Suggested Reading for Grades 3-5

Reading offers opportunities to learn, grow and imagine. Grade 3 is a time when students begin reading to learn and foster a love of reading up to and through Grades 4 and 5. During the back to school season, keep literary skills sharp by having plenty to read nearby. We’ll explore some suggestions for exciting reading for all types of readers.

For kids, reading should be fun, engaging and offer an opportunity for challenge without feeling overwhelming or frustrating. The following lists are curated for readers Grades 3-5 to excite and inspire them.

Classic Fiction

• Abel’s Island – William Steig
• Out of the Dust – Karen Hesse
• Mr. Popper’s Penguins – Richard Atwater
• The Island of the Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell
• Encyclopedia Brown – Donald J. Sobol
• Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White
• Ramona (series) – Beverly Cleary
• Judy Moody (series) – Megan McDonald
• Maniac Magee – Jerry Spinelli
• Fly Away Home – Eve Bunting
• Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story – Mary Downing Hahn
• Freckle Juice – Judy Blume
• Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – Judy Blume
• The Great Gilly Hopkins – Katherine Paterson
• Misty of Chincoteague – Marguerite Henry
• The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
• Matilda – Roald Dahl
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler – E L Konigsburg
• Sideways Stories from Wayside School – Louis Scahar
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – Alan Schwartz

Contemporary Fiction

• Goosebumps (series) – R. L. Stine
• Esperanza Rising – Pam Muñoz Ryan
• The Crossover – Kwame Alexander
• Under the Same Sun – Sharon Robinson
• Wonder – R.J. Palacio
• The One and Only Ivan – Katherine Applegate
• My Name is Yoon – Helen Recorvits
• Words on Fire – Jennifer A. Neilsen
• Scary Stories for Young Foxes – Christian McKay Heidicker
• The Girl Who Fell From the Sky – Heidi W. Durrow
• When You Trap a Tiger – Tae Keller
• Green Glass Sea – Ellen Klages
• Kitty and Dragon by Meika Hashimoto, illustrated by Gillian Reid
• I Am Enough – Grace Byers

Fantasy

• Bunnicula – Deborah Howe
• Bridge to Terabithia – Katherine Paterson
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians (series) – Rick Riordan
• Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer
• Eragon – Christopher Paolini
• James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
• Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster
• The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman
• Harry Potter (series) – J.K. Rowling
• Un Lun Dun – China Mieville
• Gregor the Overlander (series) – Suzanne Collins
• I, Houdini – Lynne Reid Banks
• The Indian in the Cupboard – Lynne Reid Banks
• Poppy – Avi
• Magic Tree House (series) – Mary Pope Osborne
• James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
• The BFG – Roald Dahl
• The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis

Graphic Novels

• A Wrinkle In Time: The Graphic Novel – Hope Larson
• CatStronauts – Drew Brockington
• Mighty Jack – Ben Hatke 
• The Dragon Slayer: Folktales From Latin America – Jaime Hernandez
• Karen’s Witch – Ann M. Martin
• Dog Man – Dav Pilkey
• Super Potato – Artur Laperla
• Lowriders in Space – Cathy Camper
• Real Friends – Shannon Hale
• El Deafo – Cece Bell
• Pashmina – Nidhi Chanani
• When Stars Are Scattered – Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed 
• New Kid– Jerry Craft
• Black Heroes of the Wild West – James Otis Smith 

Non-Fiction

• Women in Science: Rachel Carson
• The Great Fire – Jim Murphy
• Long Shot – Chris Paul
• We Dig Worms – Kevin McCloskey
• Fox Explores the Night – Martin Jenkins
• Plants Fight Back – Lisa J. Amstutz, illustrated by Rebecca Evans
• Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann
• Fly Guy Presents Scary Creatures! by Tedd Arnold
• The World’s Best Jokes for Kids Volume 1 by Lisa Swerling & Ralph Lazar
• So You Want to Be a Ninja? by Bruno Vincent, illustrated by Takayo Akiyama
• Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas – Gwendolyn Hooks
• You Should Meet Mae Jemison – Laurie Calkhoven
• Hidden Women: The African-American Mathematicians of NASA Who Helped America Win the Space Race – Rebecca Rissman