Current List
A high school reading list for the State of Texas.
TAYSHAS takes its name from the Caddo Indian word meaning “friends or allies.” Written as texas, texios, tejas, teyas or tayshas, the word was applied to the Caddos by the Spanish in eastern Texas, who regarded them as friends and allies against the Apaches.
The goal of the TAYSHAS reading list is to motivate young adults to become livelong readers and to participate in the community of readers in Texas. Students in grades 9 – 12 are encouraged to read books for pleasure from the list which includes fiction and nonfiction titles.
2020 List
Titles in bold indicate a TAYSHAS Top Ten Book.
Top Ten books are selected from those which received a unanimous vote in the committee’s initial voting process.
2020 TAYSHAS READING LIST |
|
Titles in bold indicate a TAYSHAS Top Ten Book. Top Ten books are selected from those which received a unanimous vote in the committee’s initial voting process. |
| Author | Title |
| Acevedo, Elizabeth | With the Fire on High |
| Ahmed, Samira | Internment |
| Anderson, Laurie Halse | Shout |
| Appelt, Kathi | Angel Thieves |
| Barnes, Jennifer Lynn | Little White Lies |
| Bennett, Jenn | Serious Moonlight |
| Berry, Julie | Lovely War |
| Blake, Ashley Herring | Girl Made of Stars |
| Bognanni, Peter | This Book is Not Yet Rated |
| Borrowman, Jerry | Invisible Heroes of World War II: Extraordinary Wartime Stories of Ordinary People |
| Brody, Jessica, and Joanne Rendell | Sky Without Stars |
| Chokshi, Roshani | The Gilded Wolves |
| Cooner, Donna | Screenshot |
| Dayton, Arwen Elys | Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful |
| Degollado, Ruben | Throw |
| Del Rosario, Juleah | 500 Words or Less |
| Donnelly, Jennifer | Stepsister |
| Dunbar, Helene | We Are Lost and Found |
| Elliot, David | Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc |
| Emmich, Val | Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel |
| Faizal, Hafsah | We Hunt the Flame |
| Gates, Mariam | This Moment is Your Life |
| Giles, Lamar, Editor | Fresh Ink |
| Glasgow, Kathleen | How to Make Friends with the Dark |
| Greenwald, Tom | Game Changer |
| Hand, Cynthia, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows | My Plain Jane |
| Henry, Katie | Heretics Anonymous |
| Hutchinson, Shaun David | Brave Face |
| Hutchinson, Shaun David | The Past and Other Things that Should Stay Buried |
| Jackson, Tiffany | Let Me Hear a Rhyme |
| Johnson, Maureen | Truly Devious |
| Kemmerer, Brigid | A Curse so Dark and Lonely |
| Khorram, Adib | Darius the Great is Not Okay |
| Lee, Stacey | The Downstairs Girl |
| McGee, Katharine | American Royals |
| McGinnis, Mindy | Heroine |
| McLemore, Anna-Marie | Blanca & Roja |
| McManus, Karen | Two Can Keep a Secret |
| McNeil, Gretchen | #MurderTrending |
| Miller, Madeline | Circe |
| Neri, Greg | Grand Theft Horse |
| Nijkamp, Marieke, Editor | Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens |
| Norriss, Andrew | Mike |
| Norton, Preston | Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe |
| Nwaubani, Adaobi Tricia | Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree |
| Oshiro, Mark | Anger Is a Gift |
| Parker, Natalie | Seafire |
| Pessl, Marisha | Neverworld Wake |
| Phillipe, Ben | The Field Guide to the North American Teenager |
| Reynolds, Justin A | Opposite of Always |
| Ribay, Randy | Patron Saints of Nothing |
| Rowell, Rainbow, and Faith Erin Hicks | Pumpkinheads |
| Russo, Meredith | Birthday |
| Scholte, Astrid | Four Dead Queens |
| Shusterman, Neal | Dry |
| Smith, Amber | The Last to Let Go |
| Smith, Jennifer E. | Field Notes on Love |
| Stevens, Courtney | Four Three Two One |
| Stevenson, Bryan | Just Mercy: A True Story of the Fight for Justice (Adapted for Young Adults) |
| Summers, Courtney | Sadie |
| Tamaki, Mariko | Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me |
| Temblador, Alex | Secrets of the Casa Rosada |
| Thomas, Angie | On the Come Up |
| Toro, Guillermo del, and Cornelia Funke | Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun |
| van Arsdale, Peterbelle | The Cold is in Her Bones |
| Vargas, Jose Antonio | Dear America: The Story of an Undocumented Citizen (Young Readers’ Edition) |
| Vecchione, Patrice, and Alyssa Raymond, Editors | Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience |
| Venable, Colleen A.F., and Ellen T. Crenshaw | Kiss Number 8 |
| West, Kasie | Listen to Your Heart |
| White, Kiersten | Slayer |
| Young, Suzanne | Girls with Sharp Sticks |
| Zentner, Jeff | Rayne and Delilah’s Midnite Matinee |
| Zolidis, Don | The Seven Torments of Amy and Craig |
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