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Kindergarden to 3rd Grade Reading List

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Beaumont, Karen
I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More!
With zippy text and zany illustrations, this book turns an infamous childhood activity into raucous story time fun with the tale of a spirited child who, after being told not to paint the walls, paints himself instead.
K-3 Picture Books

Christelow, Eileen
Where's the Big Bad Wolf?
Detective Doggedly, a pair of cows, and a sheep who looks very familiar, are all nearby each time three pigs get in trouble. However, the big bad wolf is conspicuously absent.
K-3 Picture Books

Clements, Andrew
Because Your Daddy Loves You
When things go wrong during a day at the beach, such as a ball that drifts away or a gooey ice cream mess, a father could do a lot of things but always picks the loving one.
K-2 Picture Books

Cronin, Doreen
Diary of a Spider
A young spider discovers, day by day, that there is a lot to learn about being a spider, including how to spin webs and avoid vacuum cleaners.
K-2 Picture Books

 

DeFelice, Cynthia
Clever Crow
A pestering crow meets his match in this sprightly takeoff on Aesop's fable "The Fox and the Grapes."
K-3 Picture Books

Ehlert, Lois
Leaf Man
Ehlert uses collage artwork to show a leaf’s journey from a tree, through different seasons, and across time and space. The use of directional language and the labeled illustrations of leaves makes a natural connection to science and social studies.
K-2 Picture Books

Epner, Paul and Reed, Bill
There’s a Dachshund in My Bed
Educational and fun story about counting animals.
K-2 Picture Books

Grimes, Nikki
C is for City
An ABC book that takes the reader on a tour of New York City.
1-4 Picture Books

Henkes, Kevin
Kitten's First Full Moon
In this beautiful picture book, winner of the 2005 Caldecott Medal, Kevin Henkes captures the sweet, sometimes slapstick struggle of Kitten, who sees her first full moon and thinks it's a bowl of milk in the sky.
K-3 Picture Books

Juster, Norton
The Hello, Goodbye Window
This 2006 Caldecott Winner tells the story of a little girl who finds a magic getaway in the kitchen window of her grandparent’s house, and the voyage of discovery she takes.
K-3 Picture Books

Joosse, Barbara
Papa, Do You Love Me?
A Masai father in Africa answers his son’s questions, reaffirming his unconditional love for the boy.
K-3 Picture Books

Kasza, Keiko
The Dog Who Cried Wolf
Tired of being a house pet, Moka the dog moves to the mountains to become a wolf but soon misses the comforts of home.
K-2 Picture Books

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3rd to 5th Grade Reading List

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Avi
The End of the Beginning
Avon the snail and Edward the ant set out on a journey down a tree branch in search of adventure.
3-5 Fiction

Birdsall, Jeanne
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy
While vacationing with their widowed father in the Berkshire Mountains, four lovable sisters, ages four through twelve, share adventures with a local boy, much to the dismay of his snobbish mother.
3-6 Fiction

Child, Lauren
Utterly Me, Clarice Bean
When someone steals the winner’s trophy for the school book project, Clarice emulates her favorite book heroine, Ruby Redfort, the detective.
3-5 Fiction

Codell, Esme Raji
Sahara Special
Sahara Jones is going into fifth grade -- again. Although she won't be "Sahara Special" anymore (special needs, that is), she doesn't expect this year to be any better than last year. With her eggplant-colored lipstick and strange subjects such as "Puzzling" and "Time Travel," Miss Pointy is like no other teacher Sahara has ever known.
3-5 Fiction

Colfer, Eoin
The Legend of Spud Murphy
The first in a new series by the author of Artemis Fowl books, this title depicts the run-in’s between William and Marty and the infamous librarian, Spud Murphy.
3-6 Fiction

DiCamillo, Kate
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.
2-5 Fiction

Elliot, David
The Transmogrification of Roscoe Wizzle
After eating constantly at the fast food restaurant known as Gussy’s, ten-year-old Roscoe finds himself turning into a giant bug.
3-5 Fiction

Kehret, Peg
The Stranger Next Door
A clever cat's heroism helps two twelve-year-old boys become friends after their families, one of whom is in a witness protection program, move to neighboring houses in Hilltop, Washington.
3-5 Fiction

Martin, Ann
A Dog’s Life
Squirrel, a stray puppy, tells the story of her life.
3-5 Fiction

Mills, Claudia
Being Teddy Roosevelt
When assigned Teddy Roosevelt as his biography project in school, fourth grader Riley finds himself inspired by Roosevelt’s tenacity and perseverance to find a way to get what he wants most.
3-5 Fiction

Smith, Alexander McCall
Akimbo and the Elephants
Akimbo is an animal lover whose father works protecting wild animals in Africa. When he discovers poachers who kill elephants just for their tusks, Akimbo comes up with an adventurous plan.
3-5 Ficton

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6th to 8th Grade Reading List

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Armstrong, Jennifer
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World
When their ship became icebound in Antarctica and sank in 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his 27 crewmen were 100 miles from land. The men took to their lifeboats, and spent a year and a half traveling over ice, water, and mountains to reach safety. Unbelievably, they all survived.
Nonfiction

Bachrach, Susan D.
Nazi Olympics, The: Berlin 1936
Traces the troubled path of the games both in the U.S. and Germany, examining the escalating oppression of Jews, the building of the concentration camps, and U.S. efforts to start a boycott.
Nonfiction

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell
Growing up in Coal Country
Before the child labor laws, young boys worked as Pennsylvania coal miners under incredibly harsh conditions. Filled with photographs, vintage newspaper articles, mining records, and first-person accounts, this is an excellent depiction of nineteenth and twentieth century exploitation of children.
Nonfiction

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell
Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow
A photo-illustrated look at the youth organizations Adolf Hitler founded and used to meet his sociopolitical and military ends; includes profiles of individual Hitler Youth members as well as young people who opposed the Nazis, such as Hans and Sophie Scholl.
Nonfiction

Bausum, Ann
Freedom Riders : John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement
The incredible courage and determination of young people, black, white, male and female, who risked great personal danger and even death as they participated in the freedom rides during the Civil Rights Movement are the focus of this remarkable book. History is told through parallel biographies of two civil rights activists, a black southerner and a white northerner.
Nonfiction

Beckett, Harry
Waterways to the Great Lakes
Describes the history, climate, wildlife, and different bodies of water of the Saint Lawrence-Great Lake Waterway.
Nonfiction

Buchanan, William
Shining Season: The True Story of John Baker, A
An inspiring account of the young track star John Baker's tragic struggle against cancer.
Nonfiction

Curlee, Lynn
Brooklyn Bridge
Describes the planning, construction, and history of the Brooklyn Bridge, celebrated as one of the greatest landmarks and grandest sights of New York City.
Nonfiction

Farrell, Jeanette
Invisible Allies: Microbes That Shape Our Lives
A fascinating and sometimes surprising account of how lowly microbes contribute to human life in areas as varied as the production of chocolate, the development of the human digestive system, and the disintegration of environmental toxins.
Nonfiction

Fleischman, Sid
Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini
Biography of the great magician, ghost chaser, aviator, and king of escape artists.randed as traitors by the king's authorities, Crispin and his guardian, Bear, flee to coastal towns in fourteenth-century England, where they perform a musical juggling act and bond as a family after befriending a disfigured girl.
Nonfiction

Fradin, Dennis Brindell
Bound for the North Star: True Stories of Fugitive Slaves
Twelve true accounts of slaves who escaped to freedom from slavery in the American South before the Civil War.
Nonfiction

Green, Michelle Y
Strong Right Arm, A: The Story of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson
Tells the story of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson, a woman who had to overcome the obstacles of gender and race to pursue her dream of playing baseball, and who finally got her chance when she and other African-American women were invited to play in the Negro Leagues after male players were allowed on major league teams.
MS Nonfiction

Murphy, Jim
Long Road to Gettysburg, The
Tells the story of the hardships and anxieties of this great Civil War battle. Uses firsthand accounts of the battle by Confederate lieutenant John Dooley, age eighteen, and Union soldier Thomas Galway, just fifteen.
Nonfiction

Nelson, Peter
Left for Dead: A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis
In July 1945 the U.S.S. Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese sub, and sank in a mere fourteen minutes, spilling more than a thousand men into deadly, shark-infested waters. Ultimately, only 317 men were rescued, making it the worst disaster in U.S. naval history. The Navy blamed the ship’s captain, even though the sailors who served under him fought to clear his name. It wasn't until the intervention eleven-year-old Hunter Scott -- and his history fair project -- that the tide turned for the Indianapolis.
Nonfiction

Nye, Naomi Shihab
19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East
A collection of sixty poems in which the Arab-American author examines life in the Middle East.
Nonfiction

Yan, Ma
Diary of Ma Yan, The: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl
Presents a real-life portrait of a young peasant girl’s life in China as she struggles to acquire an education despite severe poverty.
Nonfiction