KDL Recommends

An inspirational memoir of the teenage author’s struggles to survive her youth in war-torn Kabul describes her witness to brutal conflicts between the mujahideen and the Soviets during her earliest years, her extensive injuries after stepping on a land mine, and her eventual relocation to the United States.
Lexile Level: 850

Provides the first-hand factual account of the six-year-old student who made history by having been one of the first black children to attend an all-white, segregated school in the 1960s.
Lexile Level: 860
Guided Reading Level: W

For Esperanza, a young girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, life is an endless landscape of concrete and run-down tenements, and she tries to rise above the hopelessness.
Lexile Level: 870
Guided Reading Level: W

Originally written as a guide for his son, Benjamin Franklin discusses his life, accomplishments, and ideas.
Lexile Level: 1370
Guided Reading Level: NR

The teenage surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack in 2003 describes how she has coped with this life-altering event with the help of her faith, the changes in her life, and her return to the sport she loves.
Lexile Level: 960
Guided Reading Level: Z

The author describes her experiences during World War II when she and her family were arrested by the Russians and sent to work in the Siberian gypsum mines.
Lexile Level: 940
Guided Reading Level: NR

Helen Keller’s personal recollections and correspondence reveal her relationship with her beloved teacher, Annie Sullivan, and the problems and obstacles she encountered as she struggled to overcome her handicaps.
Lexile Level: 1090
Guided Reading Level: X

The woman whose name is synonymous with the civil rights movement discusses her role in the Montgomery NAACP, her now famous refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man, the Montgomery bus boycott, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more.
Lexile Level: 970
Guided Reading Level: U

To a thirteen-year-old Vermont farm boy whose father slaughters pigs for a living, maturity comes early as he learns “doing what’s got to be done,” especially regarding his pet pig who cannot produce a litter.
Lexile Level: 690
Guided Reading Level: Z

After losing running, climbing, throwing, and burping competitions to her obnoxious older brother, a young girl makes a wish on a falling star.
Lexile Level: 480
Guided Reading Level: M

The author describes his experiences growing up as a Mexican American in Fresno, California in the 1950s and 1960s.
Lexile Level: 1140
Guided Reading Level: Y