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Every classic, by reading level

Lexile, AR level and grade for all 32 books we host, easiest first. The figures are for the complete, unabridged text, which matters more than it sounds: the number you find online for a classic very often belongs to a retelling.

How to read the table

Grades is our shelf: where a child reading on their own tends to meet the book, judged on subject matter as well as sentences. The ages column is the same span in years. Lexile and AR level are published measures of the text itself, and they only know about sentence length and vocabulary, so a book can score high and still be right for a younger child who is being read to. Peter Rabbit is the clearest case.

Every figure here was gathered from Lexile's own database, AR Bookfinder, or TeachingBooks for the unabridged edition, and where we could not find a published measure the cell is a dash. We've compared enough of these to know that the lower numbers in circulation, the 500L Christmas Carol, the 590L Gulliver, almost always describe a leveled adaptation with the same title. The notes under the table say which is which.

32 books, easiest first

BookAuthorGradesAgesLexileAR levelAR ptsGuided
The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Other Stories1Beatrix PotterK–25–8AD660L4.20.5L
A Little PrincessFrances Hodgson Burnett4–79–13840L6.011–
The Railway Children2E. Nesbit4–79–13840L5.59–
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland3Lewis Carroll3–78–13880L7.45–
The Happy Prince and Other TalesOscar Wilde4–79–13–6.91–
Peter Pan4J. M. Barrie3–68–12920L7.28–
Aesop's FablesAesop3–58–11940L–––
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer5Mark Twain5–810–14950L8.112–
Anne of Green Gables6L. M. Montgomery5–810–14970L7.317–
The Secret Garden7Frances Hodgson Burnett4–79–13970L6.313U
Five Children and ItE. Nesbit4–79–13980L5.7––
Kidnapped8Robert Louis Stevenson6–911–15990L7.614–
Heidi9Johanna Spyri3–68–121000L8.216–
Black BeautyAnna Sewell4–79–131020L7.711–
The Princess and the Goblin10George MacDonald3–68–121030L6.18–
The Wonderful Wizard of OzL. Frank Baum3–68–121030L7.07–
Just So Stories11Rudyard Kipling2–57–11NC1060L6.45–
Treasure Island12Robert Louis Stevenson5–810–141070L8.312–
A Christmas Carol13Charles Dickens5–810–141080L6.75–
Grimms' Fairy Tales14Brothers Grimm2–67–121080L–––
PollyannaEleanor H. Porter4–79–13––––
The Princess and Curdie15George MacDonald5–810–141120L8.410–
The Jungle BookRudyard Kipling4–79–131140L–––
The Wind in the WillowsKenneth Grahame3–68–121140L8.211–
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm16Kate Douglas Wiggin5–810–141160L8.113–
Little Women17Louisa May Alcott6–911–151260L7.933–
Robinson Crusoe18Daniel Defoe8–1213–181270L12.327–
The Swiss Family Robinson19Johann David Wyss6–911–151270L9.723–
Gulliver's Travels20Jonathan Swift8–1213–181300L13.525–
Rip Van WinkleWashington Irving4–79–131360L11.1––
The Legend of Sleepy HollowWashington Irving5–810–141360L11.03–
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (censored)Mark Twain9–1214–18––––

30 of 32 books have a published measure. Grades K–12; ages are the usual US age for those grades.

  1. The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Other Stories — for The Tale of Peter Rabbit itself; the other tales run roughly 600L-900L.
  2. The Railway Children — one list shows 920L.
  3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — editions measure 850L-940L.
  4. Peter Pan — unabridged editions measure 900L-1040L.
  5. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer — also listed at 970L.
  6. Anne of Green Gables — an adapted edition circulates at 550L; the full text is 970L.
  7. The Secret Garden — unabridged editions measure 950L-970L.
  8. Kidnapped — one list shows 780L.
  9. Heidi — a translated work - editions measure 800L-1200L.
  10. The Princess and the Goblin — for the full text — Lexile's own database, TeachingBooks, and SuperSummary agree; the AR quiz's 50,949-word count matches the unabridged novel.
  11. Just So Stories — NC means the sentences measure far above the age the book is written for — a book meant to be read aloud to small children in a grown-up's voice.
  12. Treasure Island — editions measure 850L-1070L.
  13. A Christmas Carol — for the unabridged text; the far lower figures online (500L–800L) belong to leveled retellings.
  14. Grimms' Fairy Tales — collections vary with the tales included.
  15. The Princess and Curdie — for the full text; library catalogue records pair it with ATOS 8.4 on explicitly unabridged editions. A long step up from The Princess and the Goblin's 1030L.
  16. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm — the unabridged edition measures 1160L, and full-text editions run 1130L–1190L; the 680L and 960L entries in circulation are abridged retellings.
  17. Little Women — the complete Books I and II; editions measure 1190L-1300L.
  18. Robinson Crusoe — other unabridged editions are listed 1360L–1410L; the 780L and below figures all belong to retellings.
  19. The Swiss Family Robinson — Lerner's edition of the full Kingston text is listed 1270L; the 540L–610L figures everywhere online belong to retellings, not to this book.
  20. Gulliver's Travels — unabridged settings are listed 1300L–1370L; the 590L figure belongs to the Stepping Stones adaptation and the picture-book Gulliver in Lilliput is lower still.

Lexile ranges by grade

These are Lexile's own grade bands, the ones schools and reading apps quote. They are wide on purpose: a fourth grader reading at 800L is inside the band, and so is one at 900L. Read the table above against your child's band rather than a single number.

Grade 1190L–530L
Grade 2420L–650L
Grade 3520L–820L
Grade 4740L–940L
Grade 5830L–1010L
Grade 6925L–1070L
Grade 7970L–1120L
Grade 81010L–1185L
Grades 9–101050L–1335L
Grades 11–121185L–1385L

Quick answers

What is a Lexile level?

A Lexile measure is a number, like 970L, that scores how demanding a text is: mostly sentence length and how rare its words are. Children get a Lexile reader measure from school assessments, and the idea is to match the two. A book about 100L below to 50L above a child’s own measure is the range Lexile itself calls a comfortable fit. AD in front of the number means adult-directed, a book meant to be read to a child; NC means the sentences run harder than the book’s intended age.

What is an AR level, and how is it different from Lexile?

AR (Accelerated Reader) uses ATOS, a grade-scale number: 6.3 means the text reads like sixth grade, third month. AR points are separate, they measure how long the book is, so a short hard book can carry fewer points than a long easy one. Lexile and ATOS measure roughly the same thing on different scales, and they mostly agree on which of two books is harder.

Why is the number I found online different from yours?

Nearly always because it belongs to a different edition. Most of these classics circulate in retellings and abridgements that carry the same title, and those get their own, much lower, measures. A 590L Gulliver’s Travels is a chapter-book adaptation; the book Swift wrote is 1300L. Our figures are for the complete text, which is the one we host, and the notes under the table say where the other numbers come from.

Does a high Lexile mean my child shouldn’t read it?

Not on its own. The measures score the sentences, not the story: Peter Rabbit’s AD660L reflects Potter’s long Edwardian sentences, and it is still a book for four-year-olds when a grown-up reads it. Interest, background knowledge, and whether someone is reading aloud all shift what a child can handle, and we’ve found the grade shelf on each book page, which weighs subject matter as well as sentences, is the more useful first filter. The number is a second opinion.

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