The Kids Excellence in Reading Program from Mensa

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You are probably familiar with Mensa, the high IQ society. The Mensa Foundation is the branch of Mensa that encourages gifted youth but what you might not realize is that the foundation has resources that any interested learner can enjoy, regardless of whether or not they are Mensa members or have any documented gifts/talents.

My kids aren’t Mensa members but they’re participating in the Kids Excellence in Reading Program, which provides book lists and rewards readers with recognition certificates and t-shirts. It’s a great way to encourage young readers and I love that they encourage kids to read according to level, rather than age, and that each list is broad enough to provide a little wiggle room as reading skills change. Also, parents may read aloud in this challenge so trickier books turn into opportunities for shared book time.

Even if you don’t want to complete the challenge (although, seriously, no down side here), the book lists they’ve compiled are perfect for finding new books to read and exploring quality titles your kids might not pick up on their own.

Kindergarten – 3rd grade reading list

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day – Viorst, Judith
• All-of-a-Kind Family – Taylor, Sydney
• Amelia Bedelia – Parish, Peggy
• Anansi the Spider – McDermott, Gerald
• Bedtime for Frances – Hoban, Russell
• Blueberries for Sal – McCloskey, Robert
• The Cabin Faced West – Fritz, Jean
• The Carrot Seed – Krauss, Ruth
• The Cat in the Hat – Seuss, Dr.
• Charlotte’s Web – White, E.B.
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – Barrett, Judy
• Corduroy – Freeman, Don
• The Cricket in Times Square – Selden, George
• Curious George – Rey, H.A.
• The Dot – Reynolds, Peter
• Freckle Juice – Blume, Judy
• Frederick – Lionni, Leo
• Frog and Toad Are Friends – Lobel, Arnold
• The Garden of Abdul Gasazi – Van Allsburg, Chris
• George and Martha – Marshall, James
• Goodnight, Moon – Brown, Margaret Wise
• Harry the Dirty Dog – Zion, Gene
• How the Leopard Got His Claws – Achebe, Chinua
• The Hundred Dresses – Estes, Eleanor
• I Want My Hat Back – Klassen, Jon
• If I Never Forever Endeavor – Meade, Holly
• Leo the Late Bloomer – Kraus, Robert
• The Little Engine That Could – Piper, Watty
• Little House on the Prairie – Wilder, Laura Ingalls
• Little Toot – Gramatky, Hardie
• The Littles – Peterson, John
• Madeline – Bemelmans, Ludwig
• Make Way for Ducklings – McCloskey, Robert
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel – Burton, Virginia Lee
• Millions of Cats – Gag, Wanda
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle – Cleary, Beverly
• Mr. Popper’s Penguins – Atwater, Richard and Florence
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh – O’Brien, Robert
• Paul Revere’s Ride – Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
• The Polar Express – Chris Van Allsburg
• Peppe the Lamplighter – Bartone, Elisa
• Pippi Longstocking – Lindgren, Astrid
• Put Me in the Zoo – Lopshire, Robert
• Rabbit Hill – Lawson, Robert
• Ramona Quimby, Age 8 – Cleary, Beverly
• The Quiltmaker’s Gift – Brumbeau, Jeff
• The Reluctant Dragon – Grahame, Kenneth
• Sam the Minuteman – Benchley, Nathaniel
• Sarah, Plain and Tall – MacLachlan, Patricia
• Shiloh – Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds
• The Snowy Day – Keats, Ezra Jack
• Stellaluna – Cannon, Janell
• The Stinky Cheese Man & Other Fairly Stupid Tales – Scieszka, Jon
• Stone Soup – Brown, Marcia
• The Story of Babar – Brunhoff, Jean de
• The Story of Ferdinand – Leaf, Munro
• Strega Nona – dePaola, Tomie
• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble – Steig, William
• The Tale of Despereaux – DiCamillo, Kate
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit – Potter, Beatrix
• The Three Little Pigs – Galdone, Paul
• Tikki Tikki Tembo – Mosel, Arlene
• Where the Wild Things Are – Sendak, Maurice
• Winnie-the-Pooh – Milne, A.A.

4th – 6th grade reading list

• Alice in Wonderland – Carroll, Lewis
• Anne of Green Gables – Montgomery, L.M.
• Ben and Me – Lawson, Robert
• Betsy-Tacy – Lovelace, Maud Hart
• Black Beauty – Sewell, Anna
• The Black Stallion – Farley, Walter
• The Borrowers – Norton, Mary
• Bridge to Terabithia – Paterson, Katherine
• Caddie Woodlawn – Brink, Carol Ryrie
• Cheaper by the Dozen – Gilbreth, Frank
• The Children of Green Knowe – Boston, L.M.
• Chronicles of Prydain – Alexander, Lloyd
• The Complete Chronicles of Narnia – Lewis, C.S.
• The Complete Fairy Tales –Perrault, Charles
• The Dark is Rising Sequence – Cooper, Susan
• D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths – d’Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar
• D’Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths – d’Aulaire, Ingri and Edgar
• A Dog on Barkham Street – Stolz, Mary
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate – Kelly, Jacqueline
• From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Konigsburg, E.L.
• Gentle Ben – Morey, Walt
• Hatchet – Paulsen, Gary
• Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates – Dodge, Mary Mapes
• Harriet the Spy – Fitzhugh, Louise
• Heidi – Spyri, Johanna
• Homer Price – McCloskey, Robert
• The House of Dies Drear – Hamilton, Virginia
• The Jungle Book – Kipling, Rudyard
• Lad: A Dog – Terhune, Albert Payson
• Lassie Come Home – Knight, Eric
• Mary Poppins – Travers, Pamela L.
• Matilda – Dahl, Roald
• The Matchlock Gun – Edmonds, Walter
• Misty of Chincoteague – Henry, Marguerite
• The Moffats – Estes, Eleanor
• My Side of the Mountain – George, Jeanne Craighead
• The Pushcart War – Merrill, Jean
• The Railway Children – Nesbit, E.
• Redwall – Jacques, Brian
• The Rescuers – Sharp, Margery
• Roller Skates – Sawyer, Ruth
• The Secret Garden – Burnett, France Hodgson
• Strawberry Girl – Lenski, Lois
• The Summer of the Swans – Byers, Betsy
• Swiss Family Robinson – Wyss, Johann
• The Twenty-One Balloons – du Bois, William Pene
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Baum, L. Frank
• Thimble Summer – Enright, Elizabeth
• Tuck Everlasting – Babbitt, Natalie

7th – 8th grade reading list

• Across Five Aprils – Hunt, Irene
• Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Doyle, Arthur Conan
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Twain, Mark
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey – Wilder, Thornton
• Call it Courage – Sperry, Armstrong
• The Call of the Wild – London, Jack
• A Christmas Carol – Dickens, Charles
• The Count of Monte Cristo – Dumas, Alexander
• A Day No Pigs Would Die – Peck, Robert Newton
• Diary of a Young Girl – Frank, Anne
• Dragonwings – Yep, Laurence
• Enchantress from the Stars – Engdahl, Sylvia Louise
• The Endless Steppe – Hautzig, Esther
• Fahrenheit 451 – Bradbury, Ray
• Frankenstein – Shelley, Mary
• The Ghost Belonged to Me – Peck, Richard
• The Giver – Lowry, Lois
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips – Hilton, James
• The Hobbit – Tolkien, J.R.R.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Hugo, Victor
• Incident at Hawk’s Hill – Eckert, Allan W.
• Island of the Blue Dolphins – O’Dell, Scott
• Ivanhoe – Scott, Sir Walter
• Jacob Have I Loved – Paterson, Katherine
• Johnny Tremain – Forbes, Esther
• Journey to Topaz – Uchida, Yoshiko
• Julie of the Wolves – George, Jeanne Craighead
• Kim – Kipling, Rudyard
• The Last Mission – Mazer, Harry
• Le Morte d’Arthur – Malory, Sir Thomas
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Irving, Washington
• The Little Prince – Saint-Exupery, Antoine de
• Little Women – Alcott, Louisa May
• The Last of the Mohicans – Cooper, James Fenimore
• The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood – Pyle, Howard
• My Friend Flicka – O’Hara, Mary
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – Douglass, Frederick
• National Velvet – Bagnold, Enid
• The Outsiders – Hinton, S.E.
• The Pigman – Zindel, Paul
• The Pilgrim’s Progress – Bunyan, John
• The Red Pony – Steinbeck, John
• Rifles for Watie – Keith, Harold
• Rip van Winkle – Irving, Washington
• Robinson Crusoe – Defoe, Daniel
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Tylor, Mildred D.
• Shane – Schaefer, Jack
• Story of My Life – Keller, Helen
• A Stranger Came Ashore – Hunter, Mollie
• Tales from Shakespeare – Lamb, Charles & Mary
• The Thurber Carnival – Thurber, James
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Speare, Elizabeth George
• Treasure Island – Stevenson, Robert Louis
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Smith, Betty
• 20,000 Leagues under the Sea – Verne, Jules
• The Upstairs Room – Reiss, Johanna
• War of the Worlds – Wells, H.G.
• Where the Red Fern Grows – Rawls, Wilson
• The White Mountains – Christopher, John
• A Wizard of Earthsea – LeGuin, Ursula K.
• A Wrinkle in Time – L’Engle, Madeleine
• The Yearling – Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan

9th – 12th grade reading list

• Abraham Lincoln – Sandburg, Carl
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Twain, Mark
• The Aeneid – Virgil
• Against all Hope – Valladares, Armando
• The Age of Innocence – Wharton, Edith
• All Quiet on the Western Front – Remarque, Erich
• All the King’s Men – Warren, Robert Penn
• An American Tragedy – Dreiser, Theodore
• Animal Farm – Orwell, George
• Anna Karenina – Tolstoy, Leo
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin – Franklin, Benjamin
• Babbitt – Lewis, Sinclair
• Barchester Towers – Trollope, Anthony
• Beowulf – Anonymous
• Brave New World – Huxley, Aldous
• The Caine Mutiny – Wouk, Herman
• Candide – Voltaire
• The Canterbury Tales – Chaucer, Geoffrey
• The Catcher in the Rye – Salinger, J.D.
• The Cherry Orchard – Chekhov, Anton
• The Chosen – Potok, Chaim
• Collected Short Stories – Welty, Eudora
• The Concise Columbia Book of Poetry: The Top 100 Poems in English
• Crime and Punishment – Dostoevsky, Fyodor
• The Crucible – Miller, Arthur
• The Cruel Sea – Monsarrat, Nicholas
• Cyrano de Bergerac – Rostand, Edmond
• Darkness at Noon – Koestler, Arthur
• A Death in the Family – Agee, James
• The Divine Comedy – Dante
• Doctor Zhivago – Pasternak, Boris
• A Doll’s House – Ibsen, Henrik
• Don Quixote – Cervantes, Miguel de
• Fathers and Sons – Turgenev, Ivan
• Dr. Faustus – Marlowe, Christopher
• For Whom the Bell Tolls – Hemingway, Ernest
• The Forsyte Saga – Galsworthy, John
• The Fountainhead – Rand, Ayn
• Go Tell It on the Mountain – Baldwin, James
• The Good Earth – Buck, Pearl
• Great Expectations – Dickens, Charles
• The Great Gatsby – Fitzgerald, F. Scott
• Gulliver’s Travels – Swift, Jonathan
• Hamlet – Shakespeare, William
• A Handful of Dust – Waugh, Evelyn
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – McCullers, Carson
• How Green Was My Valley – Llewellyn, Richard
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Angelou, Maya
• I, Claudius – Graves, Robert
• Inherit the Wind – Lawrence, Jerome and Robert E. Lee
• Invisible Man – Ellison, Ralph
• The Iliad – Homer
• Jane Eyre – Brontë, Charlotte
• The Jungle – Sinclair, Upton
• King Lear – Shakespeare, William
• Les Misérables – Hugo, Victor
• Long Day’s Journey into Night – O’Neill, Eugene
• Look Homeward, Angel – Wolfe, Thomas
• Lord Jim – Conrad, Joseph
• Lord of the Flies – Golding, William
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – Tolkien, J.R.R.
• Madame Bovary – Flaubert, Gustave
• The Magic Mountain – Mann, Thomas
• A Man for All Seasons – Bolt, Robert
• Moby-Dick – Melville, Herman
• Moll Flanders – Defoe, Daniel
• The Moonstone – Collins, Wilkie
• Much Ado About Nothing – Shakespeare, William
• Murder in the Cathedral – Eliot, T.S.
• My Ántonia – Cather, Willa
• Native Son – Wright, Richard
• Night – Wiesel, Elie
• The Nine Tailors – Sayers, Dorothy
• 1984 – Orwell, George
• The Odyssey – Homer
• Oedipus Rex – Sophocles
• Of Human Bondage – Maugham, Somerset
• Of Mice and Men – Steinbeck, John
• The Once and Future King – White, T.H.
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Solzhenitsyn, Alexander
• Our Town – Wilder, Thornton
• A Passage to India – Forster, E.M.
• The Picture of Dorian Gray – Wilde, Oscar
• Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – Joyce, James
• The Power and the Glory – Greene, Graham
• Pride and Prejudice – Austen, Jane
• Profiles in Courage – Kennedy, John F.
• Pygmalion – Shaw, George Bernard
• Rabbit, Run – Updike, John
• The Red Badge of Courage – Crane, Stephen
• The Scarlet Letter – Hawthorne, Nathaniel
• The School for Scandal – Sheridan, Richard B.
• Short Stories and Tales, Complete – Poe, Edgar Allan
• Silas Marner – Eliot, George
• A Single Pebble – Hersey, John
• Sonnets – Shakespeare, William
• Sons and Lovers – Lawrence, D.H.
• The Sound and the Fury – Faulkner, William
• Steppenwolf – Hesse, Hermann
• The Best Short Stories of O. Henry  – Henry, O.
• The Stranger – Camus, Albert
• A Streetcar Named Desire – Williams, Tennessee
• Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Hardy, Thomas
• A Town Like Alice – Shute, Nevil
• Their Eyes Were Watching God – Hurston, Zora Neale
• Things Fall Apart – Achebe, Chinua
• To Kill a Mockingbird – Lee, Harper
• To the Lighthouse – Woolf, Virginia
• Tom Jones – Fielding, Henry
• The Trial – Kafka, Franz
• The Turn of the Screw – James, Henry
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Stowe, Harriet Beecher
• Vanity Fair – Thackeray, William M.
• Villette – Brontë, Charlotte
• Walden – Thoreau, Henry David
• Wuthering Heights – Brontë, Emily