Reading is a critical skill for success in school and in life. Let’s create an easy to learn environment with high quality children’s age appropriate books, and help our children build a good reading habit!
Reading Comprehension for Third Graders
Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They draw upon a variety of comprehension strategies as needed (e.g., generating and responding to essential questions, making predictions, comparing information from several sources).
The selections in Recommended Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students. In addition to their regular school reading, by grade four, students read one-half million words annually, including a good representation of grade-level-appropriate narrative and expository text (e.g., classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, online information).
In grade three, students make substantial progress toward this goal.
Structural Features of Informational Materials
1. Use titles, tables of contents, chapter headings, glossaries, and indexes to locate information in text.
Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text
2. Ask questions and support answers by connecting prior knowledge with literal information found in, and inferred from, the text.
3. Demonstrate comprehension by identifying answers in the text.
4. Recall major points in the text and make and modify predictions about forthcoming information.
5. Distinguish the main idea and supporting details in expository text.
6. Extract appropriate and significant information from the text, including problems and solutions.
7. Follow simple multiple-step written instructions (e.g., how to assemble a product or play a board game).
Books for Third Graders
Whitefoot: A Story from the Center of the World
When a flood of rain comes, a little mouse travels far outside of her world and her routines on a new journey of survival.
Ms. Wiz Spells Trouble
Their new teacher can do some very strange things, which makes school very interesting for the students, but creates problems for other teachers.
Series: Ms. Wiz
Bad Kitty Gets a Bath
Find out if kitty gets clean in this hilarious “how-to” chapter book with instructions on giving kitty a bath. The book includes safety advice. Make sure you have “a suit of armor, your doctor on speed dial, lots of plasma, and lots of bandages.”
Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes
When the Watsons take their pet pig, Mercy, to see the movie “When Pigs Fly” at the drive-in, Mercy is much more interested in that heavenly smell of butter.
Series: Mercy Watson
Sassy: Little Sister Is Not My Name
Sassy Simone Sanford is nicknamed Little Sister and she is the youngest, smallest member of her family — and the last one in line for everything. She’s tired of being called Little Sister. She just wants to be Sassy with her one of a kind Sparkle Sack!
Miss Breakbone makes a mistake when she calls her class the Dunderheads. They soon team up and demonstrate their talents, much to the teacher’s dismay.
Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel
Dyamonde Daniel calls herself “a gem waiting to be discovered.” Follow Dyamonde in this story about a new school and how she finds a friend to replace Alisha, her old best friend.
Jade Dragon: A Story of Ancient China
Zhou usually loses the tournament to his twin brother, Cheng. His luck changes when he finds a small jade dragon.
Underpants On My Head
Underpants On My Head
Summer vacation at Gram’s is not very fun until Cleo’s family goes mountain hiking. Then they get caught in a snowstorm without hats, where the only thing left to use might be their… underwear!
Amazing Trail of Seymour Snail
Seymour Snail, who wants to be a great artist, takes a job in an art gallery. He is asked to slime envelopes and deliver a package.
These letters tell of the Wild West adventures of Grandfather and his dog Roo. Organized by the Great Lost Travel Agency, there is one funny disaster after another.
We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes
Crusher, a gopher snake, is captured by a human child. Forced into the boy’s “zoo,” she does everything she can to escape.
A Coyote Solstice Tale
Coyote and his friends go shopping at the mall and they are happy with their selections. The problem is that wild forest animals do not know they have to pay for the things on their cart before they can leave the store.
Sensible Hare and The Case Of Carrots
Secret tunnels, train chases, villains’ hideouts, and bad guys in disguise…Sensible Hare is on the hunt for a missing suitcase of carrots.
Nana Cracks the Case
Nana is not a normal grandmother. She loves a bit of adventure. When Nana reads the want-ad for a detective job, she knows she is perfect for the job since she is sneaky and has lots of wigs.
Poodle and Hound
Two best friends, Poodle and Hound, have different likes but still understand and enjoy each other.
A mysterious beast with only two legs has been stealing oranges from the Mammoth Academy kitchen, and it is up to Oscar the mammoth to crack the case!
Chocolate Tree: A Mayan Folktale
The god Kukulkan brings happiness to the Mayan people with corn. His next mission: to share the divine food chocolate.
Third Grade Baby
Polly is the only third grader in her class who hasn’t lost a tooth, but losing one creates other problems.
How Oliver Olson Changed the World
Oliver’s parents do his homework for him … and he hates it! They control his whole life and won’t let him go on the super fun class sleepover. But when the imaginative Crystal is his partner on a school project, his parents are totally helpless.
Swamps of Sleethe: Poems From Beyond the Solar System
In these spooky space poems, you’ll tour planets of the universe you’d never want to visit, from Gazook where the cooks will put you into their soup, to Wonthoo, where the water shrinks you down to nothingness.
Day of the Black Blizzard
Dust was in their food. Dust was in their water. They breathed it in, and heard it whistle in the wind all night long. Nothing could stop it. On the plains, far from home, will Orry and Mildred survive the Day of the Black Blizzard?
Max has a new school and new bullies to deal with…fortunately, he also has Adventure Time when he can go on all kinds of escapades with his trusty dog without ever leaving his room!
Brenda Berman, Wedding Expert
Oh, no! Brenda’s Uncle Harry eloped and now she doesn’t get to wear her gold flower girl dress at the wedding. Will she ever forgive him and her new Aunt Florrie for ruining a special EVENT?
After we have done some research, we recommend the following books for third graders by Amazon’s review rankings.