Starter High/Low Books for Teens

Lexile Level for all titles below is a max of 540L (about 3rd Grade).

These books feature simpler sentence structures, frequent word repetition, and commonly used vocabulary, resulting in Lexile levels typically associated with younger readers. However, they address mature, age-appropriate themes that resonate with older youth and teens. Hi-Lo books are engaging in their own right, but they are especially valuable for motivating reluctant readers, supporting struggling readers in building confidence and fluency and providing dignified, age-respectful reading options that avoid stigmatization.

Updated June 20, 2026
B
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library
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Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe
Sáenz, Benjamin Alire.
Paper Book
Now a major motion picture starring Max Pelayo, Reese Gonzales, and Eva Longoria! A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) The award-winning, internationally renowned book that is a "tender, honest exploration of identity" (Publishers Weekly) and...
Blood red road
Young, Moira.
Paper Book
Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a...
Don't even think about it
Mlynowski, Sarah.
Paper Book
A smart, sassy contemporary teen novel full of romance, secrets, and ESP from the author of Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) and Bras & Broomsticks! We weren't always like this. We used to be average New York City high school sophomores....
For black girls like me
Lockington, Mariama
Paper Book
In this lyrical coming-of-age story about family, sisterhood, music, race, and identity, Schneider Family Book Award and Stonewall Honor-winning author Mariama J. Lockington draws on some of the emotional truths from her own experiences growing up with an adoptive white family.
Boy Nobody : a novel
Zadoff, Allen.
Paper Book
They needed the perfect assassin. Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school in a new town under a new name, makes a few friends, and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his...
Shelter
Coben, Harlan
Paper Book
The first thriller in the Mickey Bolitar series, now airing as an original series on Amazon Prime. Bestselling author and creator of the hit Netflix show Fool Me Once, Harlan Coben brings us a shocking pageturner about a grieving teenager obsessed by the disappearance of a...

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