Book Club › Books by level › Level 13
Books for level 13 readers
Usually 8th grade. 100 to 145 words on a page, sentences up to about 62 words long.
Peabody's level 13 stories, free to read now
- A Predator at the Window10 short pages · true
- A Rabbit Is Not a Small Cat10 short pages · true
- Bats After Dark12 short pages · true
- Bellerophon and Pegasus17 short pages · a classic
- Beyond the Perfect Ten13 short pages · true
- Black Beauty17 short pages · a classic
- Build, Break, Rebuild: The Physics of Mark Rober11 short pages · true
- Click, Watch, Stay12 short pages · true
- Coco Gauff and the Arithmetic of a Match15 short pages · true
- Counted in Days: Jude Bellingham's Records12 short pages · true
- Counting a Career11 short pages · true
- Counting a Channel: What Ryan's World Counts12 short pages · true
- Counting Caitlin Clark14 short pages · true
- Counting What Never Gets Shot13 short pages · true
- Debugging Since 184311 short pages · true
- Downforce, Drag and the Rulebook14 short pages · true
- Excalibur and the Lady of the Lake11 short pages · a classic
- Falling Hoops: The Physics of Dude Perfect12 short pages · true
- Field Notes and the Long Study at Gombe12 short pages · true
- Five Needs, One Dog8 short pages · true
- Fooling Two Eyes and One Inner Ear13 short pages · true
- Four Hooves Off the Ground12 short pages · true
- Goals, Minutes and xG: Reading a Striker14 short pages · true
- How Baseball Counts a Two-Way Player14 short pages · true
- How Credit Scores Are Built11 short pages · true
- How Soccer Is Measured13 short pages · true
- How the Federal Tax System Is Built12 short pages · true
- Kidnapped16 short pages · a classic
- Lamine Yamal and the Arithmetic of Youngest13 short pages · true
- Perseus and Medusa18 short pages · a classic
- Ranking a Run: How Park Judging Works13 short pages · true
- Reaction Time and the 0.005-Second Margin14 short pages · true
- Reading Kobe Bryant's Numbers13 short pages · true
- Reading Lead with Carbon: Inside the Tethys Sensor12 short pages · true
- Rikki-Tikki-Tavi15 short pages · a classic
- Robinson Crusoe13 short pages · a classic
- Rooms Within Rooms12 short pages · true
- Salt and Syllables16 short pages
- Serena Williams, Measured13 short pages · true
- Seven Is a Choice11 short pages · true
- Sinbad and the Roc15 short pages · a classic
- Sir Gawaine and the Riddle11 short pages · a classic
- Six Joints, Five Million Robots17 short pages · true
- Smeaton's Number and the Wrights' Wind Tunnel15 short pages · true
- Testing Einstein: Eclipses, Airplanes, Satellites13 short pages · true
- The Arithmetic of the Arc12 short pages · true
- The Bamboo Bargain10 short pages · true
- The Bee Line17 short pages
- The Beggar in the Hall10 short pages · a classic
- The Clock That Struck Thirteen23 short pages
- The Desert Animal in the Glass Box10 short pages · true
- The Empty Birdcage16 short pages
- The Hamster's Wild Design12 short pages · true
- The Happy Prince13 short pages · a classic
- The Ice-Crushed Endurance12 short pages · true
- The Little Match Girl9 short pages · a classic
- The Little Mermaid20 short pages · a classic
- The Michael Jordan Argument13 short pages · true
- The Miracle of Purun Bhagat16 short pages · a classic
- The Physics Inside 9.58 Seconds14 short pages · true
- The Pied Piper of Hamelin16 short pages · a classic
- The Princess and the Goblin24 short pages · a classic
- The Rulebook Behind a Child Actor's Day15 short pages · true
- The Secret Garden15 short pages · a classic
- The Secret of the Old Clock20 short pages · a classic
- The Sword in the Stone16 short pages · a classic
- The Thirteenth Stop13 short pages
- The Tower Treasure17 short pages · a classic
- The Year After the Fire14 short pages
- Thor in Utgard10 short pages · a classic
- Tom Sawyer and the Fence14 short pages · a classic
- Toomai of the Elephants16 short pages · a classic
- Venus Williams and the Math of a Tour Career13 short pages · true
- Watt-Hours and Bike Lanes13 short pages · true
- Who Counts Ronaldo's Goals?13 short pages · true
- Whose Song Is It? Two Copyrights in One Song12 short pages · true
- Zendaya, Credits and the Work of Producing12 short pages · true
From Peabody's kids' book lists
Top 25 books for an 8th grader
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee · ages 13-17. Scout Finch watches her father defend a Black man falsely accused in 1930s Alabama. A fixture of 8th-9th grade. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Night by Elie Wiesel · ages 13-17. A short memoir of the author's year in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. A bare, powerful text. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck · ages 13-17. Two migrant workers in California dream of a farm of their own. A short novel with a hard ending. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding · ages 13-17. British schoolboys stranded on an island build their own society and lose it. Often read in 8th-9th grade. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury · ages 12-17. In a future where firemen burn books, Montag starts to read. Short, poetic, and a good discussion of screens and censorship. Bookshop.org · Amazon
Books for seventh and eighth grade readers
- The Giver by Lois Lowry · ages 11-14. A boy is chosen to hold his society's memories. Newbery Medal 1994. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton · ages 12-15. Greasers and Socs in 1960s Oklahoma. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins · ages 12-16. Teenagers forced to fight to the death on TV. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card · ages 12-16. A boy is trained to fight an alien war in space. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Refugee by Alan Gratz · ages 10-14. Three refugee children across history. Bookshop.org · Amazon
25 books to read before high school
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio · ages 8-12. August, a boy with a facial difference, starts fifth grade at a regular school. Told in several voices, it works well for talking about kindness and staring. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The Giver by Lois Lowry · ages 11-14. Jonas lives in a calm community with no pain or choice and learns what that costs. Short, easy to read, and made for discussion. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen · ages 10-14. After a plane crash, 13-year-old Brian survives alone in the Canadian wilderness with only a hatchet. Short chapters and constant action. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Holes by Louis Sachar · ages 9-13. Stanley Yelnats is sent to dig holes at a juvenile camp in the desert, and three timelines click together. Short chapters, dry humor, a real mystery. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan · ages 9-13. Percy Jackson learns he is a son of Poseidon and sets out across America to stop a war between gods. Funny, fast, and a gateway to Greek myth. Bookshop.org · Amazon
Series at this age
- Berrybrook Middle School by Svetlana Chmakova, ages 10+: 6 books in order, with a checklist that the Series Challenge counts.
- Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham, ages 9–13: 3 books in order, with a checklist that the Series Challenge counts.
- Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke, ages 9–13: 3 books in order, with a checklist that the Series Challenge counts.
- The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell (with co-writers), ages 9–12: 3 books in order, with a checklist that the Series Challenge counts.
- Space Boy by Stephen McCranie, ages 10+: 23 books in order, with a checklist that the Series Challenge counts.