Book Club › Books by level › Level 18
Books for level 18 readers
Past the school grades: strong teen and grown-up readers. 150 to 220 words on a page, sentences up to about 70 words long.
Peabody's level 18 stories, free to read now
- Moby-Dick13 short pages · a classic
- Orpheus and Eurydice12 short pages · a classic
- Pride and Prejudice13 short pages · a classic
- Prometheus and the Fire12 short pages · a classic
- The Junkyard Orchestra14 short pages
- The Seventeen-Year Summer13 short pages
- The Storm of 18599 short pages · true
- The War of the Worlds13 short pages · a classic
- Water Bears10 short pages · true
From Peabody's kids' book lists
Books for kids who read above grade level but need age-appropriate themes
- The Wild Robot by Peter Brown · ages 7-11. Short chapters and a plain style that carry a story about survival and belonging. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle · ages 9-13. Meg looks for her father across the universe. Heavy on ideas, light on romance and gore. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster · ages 8-12. Puns and puzzles that reward a strong vocabulary. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen · ages 10-14. A thirteen-year-old survives alone in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. Spare and gripping. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate · ages 8-12. A gorilla in a mall zoo narrates in short free-verse chapters. Newbery Medal 2013. Bookshop.org · Amazon
15 classics a middle schooler can actually enjoy
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien · ages 10-14. Bilbo Baggins leaves his hole for a quest with dwarves to take back a mountain from a dragon. The right door into Middle-earth. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson · ages 10-14. Jim Hawkins finds a map and sails with a crew that includes Long John Silver. Invented the pirate story as we know it. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery · ages 9-14. Orphan Anne arrives at Green Gables by mistake and wins the town. A warm, funny classic and a long read. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott · ages 10-14. Four sisters grow up in Civil War era Massachusetts. Long and gentle, with Jo as an enduring heroine. Bookshop.org · Amazon
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London · ages 11-15. Buck, a pet dog, is stolen and sent to the Klondike and becomes a wolf in spirit. Short and gripping. 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
None of Peabody's series pages fits this level; the lists above have books in series. All series in order.