Responding to a parent request for books that would interest her third-grader-reading-at-a-sixth-grade-level, we crowd-sourced a list. Big thanks to Sara Alcott, Linda Baie, Lesley Mandros Bell, Karen Cramer, Caren Creech, Melinda Fant, Ellen Klarreich, Vickie LoPiccolo, Ellen McEvoy, Laura Moe, Tunie Munson-Benson, Vicki Palmquist, Carrie Shay, Faythe Dyrud Thureen, Cindy Walker, and Sharon J. Wilson.
Unlike our usual annotated booklists, we are presenting this one in alphabetical order by book title due to the length of the list. We hope you find books here that lead you to read more books by these authors. Of course, there are many more just-right books to suggest for this type of reader – we’ve included only books suggested by our “crowd.”
Adam Canfield of the Slash, Michael Winerip
Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great (Knights Tales series), Gerald Morris
Al Capone Does My Shirts (series of 3 books), Gennifer Choldenko
Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery
Betsy-Tacy Treasury (series, Betsy and friends get older in the books), Maud Hart Lovelace
BFG, Roald Dahl
Birchbark House, Louis Erdrich
Black Stallion (series), Walter Farley
Boggart, Susan Cooper
Book of Three (Prydain series of 5 books), Lloyd Alexander
Borrowers, Mary Norton
Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis
Catch You Later, Traitor, Avi
Catherine, Called Birdy, Karen Cushman
Chasing Vermeer, Blue Balliet
Children of Green Knowe (series), Lucy M. Boston
D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, Ingri d’Aulaire and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
Dark is Rising (series of 5 books), Susan Cooper
Dragons in the Waters, Madeleine L’Engle
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, Lynne Jonell
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, Chris Grabenstein
Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School, Candace Fleming
False Prince (series of 3 books), Jennifer A. Nielsen
Flora & Ulysses, Kate DiCamillo
Frindle, Andrew Clements
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsberg
Girls Think of Everything, Catherine Thimmesh
Greenglass House, Kate Milford
Half Magic, Edward Eager
Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (series of 7 books), J.K. Rowling
Hatchet, Gary Paulsen
Holes, Louis Sachar
Home of the Brave, Katherine Applegate
How to Steal a Dog, Barbara O’Connor
How to Train Your Dragon (series), Cressida Crowell, “It’s funny, sophisticated, appealing, and has 12 volumes.”
Indian Shoes, Cynthia Leitich Smith
I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 (series), Lauren Tarshis
Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me, Elizabeth, E.L. Konigsberg
Julie of the Wolves, Jean Craighead George
King of the Wind, Marguerite Henry
Lightning Thief (many books in this series and other series), Rick Riordan
Lincoln and His Boys, Rosemary Wells
Long Walk to Water, Linda Sue Park
Making Friends with Billy Wong, Augusta Scattergood
Maniac Magee, Jerry Spinelli
Mother-Daughter Book Club (series of 7 books), Heather Vogel Frederick
Mozart Season, Virginia Euwer Wolff
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Robert C. O’Brien
Nation, Terry Pratchett. “A bit mature for the average third grader, but this doesn’t sound like an average kid. Make it a point of discussion.”
Old Wolf, Avi
On My Honor, Marion Dane Bauer
One and Only Ivan, Katherine Applegate
One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia
Owls in the Family, Farley Mowat
People Could Fly, Virginia Hamilton
Peter Nimble and the Fantastic Eyes, Jonathan Auxier
Pushcart War, Jean Merrill
Randoms, David Liss
Savvy, Ingrid Law
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (especially around Halloween), Alvin Schwartz (these are scary, so please know your child’s ability to handle this book)
Scooter, Vera B. Williams’
Single Shard, Linda Sue Park
Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White, Melissa Sweet
Stella by Starlight, Sharon M. Draper
Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
Tales from the Odyssey, Mary Pope Osborne
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Fudge series), Judy Blume
Tom’s Midnight Garden, Philippa Pearce
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi
Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
Uncertain Glory, Lea Wait
Untamed: the Wild Life of Jane Goodall, Anita Silvey
Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech
Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
Whales on Stilts! M.T. Anderson
When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Grace Lin
Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth Speare
Wonder, R.J. Palacio
Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
Wow, what a wonder of a list! I will share with my former colleagues. I previously taught at a school for gifted students and this was always a search for the young, but advanced readers!
Happy to know you’ll be sharing the list, Linda. Isn’t it good to know what we can create when we collaborate?
You need to add Maxi’s Secrets by Lynn Plourde. Actually it is a book for all ages!
Thank you so much for helping with this! Perfect before Christmas : )
So glad you’ll find this useful. Stay tuned. We have a holiday gift list coming up next week.