AndrewFind at a library
Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs · Kudlinski, Kathleen VFind at a library
Bat Loves the Night · Davies, NicolaFind at a library
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 · Floca, BrianFind at a library
Where Do Polar Bears Live? · Thomson, Sarah LFind at a library

Read-aloud informational texts

Lincoln: A Photobiography · Freedman, RussellFind at a library
The Story of Ruby Bridges · Coles, RobertFind at a library
A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder · Wick, WalterFind at a library
A Book about the World's PeopleFind at a library
Ah, Music! · . AlikiFind at a library
A Guide to Strange and Wonderful CollectionsFind at a library
What the World Eats · D'Aluisio, FaithFind at a library
Wild Tracks! A Guide to Nature's Footprints · Arnosky, JimFind at a library
14 Cows for America · Deedy, Carmen AgraFind at a library

Grades 4–5

38 texts · 2 free to read here

Stories

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland · Carroll, LewisRead now →
The Secret Garden · Burnett, Frances HodgsonRead now →
The Black Stallion · Farley, WalterFind at a library
The Little Prince · Saint-Exupéry, Antoine deFind at a library
Tuck Everlasting · Babbitt, NatalieFind at a library
Zlateh the Goat · Singer, Isaac BashevisFind at a library
M. C. Higgins, the Great · Hamilton, VirginiaFind at a library
The Birchbark House · Erdrich, LouiseFind at a library
Bud, Not Buddy · Curtis, Christopher PaulFind at a library
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon · Lin, GraceFind at a library

Poetry

The Echoing Green · Blake, WilliamFind at a library
The New Colossus · Lazarus, EmmaFind at a library
Casey at the Bat · Thayer, Ernest LawrenceFind at a library
A Bird Came Down the Walk · Dickinson, EmilyFind at a library
Fog · Sandburg, CarlFind at a library
Dust of Snow · Frost, RobertFind at a library
Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf · Dahl, RoaldFind at a library
They Were My People · Nichols, GraceFind at a library
Words Free As Confetti · Mora, PatFind at a library

Informational texts

Discovering Mars: The Amazing Story of the Red Planet · Berger, MelvinFind at a library
Let's Investigate Marvelously Meaningful Maps · Carlisle, Madelyn WoodFind at a library
Hurricanes: Earth's Mightiest Storms · Lauber, PatriciaFind at a library
Saving It, Spending It, Growing It, Sharing ItFind at a library
Toys!: Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions · Wulffson, DonFind at a library
Good Pet, Bad Pet · Schleichert, ElizabethFind at a library
Ancient Mound Builders · Kavash, E. BarrieFind at a library
About Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks · Koscielniak, BruceFind at a library
England the Land · Banting, ErinnFind at a library
A History of US · Hakim, JoyFind at a library
Are Brought to Children Around the WorldFind at a library
Horses · Simon, SeymourFind at a library
An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New GuineaFind at a library
Volcanoes · Simon, SeymourFind at a library
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball · Nelson, KadirFind at a library
Kenya's Long Dry Season · Cutler, Nellie GonzalezFind at a library
Seeing Eye to Eye · Hall, LeslieFind at a library
Telescopes · Ronan, Colin AFind at a library
Underground Railroad · Buckmaster, HenriettaFind at a library

Grades 6–8

45 texts · 2 free to read here

Stories

Little Women · Alcott, Louisa MayRead now →
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer · Twain, MarkRead now →
A Wrinkle in Time · L'Engle, MadeleineFind at a library
The Dark Is Rising · Cooper, SusanFind at a library
Dragonwings · Yep, LaurenceFind at a library
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry · Taylor, Mildred DFind at a library
The People Could Fly · Hamilton, VirginiaFind at a library
The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks · Paterson, KatherineFind at a library
Eleven · Cisneros, SandraFind at a library
Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad · Sutcliff, RosemaryFind at a library

Drama

Sorry, Wrong Number · Fletcher, LouiseFind at a library
The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play · Goodrich, Frances and Albert HackettFind at a library

Poetry

Paul Revere's Ride · Longfellow, Henry WadsworthFind at a library
O Captain! My Captain! · Whitman, WaltFind at a library
Jabberwocky · Carroll, LewisFind at a library
Navajo tradition. "Twelfth Song of ThunderFind at a library
The Railway Train · Dickinson, EmilyFind at a library
The Song of Wandering Aengus · Yeats, William ButlerFind at a library
The Road Not Taken · Frost, RobertFind at a library
Chicago · Sandburg, CarlFind at a library
I, Too, Sing America · Hughes, LangstonFind at a library
The Book of Questions · Neruda, PabloFind at a library
Oranges · Soto, GaryFind at a library
A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long · Giovanni, NikkiFind at a library
Letter on Thomas Jefferson · Adams, JohnFind at a library
· Address to Parliament on May 13th, 1940Find at a library
Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad · Petry, AnnFind at a library
Travels with Charley: In Search of America · Steinbeck, JohnFind at a library

English language arts

A Night to Remember · Lord, WalterFind at a library
The Great Fire · Murphy, JimFind at a library
Portrait of an ArtistFind at a library
The Life and Songs of Woody GuthrieFind at a library
Your Annotated Guide to the ConstitutionFind at a library
The Story of the Montgomery Bus BoycottFind at a library
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction · Macaulay, DavidFind at a library
The Building of Manhattan · Mackay, DonaldFind at a library
A Mathematical AdventureFind at a library
Adventures in the Math ZoneFind at a library
Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet out of Idaho · Katz, JohnFind at a library
The Evolution of the Grocery Bag · Petroski, HenryFind at a library
Geology." U*X*L Encyclopedia of ScienceFind at a library
From the Big Bang to the Big CrunchFind at a library
Elementary Particles." New Book of Popular ScienceFind at a library
California Invasive Plant Council. Invasive Plant InventoryFind at a library
History/social studies & science, mathematics, and technical subjectsFind at a library

Grades 9–10

63 texts · 9 free to read here

Stories

The Odyssey · HomerRead now →
Metamorphoses · OvidRead now →
The Nose · Gogol, NikolaiFind at a library
M. Candide, Or The Optimist · De Voltaire, F. AFind at a library
Fathers and Sons · Turgenev, IvanRead now →
The Gift of the Magi · Henry, ORead now →
The Metamorphosis · Kafka, FranzRead now →
The Grapes of Wrath · Steinbeck, JohnFind at a library
Fahrenheit 451 · Bradbury, RayFind at a library
I Stand Here Ironing · Olsen, TillieFind at a library
Things Fall Apart · Achebe, ChinuaFind at a library
To Kill A Mockingbird · Lee, HarperFind at a library
The Killer Angels · Shaara, MichaelFind at a library
The Joy Luck Club · Tan, AmyFind at a library
Álvarez, Julia. In the Time of the ButterfiesFind at a library
The Book Thief · Zusak, MarcusFind at a library

Drama

Oedipus Rex · SophoclesFind at a library
The Tragedy of Macbeth · Shakespeare, WilliamRead now →
A Doll's House · Ibsen, HenrikRead now →
The Glass Menagerie · Williams, TennesseeFind at a library
Rhinoceros · Ionesco, EugeneFind at a library
Master Harold"...and the boys · Fugard, AtholFind at a library

Poetry

Sonnet 73 · Shakespeare, WilliamFind at a library
Song · Donne, JohnFind at a library
Ozymandias · Shelley, Percy ByssheFind at a library
The Raven · Poe, Edgar AllanRead now →
We Grow Accustomed to the Dark · Dickinson, EmilyFind at a library
Loveliest of Trees · Houseman, A. EFind at a library
Lift Every Voice and Sing · Johnson, James WeldonFind at a library
Yet Do I Marvel · Cullen, CounteeFind at a library
Musée des Beaux Arts · Auden, Wystan HughFind at a library
Women · Walker, AliceFind at a library
I Am Offering This Poem to You · Baca, Jimmy SantiagoFind at a library
Speech to the Second Virginia Convention · Henry, PatrickFind at a library
Farewell Address · Washington, GeorgeFind at a library
Gettysburg Address · Lincoln, AbrahamFind at a library
Second Inaugural Address · Lincoln, AbrahamRead now →
State of the Union Address · Roosevelt, Franklin DelanoFind at a library
I Am an American Day Address · Hand, LearnedFind at a library
, Martin Luther. "Letter from Birmingham Jail · King, JrFind at a library
C., for Civil Rights on August 28, 1963 · March on Washington, DFind at a library
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings · Angelou, MayaFind at a library
Hope, Despair and Memory · Wiesel, ElieFind at a library
Address to Students at Moscow State University · Reagan, RonaldFind at a library
A Quilt of a Country · Quindlen, AnnaFind at a library

English language arts

An Indian History of the American WestFind at a library
Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn · Connell, Evan SFind at a library
The Story of Art, 16th Edition · Gombrich, E. HFind at a library
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World · Kurlansky, MarkFind at a library
Black, Blue and Gray: African Americans in the Civil War · Haskins, JimFind at a library
The Longitude Prize · Dash, JoanFind at a library
The Illustrated Book of Great Composers · Thompson, WendyFind at a library
Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491 · Mann, Charles CFind at a library
Elements · EuclidFind at a library
Classifying the Stars · Cannon, Annie JFind at a library
Amusement Park Physics · Walker, JearlFind at a library
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story · Preston, RichardFind at a library
Life by the Numbers · Devlin, KeithFind at a library
The Race to Save Lord God Bird · Hoose, PhillipFind at a library
The Story of Science: Newton at the Center · Hakim, JoyFind at a library
Ancient Quest to Measure the GlobeFind at a library
Recommended Levels of InsulationFind at a library
History/social studies & science, mathematics, and technical subjectsFind at a library

Grades 11–12

73 texts · 14 free to read here

Stories

The Canterbury Tales · Chaucer, GeoffreyRead now →
Pride and Prejudice · Austen, JaneRead now →
The Cask of Amontillado · Poe, Edgar AllanRead now →
Jane Eyre · Brontë, CharlotteRead now →
The Scarlet Letter · Hawthorne, NathanielRead now →
Crime and Punishment · Dostoevsky, FyodorFind at a library
A White Heron · Jewett, Sarah OrneFind at a library
Billy Budd, Sailor · Melville, HermanRead now →
Home · Chekhov, AntonFind at a library
The Great Gatsby · Fitzgerald, F. ScottRead now →
As I Lay Dying · Faulkner, WilliamFind at a library
A Farewell to · Hemingway, ErnestRead now →
Their Eyes Were Watching God · Hurston, Zora NealeFind at a library
The Garden of Forking Paths · Borges, Jorge LuisFind at a library
The Adventures of Augie March · Bellow, SaulFind at a library
The Bluest Eye · Morrison, ToniFind at a library
Dreaming in Cuban · Garcia, CristinaFind at a library
The Namesake · Lahiri, JhumpaFind at a library

Drama

The Tragedy of Hamlet · Shakespeare, WilliamRead now →
Tartufe · Molière, Jean-Baptiste PoquelinFind at a library
The Importance of Being Earnest · Wilde, OscarFind at a library
Our Town: A Play in Three Acts · Wilder, ThorntonFind at a library
Death of a Salesman · Miller, ArthurFind at a library
A Raisin in the Sun · Hansberry, LorraineFind at a library
Death and the King's Horseman: A Play · Soyinka, WoleFind at a library

Poetry

Li Po. "A Poem of ChangganFind at a library
A Valediction Forbidding Mourning · Donne, JohnFind at a library
On Being Brought From Africa to America · Wheatley, PhyllisFind at a library
Ode on a Grecian Urn · Keats, JohnFind at a library
Song of Myself · Whitman, WaltFind at a library
Because I Could Not Stop for Death · Dickinson, EmilyFind at a library
Song VII · Tagore, RabindranathFind at a library
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock · Eliot, T. SFind at a library
The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter · Pound, EzraFind at a library
Mending Wall · Frost, RobertFind at a library
Ode to My Suit · Neruda, PabloFind at a library
Sestina · Bishop, ElizabethFind at a library
The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica · Ortiz Cofer, JudithFind at a library
Demeter's Prayer to Hades · Dove, RitaFind at a library
Man Listening to Disc · Collins, BillyFind at a library
Common Sense · Paine, ThomasRead now →
The Declaration of Independence · Jefferson, ThomasRead now →
Walden · Thoreau, Henry DavidRead now →
Society and Solitude · Emerson, Ralph WaldoRead now →
Lee Surrenders to Grant, April 9th, 1865 · Porter, HoraceFind at a library
The Fallacy of Success · Chesterton, G. KFind at a library
The American Language, 4th Edition · Mencken, H. LFind at a library
Black Boy · Wright, RichardFind at a library
Politics and the English Language · Orwell, GeorgeFind at a library
Abraham Lincoln and the Self-Made Myth · Hofstadter, RichardFind at a library
Mother Tongue · Tan, AmyFind at a library
Take the Tortillas Out of Your Poetry · Anaya, RudolfoFind at a library

English language arts

Democracy in America · Tocqueville, Alexis deRead now →
Declaration of Sentiments by the Seneca Falls ConferenceFind at a library
· An Address Delivered in Rochester, New York, on 5 July 1852Find at a library
An American Primer. Edited by Daniel J. BoorstinFind at a library
Education · Lagemann, Ellen CondliffeFind at a library
What They Fought For 1861-1865 · McPherson, James MFind at a library
The American Reader: Words that Moved a Nation, 2nd EditionFind at a library
America's Constitution: A Biography · Amar, Akhil ReedFind at a library
1776 · McCullough, DavidFind at a library
Mirror of the World: A New History of Art · Bell, JulianFind at a library
FedViews by the Federal Reserve Bank of San FranciscoFind at a library
Mathematical Illiteracy and Its ConsequencesFind at a library
Can Make a Big DiferenceFind at a library
The Tale of Albert Einstein's 'Greatest Blunder.'Find at a library
Tips & Tools for Smarter Searching, 2nd EditionFind at a library
The Mysteries of Mass · Kane, GordonFind at a library
Working Knowledge: Electronic Stability Control · Fischetti, MarkFind at a library
The Coming Merger of Mind and Machine · Kurzweil, RayFind at a library
Untangling the Roots of Cancer · Gibbs, W. WaytFind at a library
· Health Care Costs in McAllen, TexasFind at a library
History/social studies & science, mathematics, and technical subjectsFind at a library