The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has released its recommendations for required reading for Texas students that will be presented to the State Board of Education (SBOE) in January 2026. This list will ensure that every student receives a comprehensive reading course to support their growing literacy and academic development, knowledge of the world, and moral formation.
Nearly every year, Texas parents and lawmakers lament the state of reading education, with more than half of students consistently failing to meet grade-level standards in reading. Yet, despite this dissatisfaction, schools continue to teach a hodgepodge of texts with little consistency or fidelity, and some even abandon whole texts altogether. Into this void has stepped a whole host of unsuitable and ideologically driven books.
Fortunately, when the Texas Legislature turned its sights on school curricula in HB 1605, it also charged the TEA and the SBOE with creating a list of required reading for all Texas public school students. The TEA is now set to present to the SBOE a wealth of texts that are suitable and age-appropriate; develop literacy and a greater understanding of literature; support cross-curricular knowledge acquisition; and introduce students to topics in history, culture, and morality.
Beginning in Kindergarten, students examine stories that support their journey towards literacy. Through classic captivating stories like “Anansi the Spider” (K), “The Frog Prince” (1st), and “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” (2nd), they will learn to love reading through a phonics-based program. As students progress, they will encounter increasingly challenging texts like “Charlotte’s Web” (3rd), “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” (4th), and “The Phantom Tollbooth” (5th). By the middle grades, thematically rich works like “Across Five Aprils” (6th), “A Wrinkle in Time” (7th), and “The Tempest” (8th) introduce students to complex literature.
English I through IV are organized into units with a long central text and shorter supplemental texts that help students understand the central text and further illuminate the subject or theme. For instance, in English I, the novel “Animal Farm” is paired with “The Clever Teens’ Guide to the Russian Revolution,” providing students with all of the background knowledge to understand the allegory of novel. Students will also read two Federalist Papers, “I, Pencil,” and the poem “Ozymandias” to further reflect on themes related to government, society, and tyranny.
While teaching literacy and literary skills, the literature list has also been crafted to build students’ knowledge of the world, especially America. Kindergarten begins by telling the quintessential story of George Washington and the cherry tree, and 1st graders learn about American heroes like Abraham Lincoln, Paul Revere, Daniel Boone, and Davy Crockett. These texts have also been selected to correspond to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards of other courses. Grade 2 features inspirational figures such as Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman, and Johnny Appleseed. In 3rd grade, students will read excerpts related to ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. In the same grade, they will learn about ancient civilizations in Social Studies.
The Social Studies 5th grade course spans from 1500 to 1800, and so the Grade 5 English list offers excerpts on the colonization of Texas, the Mayflower Compact, and the Declaration of Independence. Many of the pieces blend literature with historical events, like “The Hurricane” by Jose Maria Heredia (8th), which compares the time’s political upheaval with a storm or “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” by Frederick Douglass (8th) which discusses his perspective on slavery
Similarly, English I through IV includes units that center on ancient works, like “The Odyssey;” English history; the Holocaust; and the Great Depression, with supplemental texts to scaffold and deepen the students’ understanding of the unit. Through these texts, students learn more than just content-neutral literacy skills and literature; they learn about the world, its history, and its cultures.
Perhaps most importantly, though, these texts have been selected for their wholesome content. From Kindergarten through English IV, these stories impart powerful lessons, themes, and explorations that are vital for the formation of mature, virtuous adults. The early grades feature beloved stories like Aesop’s Fables that deliver simple but powerful messages like the importance of fairness and the power of kindness. The middle grades showcase tales of heroism and courage, like “Johnny Tremain” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In high school, through “Antigone,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” and “Up From Slavery,” students wrestle with complex themes and questions about identity, power and responsibility, resilience, and the pursuit of justice.
C.S. Lewis said, “Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.” English education should promote literacy and literary understanding, but, as art has the power to shape hearts, the stories students read should impart in them powerful lessons and morals, not grievance or narcissistic navel-gazing. This new literature list ensures that every public school student in Texas leaves school literate and worldly.
