3rd grade Nebraska Golden Sower Award reading list
Books referenced by Nebraska Golden Sower Award at the 3rd grade level. Source: nebraskalibraries.org.
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About the 3rd grade Nebraska Golden Sower Award reading list
Nebraska Golden Sower Award is the Nebraska Golden Sower Award framework. ReadingList tracks 77 titles referenced by Nebraska Golden Sower Award at the 3rd gradelevel, each tied to a primary-source citation on the book’s detail page. Across the list, Lexile measures span 610L–790L. The framework is published at nebraskalibraries.org.
At the 3rd grade level — the 3-5grade band — students are transitional readers, with the curriculum focused on moving from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn across longer chapter books. Per Common Core’s Appendix A complexity bands, text difficulty at this stage typically falls around roughly 400L to 800L. Measured against that 420–820L range, of the 2 titles here with a Lexile score 2 are grade-level, 0 are more accessible, and 0 are stretch texts. A single Nebraska Golden Sower Award classroom can still span a wide range of reading levels.
Unlike a state reading list, a Nebraska Golden Sower Award list is portable: the same framework is taught across districts and, in the case of AP and IB, across countries. That makes these titles a reliable backbone for 3rd grade planning whether you are a teacher mapping a unit, a homeschooler following a recognized sequence, or a parent checking what Nebraska Golden Sower Award expects.
How to use this list: treat the Nebraska Golden Sower Award titles as the core and layer in state-cited or thematically-related books to round out a 3rd gradeyear. Each book’s page shows its Lexile measure, grade range, themes, and any challenge history, so you can match a text to a specific reader rather than to the grade label alone.
Nebraska Golden Sower Award at other grades
2nd grade · 4th grade · 1st grade · 5th grade · All 3rd gradereading lists →
77 books
A Dog Called KittyWallace, Bill
Baby Monkey, Private EyeBrian Selznick
Because of Mr. TeruptRob Buyea
Because of Winn-DixieKate DiCamillo · 610L
BedheadMargie Palatini
Bubba the Cowboy PrinceHelen Ketteman
BunniculaDeborah Howe
Chez BobBob Shea
Closed for the SeasonMary Downing Hahn
Cloudy with a Chance of MeatballsJudi Barrett
Crash, Splash, or Moo!Bob Shea
Creepy Carrots!Aaron Reynolds
Dewey: There’s a Cat in the Library!Vicki Myron
Don’t Touch My RoomPatricia Lakin
Escaping the Giant WavePeg Kehret
Even Monsters Need HaircutsMatthew McElligott
Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizards in the FridgeBill Wallace
Fuzzy MudLouis Sachar
GastonKelly DiPucchio- If I Built a CarChris Van DusenIf I Built a CarChris Van Dusen
If I Built a SchoolChris Van Dusen
Is Anybody There?Eve Bunting
JaguarRoland Smith
John HenryJulius Lester
Show all 77 titles
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- Loser · Jerry Spinelli
- Madeline Finn and the Library Dog · Lisa Papp
- Martha Speaks · Susan Meddaugh
- Maxi’s Secrets: (Or, What You Can Learn from a Dog) · Lynn Plourde
- Miss Nelson Has a Field Day · Harry Allard
- Miss Nelson Is Back · Harry Allard
- My Lucky Day · Keiko Kasza
- Night of the Twisters · Ivy Ruckman
- Nightmare Mountain · Peg Kehret
- No Such Thing · Jackie French Koller
- Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade · Barthe DeClements
- Odder · Katherine Applegate
- Peabody · Rosemary Wells
- Piggins · Jane Yolen
- Poopsie Gets Lost · Hannah E. Harrison
- Rescue Josh McGuire · Ben Mikaelsen
- Riptide · Frances Ward Weller
- Round Trip · Ann Jonas
- Rugby and Rosie · Nan Parson Rossiter
- Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream · Deloris Jordan
- Satch and Me · Dan Gutman
- Shiloh Season · Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Six Feet Below Zero · Ena Jones
- Sixth Grade Can Really Kill You · Barthe DeClements
- Skeleton Man · Joseph Bruchac
- Soap! Soap! Don’t Forget the Soap! · Tom Birdseye
- Strongheart: Wonder Dog of the Silver Screen · Candace Fleming
- Substitute Teacher Plans · Johnson, Doug
- Superfudge · Judy Blume
- Tacky the Penguin · Lester, Helen.
- The Best School Year Ever · Barbara Robinson
- The Box Turtle · Vanessa Roeder
- The Day the Crayons Quit · Drew Daywalt
- The Ghost of Fossil Glen · Cynthia C. DeFelice
- The Ghost of Lizard Light · Elvira Woodruff
- The Grand Escape · Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- The Grannyman · Judith Byron Schachner
- The Great Fuzz Frenzy · Janet Stevens
- The Magic Misfits · Neil Patrick Harris
- The Magic School Bus: At the Waterworks · Joanna Cole
- The Old Willis Place · Mary Downing Hahn
- The Rough-Face Girl · Rafe Martin
- The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School · Judy Sierra
- The Talking Eggs · Robert D. San Souci
- The Toll-Bridge Troll · Patricia Rae Wolff
- The War with Grandpa · Robert Kimmel Smith
- The World According to Humphrey · Betty G. Birney
- Titanic Crossing · Barbara Williams
- Titanicat · Marty Crisp
- Togo · Robert J. Blake
- We Forgot Brock! · Carter Goodrich
- Wildfire · Rodman Philbrick
- Wonder · R.J. Palacio