Freddy adds contemporary benchmark books to those already identified by Jeanne Chall and the CCSS.
| Grade Level | Source | Title | Word Recognition Curriculum |
| End of Grade 1 | High recognition | Green Eggs & Ham | * |
| Beginning of Grade 2 | CCSS | The Fire Cat | 600 most-frequent (& inflected endings) + words in higher zones with 1-3 letters |
| High recognition | Frog and Toad | ||
| Contemporary |
| ||
| Middle of Grade 2 | CCSS | The Treasure | 1,000 most-frequent (& inflected endings) + words in higher zones with 1- 4 letters |
| High recognition | Henry & Mudge | ||
| Contemporary |
| ||
| End of Grade 2 | CCSS | Tops & Bottoms | 1,000 most frequent words (& inflected endings) + words in higher zones with 1-5 letters |
| High recognition | Good Luck, Ronald Morgan | ||
| Contemporary |
| ||
| Middle of Grade 3 | CCSS | The Lighthouse Family | 1700 most-frequent words (U = 50) + words with 1-5 letters in harder zones |
| High recognition | The Stories Julian Tells | ||
| Contemporary |
| ||
| End of Grade 3 | CCSS | Sarah: Plain & Tall | 2,500 most-frequent words (U=30) + words with 1-6 letters in harder zones |
| High recognition | Beezus & Ramona | ||
| Contemporary |
| ||
| Grade 4 | CCSS | The Black Stallion | * |
| High recognition | Soup & Me | ||
| Contemporary | Because of Winn-Dixie | ||
| Grade 5 | CCSS | Higgins the Great | * |
| High recognition | Island of the Blue Dolphin | ||
| Contemporary | The Birchbark House |
* Information forthcoming