Globalizing K-12 Reading Lists of Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Our students live in a global world. The opportunities we offer through literature in our classrooms can invite them into the richness of cultural diversity and global communities. To globalize the text exemplar lists included in standards documents that guide instruction in many states and countries, we developed global book lists of recommended fiction and nonfiction books organized by themes within K-12 grade level bands. Plot descriptions and complexity information are provided for each book. We update these lists on an annual basis to include new books and to remove books that are out of print. Our goal is to provide a valuable resource for educators searching for books they can access to globalize their classrooms and libraries.

Updated July 2023.

UofA Branded CERCLL logo with ten-pointed star

Worlds of Words created this project with funding from CERCLL.

Table of Contents
A Brief User’s Guide: Global Reading Lists for K-12 Classrooms and Libraries
Globalizing Reading and Standards in K-12 Classrooms and Libraries
Grade K-1 Global Lists
Grade 2-3 Global Lists
Grade 4-5 Global Lists
Grade 6-8 Global Lists
Grade 9-10 Global Lists
Grade 11-12 Global Lists
Global Poetry List

10 thoughts on “Globalizing K-12 Reading Lists of Children’s and Young Adult Literature

    • Kathy Short says:

      These books are all copyrighted by their publishers and so can only be accessed through purchase as physical books or e books.

  1. Maria says:

    I work in a very conservative district. Have all of these books been reviewed for grade-appropriate content? Or, have the reviews mainly focused on the reading-level for each book? Thanks!

  2. Kathy Short says:

    The books were all reviewed for content appropriate to the educational goals for the various grade levels, not just reading levels. However, given the tremendous differences across districts in what is considered appropriate, you should attend to the annotation to make your own decisions and seek out longer book reviews if you have questions.

  3. Kathy Short says:

    We do list some series at the end of the book lists, see for example Grades 2-3, but our major focus is on recommended books that teachers might use in their classrooms.

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