3rd grade South Carolina Children's Book Award reading list
Books referenced by South Carolina Children's Book Award at the 3rd grade level. Source: studysc.org.
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About the 3rd grade South Carolina Children's Book Award reading list
South Carolina Children's Book Award is the South Carolina Children's Book Award framework. ReadingList tracks 64 titles referenced by South Carolina Children's Book Award at the 3rd gradelevel, each tied to a primary-source citation on the book’s detail page. Across the list, Lexile measures span 420L–790L. The framework is published at studysc.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 5 titles here with a Lexile score 5 are grade-level, 0 are more accessible, and 0 are stretch texts. A single South Carolina Children's Book Award classroom can still span a wide range of reading levels.
Unlike a state reading list, a South Carolina Children's Book 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 South Carolina Children's Book Award expects.
How to use this list: treat the South Carolina Children's Book 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.
South Carolina Children's Book Award at other grades
2nd grade · 4th grade · 1st grade · 5th grade · All 3rd gradereading lists →
64 books
11 BirthdaysWendy Mass
A Royal ConundrumLisa Yee- A Wolf Called WanderRosanne ParryA Wolf Called WanderRosanne Parry
All the Lovely Bad OnesMary Downing Hahn
AllergicMegan Wagner Lloyd
Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous JobWillo Davis Roberts
Because of Winn-DixieKate DiCamillo · 610L
BlendedSharon M. Draper · 610L
BuddyM. H. Herlong
BunniculaDeborah Howe
Class ClownJohanna Hurwitz
Diary of a WormDoreen Cronin
DogtownKatherine Applegate & Gennifer Choldenko
DukeKirby Larson
El DeafoCece Bell · 420L
Farther Than the MoonLindsay Lackey
Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizards in the FridgeBill Wallace
Final Word (The Winterton Deception #1)Janet Sumner Johnson
Four Eyes: A Graphic NovelRex Ogle
Fourth Grade RatsJerry Spinelli
GhostsRaina Telgemeier
Good DifferentMeg Eden Kuyatt
Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the HolocaustElisa Boxer
Hooway for Wodney WatHelen Lester
Show all 64 titles
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- How to Eat Fried Worms · Thomas Rockwell
- How to Steal a Dog · Barbara O'Connor
- Iceberg · Jennifer A. Nielsen
- Is Anybody There? · Eve Bunting
- Jawbreaker · Christina Wyman
- Jelly Belly · Robert Kimmel Smith
- Mr. Lincoln's Way · Patricia Polacco
- My Dog, My Hero · Betsy Cromer Byars
- Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy · Angie Thomas
- Nothing Else But Miracles · Kate Albus
- Oliver's Great Big Universe · Jorge Cham
- Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great · Judy Blume
- Race for the Ruby Turtle · Stephen Bramucci
- Real Friends · Shannon Hale
- Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter · Diane Stanley
- Shoeshine Girl · Clyde Robert Bulla
- Snot Stew · Bill Wallace
- Sukey and the Mermaid · Robert D. San Souci
- Swindle · Gordon Korman
- Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing · Judy Blume
- Thank You, Mr. Falker · Patricia Polacco
- The Best School Year Ever · Barbara Robinson
- The Boys Start the War · Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- The Cursed Moon · Angela Cervantes
- The Firefly Summer · Morgan Matson
- The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall · Mary Downing Hahn
- The Ghost of Tillie Jean Cassaway · Ellen Harvey Showell
- The Guardian Test (Legends of Lotus Island #1) · Christina Soontornvat
- The Labors of Hercules Beal · Gary D. Schmidt
- The Last Kids on Earth · Max Brallier
- The Monster's Ring · Bruce Coville
- The Old Willis Place · Mary Downing Hahn
- The Story of Ruby Bridges · Robert Coles
- The Superteacher Project · Gordon Korman
- The War with Grandpa · Robert Kimmel Smith
- The Wild Journey of Juniper Berry · Chad Morris
- Tornado · Betsy Cromer Byars
- Weasel · Cynthia DeFelice
- When Sea Becomes Sky · Gillian McDunn
- Wonder · R.J. Palacio