KDL Recommends

Capturing the courage of a little girl facing racism and hatred alone, the true story of Ruby Bridges reveals how she helped shape American history as the first African American child sent to first grade in a white school.
Lexile Level: 730
Guided Reading Level: O

A portrait of the childhood of poet Langston Hughes chronicles his early life with his grandmother and the events, personalities, circumstances, and rhythms that shaped his world and his writing.
Lexile Level: 770

Tells the story of a young Jewish girl who survived in Nazi occupied France posing as a French gentile.
Lexile Level: 780
Guided Reading Level: S

Compelling text and archival duotone photographs recount Albert Einstein’s life from his privileged childhood in Austria through the crucial years during World War II, touching on his theory of relativity and the importance it played in scientific development.
Lexile Level: 1030
Guided Reading Level: Y

A look at the incredible life of “The King” examines his music, its influence on popular culture, his overwhelming success, and his fall from grace.
Lexile Level: 990
Guided Reading Level: Y

Presents an inspirational portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt, from her youth, through her years in the White House, to her humanitarian work as an advocate for world peace and human rights.
Lexile Level: 1100
Guided Reading Level: W

A profile of the Teton Sioux warrior depicts him as a shy, sensitive youth who overcame his fears in order to protect his people and their lands from invading white settlers, and follows his achievements in the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
Lexile Level: 1100

A collection of period photographs and prints and a sampler of Lincoln’s writings provide an incisive study of the boyhood, marriage, professional life, political career, and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln.
Lexile Level: 1100
Guided Reading Level: V

A biography of the famous American Indian princess, emphasizing her life-long adulation of John Smith and the roles she played in two very different cultures.
Lexile Level: 910
Guided Reading Level: T

A biography of the slave who escaped to Boston in 1854, was arrested at the instigation of his owner, and whose trial caused a furor between abolitionists and those determined to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts.
Lexile Level: 860
Guided Reading Level: V

A biography of Cesar Chavez, from age ten when he and his family lived happily on their Arizona ranch, to age thirty-eight when he led a peaceful protest against California migrant workers’ miserable working conditions.
Lexile Level: 800
Guided Reading Level: R

A biography of baseball legend Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the major leagues, as told by his daughter.
Lexile Level: 1030
Guided Reading Level: W

A finely illustrated overview of the life and work of Galileo explains, in simple language and with Galileo’s own words, the impact of the astronomer’s discoveries on the science, philosophy, and art of Renaissance Italy.
Lexile Level: 830
Guided Reading Level: P