Starter High/Low Books for Teens

Lexile Level for all titles below is a max of 540.

These books have a Lexile level more often seen in books for younger school aged kids (simpler sentences, more word repetition and words that are often used everyday) but have mature content best suited for older kids and teens. They are engaging and important on their own, but are even better when they help motivate reluctant readers and help those who are struggling to learn to read.

Updated April 23, 2026
B
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library
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Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe
Sa enz, 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
This fast-paced young adult debut novel has it all: smart, savvy characters making their way through an eerily dystopian society, with all the requisite action, adventure and romance characteristic of the genre vividly and at times, chillingly, portrayed. In a wild and lawless...
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.
How I became a ghost : a Choctaw Trail of Tears story
Tingle, Tim.
Paper Book
A Choctaw boy tells the story of his tribe's removal from its Mississippi homeland, and how its exodus to the American West led him to become a ghost -- one able to help those left behind.
Hunt for the bamboo rat
Salisbury, Graham
Paper Book
"A gripping saga of wartime survival." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred   Based on a true story, this World War II novel by Scott O'Dell Award winner Graham Salisbury tells how Zenji, 17, is sent from Hawaii to the Philippines to spy on the Japanese. <...
I am the weapon
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...
Light it up
Magoon, Kekla
Paper Book
Told in a series of vignettes from multiple viewpoints, Kekla Magoon's Light It Up is a powerful, layered story about injustice and strength--as well as an incredible follow-up to the highly acclaimed novel How It Went Down. A girl walks home from school. She's...
Shelter : a Mickey Bolitar novel
Coben, Harlan
Paper Book
A young adult debut from internationally bestselling author Harlan Coben Mickey Bolitar's year can't get much worse. After witnessing his father's death and sending his mom to rehab, he's forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools. A new...
Snitch
Van Diepen, Allison.
Paper Book
In a school run by gangs, staying out was harder than joining. We knew who our friends were, and were careful what we said. If people thought we were haters, it would only be a matter of time.... Lines are clearly marked at South Bay High School. It's mixed territory for the...

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