Book Statistics

The most-assigned books in U.S. schools, ranked

A Figures Bureau study · Dataset snapshot: 2026-07-21 · Last verified 2026-07-21 · every number recomputed at build time

The most-assigned book in U.S. schools is Wonder by R.J. Palacio: 148 of 13,258 reading-list assignments (1.1%), on lists in 29 states, typically grades 3-5. #2 is New Kid (Jerry Craft, 109 assignments) and #3 is Shiloh (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, 104).

This is a ranked count of actual reading-list assignments — not a survey, not a vote. Each row below aggregates source-verified assignments from U.S. state reading lists, award programs and published curricula (13,258 assignment records covering 1,664 distinct books). The table refreshes with every dataset snapshot.

Top 50 most-assigned books

# Title Author Year Assignments Share States Typical band
1 Wonder R.J. Palacio 2012 148 1.1% 29 3-5
2 New Kid Jerry Craft 2019 109 0.8% 20 6-8
3 Shiloh Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 1991 104 0.8% 25 3-5
4 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 96 0.7% 22 3-5
5 Maniac Magee Jerry Spinelli 1990 87 0.7% 20 3-5
6 Because of Winn-Dixie Kate DiCamillo 2000 84 0.6% 26 3-5
7 Refugee Alan Gratz 2017 83 0.6% 18 6-8
8 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney 2007 81 0.6% 16 3-5
9 Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library Chris Grabenstein 2013 80 0.6% 23 3-5
10 The Tale of Despereaux Kate DiCamillo 2003 78 0.6% 17 3-5
11 Frindle Andrew Clements 1996 71 0.5% 15 3-5
12 Out of My Mind Sharon M. Draper 2010 62 0.5% 14 6-8
13 When Stars Are Scattered Victoria Jamieson 2020 62 0.5% 14 6-8
14 Smile Raina Telgemeier 2010 61 0.5% 10 6-8
15 The Giver Lois Lowry 1993 61 0.5% 20 6-8
16 Roller Girl Victoria Jamieson 2015 60 0.5% 14 3-5
17 The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo 2009 60 0.5% 14 3-5
18 Swim Team Johnnie Christmas 2022 59 0.4% 11 3-5
19 The War That Saved My Life Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 2015 58 0.4% 12 6-8
20 Restart Gordon Korman 2017 57 0.4% 14 6-8
21 The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) Rick Riordan 2005 57 0.4% 14 6-8
22 There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom Louis Sachar 2004 57 0.4% 19 3-5
23 The Crossover Kwame Alexander 2014 56 0.4% 12 6-8
24 Superfudge Judy Blume 2014 55 0.4% 14 3-5
25 Wait Till Helen Comes Mary Downing Hahn 2022 53 0.4% 12 3-5
26 Bud, Not Buddy Christopher Paul Curtis 1999 51 0.4% 10 3-5
27 El Deafo Cece Bell 2014 51 0.4% 13 3-5
28 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 51 0.4% 14 6-8
29 Ghost Jason Reynolds 2016 47 0.4% 10 6-8
30 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone J.K. Rowling 1997 47 0.4% 12 3-5
31 11 Birthdays Wendy Mass 2011 46 0.3% 13 3-5
32 The One and Only Ivan Katherine Applegate 2012 44 0.3% 8 3-5
33 Hatchet Gary Paulsen 1987 43 0.3% 11 6-8
34 Mick Harte Was Here Barbara Park 2011 42 0.3% 9 6-8
35 Number the Stars Lois Lowry 1989 40 0.3% 9 3-5
36 Bunnicula Deborah Howe 2006 39 0.3% 9 3-5
37 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Judy Blume 1972 38 0.3% 10 3-5
38 Front Desk Kelly Yang 2018 37 0.3% 8 3-5
39 The Dollhouse Murders Betty Ren Wright 1983 37 0.3% 9 3-5
40 Matilda Roald Dahl 1988 36 0.3% 8 3-5
41 The Indian in the Cupboard Lynne Reid Banks 2010 35 0.3% 9 3-5
42 When You Reach Me Rebecca Stead 2009 34 0.3% 4 6-8
43 The Invention of Hugo Cabret Brian Selznick 2015 33 0.2% 5 3-5
44 Among the Hidden Margaret Peterson Haddix 1998 32 0.2% 8 6-8
45 Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine 1997 32 0.2% 7 3-5
46 Fudge-a-Mania Judy Blume 2014 32 0.2% 8 3-5
47 Old Yeller Fred Gipson 1956 32 0.2% 8 6-8
48 Rascal Sterling North 1963 32 0.2% 8 6-8
49 Dog Man Dav Pilkey 2016 31 0.2% 8 3-5
50 King of the Wind Marguerite Henry 1948 30 0.2% 5 3-5

Share = share of all 13,258 assignments in the corpus. States counts state-linked lists only; assignments attached to national curricula (e.g. CCSS exemplar lists) count toward the total but not the state column.

The most-assigned book by school level

Questions this table answers

What is the most assigned book in U.S. schools?

Wonder by R.J. Palacio — 148 of 13,258 reading-list assignments (1.1%), on lists in 29 states, typically grades 3-5. #2 is New Kid (Jerry Craft, 109) and #3 is Shiloh (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, 104).

What is the most assigned book in American high schools?

In this corpus, the most-assigned book among grade 9–12 assignments is The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (24 assignments in the band). Note that most rows in the corpus come from state recommended-reading lists and curricula, which skew toward elementary and middle grades — see the methodology for what is and isn't covered.

Where does To Kill a Mockingbird rank?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee ranks #448 with 8 assignments (0.1% of the corpus) across 3 states, typically grades 9-12. Surveys of what teachers teach in class (e.g. NCTE's) put the classics higher — state reading lists, which this corpus measures, lean newer.

Why do these rankings differ from "most taught books" surveys?

Teacher surveys measure what gets taught in classrooms, usually in high school English; this table counts appearances on published state reading lists, award programs and curricula across all grades. Both are real — they measure different things. We compute ours from 13,258 assignment records with per-row source provenance rather than survey recall.

What the corpus does and doesn't cover: methodology.

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Method note

Rank = count of assignment rows per book across the whole corpus (snapshot 2026-07-21). An "assignment" is one appearance of a book on one source-verified list (state reading list, award program, curriculum or district list) for one grade. Every row carries its source URL and verification date. Full detail: methodology. The narrative version of this ranking, with commentary, lives at readinglist.school's Most-Assigned Books study.

Related reference pages

Data + analysis: bookstatistics.com, CC BY 4.0. A Figures Bureau study.