1st grade reading list

Name: 1st grade reading list
Creator: ReadingList
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

1st grade students in US schools are commonly assigned 201 books across Common Core Appendix B, AP, IB, Cambridge, and state ELA curricula. Each title links to its grade citations.

201 books with a 1st grade citation

Titles whose grade range covers 1st grade in a state ELA curriculum or a national reference (Common Core Appendix B, AP, IB).

Show all 201 titles

Big Red Lollipop · Rukhsana Khan
Bink and Gollie: Two for One · Kate DiCamillo
Blue · Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
Boats for Papa · Jessixa Bagley
Boogie Boogie, Y’all · C.G. Esperanza
Bowwow Powwow · Brenda J. Child
Bright Star · Yuyi Morales
Bubble Trouble · Margaret Mahy
Buffalo Fluffalo · Bess Kalb
Building Our House · Jonathan Bean
Butt or Face? · Kari Lavelle
By the Light of the Halloween Moon · Caroline Stutson
C.L.O.U.D.S. · Pat Cummings
Charlie & Mouse Even Better · Laurel Snyder
Cold Feet · Cynthia C. DeFelice
Corduroy · Don Freeman
Counting to Tar Beach · Faith Ringgold
Crossing Bok Chitto · Tim Tingle
Dadaji's Paintbrush · Rashmi Sirdeshpande
Dear Primo · Duncan Tonatiuh
Diego Rivera · Duncan Tonatiuh
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1) · Mary Pope Osborne
Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories · Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Don't Think of Tigers · Alex Latimer
Don't Throw It to Mo! · David A. Adler
En Mi Familia · Carmen Lomas Garza
Extra Yarn · Mac Barnett
Farmhouse · Sophie Blackall
Finding Winnie: The Story of the Real Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh · Lindsay Mattick
Flat Stanley · Jeff Brown
Flotsam · David Wiesner
Forever Cousins · Laurel Goodluck
Fox at Night · Corey R. Tabor
Fox the Tiger · Corey R. Tabor
Freedom Over Me · Ashley Bryan
Frog and Toad Are Friends · Arnold Lobel
Frog and Toad Together · Arnold Lobel
Fry Bread · Kevin Noble Maillard
Fry Bread · Kevin Noble Maillard
Funny Bones · Duncan Tonatiuh
Gibberish · Young Vo
Grandfather's Journey (Read-aloud) · Allen Say
Grandma's Gift · Eric Velasquez
Green Eggs and Ham · Dr. Seuss
Heart and Soul · Kadir Nelson
Heart and Soul · Kadir Nelson
Hello Lighthouse · Sophie Blackall
Henry Hikes to Fitchburg · D.B. Johnson
Henry and Mudge Ready-to-Read Value Pack #2 · Cynthia Rylant
Home Place · Crescent Dragonwagon
Hot Dog · Doug Salati
How Dinosaurs Went Extinct: A Safety Guide · Ame Dyckman
How This Book Got Red · Margaret Chiu Greanias
How to Eat a Book · MacLeod
I Am a Tornado · Drew Beckmeyer
I Dream of Trains · Angela Johnson
I Know Here · Laurel Croza
I Know How to Draw an Owl · Hilary Horder Hippely
I Lived Inside a Whale · Xin Li
I Talk Like a River · Jordan Scott
I'm Going to Sing, Black American Spirituals, Volume Two · Ashley Bryan
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie · Laura Numeroff
In the Time of the Butterflies · Julia Alvarez
It's a Sign! · Jarrett Pumphrey
Jambo Means Hello · Muriel Feelings
Jazz Day · Roxane Orgill
John Henry · Julius Lester
John's Turn · Mac Barnett
Juana and Lucas · Juana Medina
Just In Case · Yuyi Morales
Just Like Millie · Lauren Castillo
King of Ragtime · Stephen Costanza
Kitten's First Full Moon Board Book · Kevin Henkes
Knight Owl · Christopher Denise
Knight Owl and Early Bird · Christopher Denise
Last Stop on Market Street · Matt de la Peña
Leaf Man Board Book · Lois Ehlert
Let it Shine · Ashley Bryan
Like · Annie Barrows
Little Red Riding Hood (40th Anniversary Edition) · Trina Schart Hyman
Little You / kiya kâ-apisîsisiyan · Richard Van Camp
Lon Po Po · Ed Young
Make Way for Ducklings · Robert McCloskey
Mama Don't Allow 25th Anniversary Edition · Thacher Hurd
Maria Had a Little Llama / María Tenía Una Llamita · Angela Dominguez
Me Gusta · Angela Dominguez
Mercy Watson to the Rescue · Kate DiCamillo
Midnight and Moon · Kelly Cooper
Millie Fleur's Poison Garden · Christy Mandin
Milloo's Mind · Reem Faruqi
Mr Gumpy's Outing · John Burningham
Mr Tiger Goes Wild · Peter Brown
Mr. S · Monica Arnaldo
Navigating Night · Julie Leung
Nelson Mandela · Kadir Nelson
Night in the City · Julie Downing
No Cats in the Library · Lauren Emmons
Not Afraid of Dogs · Susanna Pitzer
Not All Sheep Are Boring! · Bobby Moynihan
Off to School, Baby Duck! · Amy Hest
Oh No, the Aunts Are Here · Adam Rex
On the Ball · Brian Pinkney
Open This Little Book · Jesse Klausmeier
Outside Over There · Maurice Sendak
Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote · Duncan Tonatiuh
Pocketful of Posies · Salley Mavor
Radiant Child · Javaka Steptoe
Rap a Tap Tap · Leo Dillon
Red-eyed Tree Frog · Joy Cowley
See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog · David LaRochelle
Separate Is Never Equal · Duncan Tonatiuh
Seven Blind Mice · Ed Young
Shy Charles · Rosemary Wells
Sitting Bull · S.D. Nelson
Something, Someday · Amanda Gorman
Sonadores (Dreamers) · Yuyi Morales
Stop! Bot! · James Yang
Tales for Very Picky Eaters · Josh Schneider
Thank a Farmer · Maria Gianferrari
That's Not My Name! · Anoosha Syed
The Adventures of Beekle · Dan Santat
The Adventures of Paddy Pork · John S. Goodall
The Bees of Notre-Dame · Meghan Browne
The Bell Rang · James E. Ransome
The Black Cauldron · Lloyd Alexander
The Blue Table · Chris Raschka
The Cat in the Hat · Dr. Seuss
The Christmas Boot · Lisa Wheeler
The Christmas Coat · Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
The Dirty Cowboy · Amy Timberlake
The Dream Catcher · Marcelo Verdad
The Farmer and the Clown · Marla Frazee
The Full Moon at the Napping House · Audrey Wood
The Garden of Abdul Gasazi · Chris Van Allsburg
The Giving Tree · Shel Silverstein
The House in the Night · Susan Marie Swanson
The Lion & the Mouse · Jerry Pinkney
The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) · Philemon Sturges
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers · Mordicai Gerstein
The Middle Passage · Tom Feelings
The Patchwork Bike · Maxine Beneba Clarke
The Princess and the Warrior · Duncan Tonatiuh
The Snowman: The Book of the Classic Film · Raymond Briggs
The Snowy Day · Ezra Jack Keats
The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks · Katherine Paterson
The Very Hungry Caterpillar · Eric Carle
The Watermelon Seed [Board Book] · Greg Pizzoli
The Yellow Bus · Loren Long
There Is a Bird On Your Head! (An Elephant and Piggie Book) · Mo Willems
They Say Blue · Jillian Tamaki
This Is Not My Hat · Jon Klassen
Tikki Tikki Tembo · Arlene Mosel
Time of the Month! · Valerie Scho Carey
Time to Make Art · Jeff Mack
Traction Man Is Here! · Mini Grey
Two Dogs · Ian Falconer
Up, Tall and High · Ethan Long
Uptown · Bryan Collier
Ursula Upside Down · Corey R. Tabor
Vacation · Ame Dyckman
Victory. Stand! · Tommie Smith
Viva Frida · Yuyi Morales
Watch Out for the Lion! · Brooke Hartman
Watercress · Andrea Wang
We Are Water Protectors · Carole Lindstrom
We Are the Ship · Kadir Nelson
When Alexander Graced the Table · Alexander Smalls
When You Can Swim · Jack Wong
Where the Wild Things Are · Maurice Sendak
Wild Blue: Taming a Big-Kid Bike · Dashka Slater
Willie and the All-Stars · Floyd Cooper
Wolf in the Snow · Matthew Cordell
Wombat Said Come In · Carmen Agra Deedy
You are (not) Small · Anna Kang
You're So Amazing! · James Catchpole
Yuna's Cardboard Castles · Marie Tang
Zelda and Ivy, the Runaways · Laura McGee Kvasnosky

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Frequently asked questions

What books do 1st grade students read in US schools?

201 books are commonly assigned to 1st grade students across US schools — sourced from Common Core exemplars, AP, IB, Cambridge, and 50 state curricula. Each title on this page links to its full curriculum citations.

How many books are on the 1st grade reading list?

This page lists 201 1st grade titles, of which 201 have a verified state or national curriculum citation at the 1st grade level.

Are these 1st grade books in Common Core?

Many 1st grade books on this list appear in the Common Core State Standards Appendix B exemplar texts. Each book card links to its full citation history including which states + curricula reference it. Look for the "Common Core" tag on individual book pages.

How do I pick a 1st grade book for my student?

Filter by curriculum using the pivots above (Common Core, AP, IB, Cambridge, state-specific). Each book page shows its grade range, themes, and which curricula list it. For homeschool or differentiation, books with overlapping grade ranges (±2 grades) work for 1st grade students.