Arizona 3rd grade reading list

Books with an Arizona citation for 3rd grade include Shiloh, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. This list has 560 total books, 34 of them with an Arizona-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 380L to 1000L.

Top Arizona 3rd grade pick: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor — on 1 Arizona list

Get it on Amazon →

Affiliate link: as an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Try it on audio — free. Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.

Listen free on Audiblestarts instantly

New members only · many assigned titles are included with the membership. As an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases and membership trials at no extra cost to you.

Total books560Lexile380L–1000LSourceArizona ELA Standards✓ sources cited per book

Most-assigned on state lists: across every US state’s official reading and award lists, the Elementary (K–5) titles appearing in the most states are Wonder (29 states), Because of Winn-Dixie (26 states), and Shiloh (25 states). From our 2026 study of 13,258 source-cited assignments (as of 2026-07-13).

Our pick to start — most-cited for Arizona 3rd grade

These are the 30 titles named in Arizona’s own curriculum documents for this grade — everything below is the wider national list. Read against the Common Core Appendix A complexity band; reading level is not thematic maturity, and several sit below the band because they are assigned for discussion.

  1. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers animal welfare, morality and family. At 890L it runs above the 420–820L band — a stretch text.

    Get it on Amazon

  2. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 2 to 5. Covers siblings, family and everyday life. At 470L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  3. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers love, loss and journey.

    Get it on Amazon

  4. Superfudge

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6.

    Get it on Amazon

  5. The Indian in the Cupboard

    Lynne Reid Banks

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers friendship, responsibility and imagination.

    Get it on Amazon

  6. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers facial difference, kindness and bullying. At 790L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  7. A Handful of Stars

    Cynthia Lord

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers grandparent and child, blind dogs, grandparents.

    Get it on Amazon

  8. Aliens Ate My Homework

    Bruce Coville

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers science fiction, life on other planets and extraterrestrial beings.

    Get it on Amazon

  9. Backlash

    Sarah Darer Littman

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers neighbors, suicide and family life.

    Get it on Amazon

  10. Because of Mr. Terupt

    Rob Buyea

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

    Get it on Amazon

  11. Becoming Muhammad Ali

    James Patterson

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8.

    Get it on Amazon

  12. Closed for the Season

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers neighbors, murder and friendship.

    Get it on Amazon

  13. Dragon Rider

    Cornelia Funke

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers animals, mythical.

    Get it on Amazon

  14. Drive-By

    Lynne Ewing

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers gangs, death, brothers and sisters.

    Get it on Amazon

  15. How to Eat Fried Worms

    Thomas Rockwell

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers humor, friendship and school.

    Get it on Amazon

  16. Just Gus

    McCall Hoyle

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8.

    Get it on Amazon

  17. Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism

    Georgia Byng

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers amistad, bank robberies and ficción juvenil.

    Get it on Amazon

  18. Odder

    Katherine Applegate

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

    Get it on Amazon

  19. Peter and the Starcatchers

    Dave Barry

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers characters in literature, humorous stories and magic.

    Get it on Amazon

  20. Pie

    Sarah Weeks

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers families, cooking and mother-daughter relationship.

    Get it on Amazon

  21. Prisoner B-3087

    Alan Gratz

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers jews, history and holocaust, jewish (1939-1945).

    Get it on Amazon

  22. Riding Freedom

    Pam Muñoz Ryan

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers history, mistaken identity and identification.

    Get it on Amazon

  23. Running Out of Time

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers adventure and adventurers, fiction, diphtheria, mystery and detective stories.

    Get it on Amazon

  24. Schooled

    Gordon Korman

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers middle school students, teenage boys and home schooling.

    Get it on Amazon

  25. Skeleton Man

    Joseph Bruchac

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers kidnapping, psychopaths and mohawk indians.

    Get it on Amazon

  26. The Downstairs Girl

    Stacey Lee

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers household employees, fiction, authorship, fiction and chinese americans, fiction.

    Get it on Amazon

  27. The Ghost of Fossil Glen

    Cynthia C. DeFelice

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers imagination, diaries and ghosts.

    Get it on Amazon

  28. The Gollywhopper Games

    Jody Feldman

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers conduct of life, puzzles and games.

    Get it on Amazon

  29. The Great Pet Escape

    Victoria Jamieson

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers schools, escapes and humorous stories.

    Get it on Amazon

  30. The Lifters

    Dave Eggers

    Cited in 1 Arizona curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers detective and mystery stories, underground areas, magic.

    Get it on Amazon

34 books cited for Arizona 3rd grade

Assignments tied directly to Arizona’s Arizona ELA Standards with a Arizona-specific citation.

Show all 34 titles

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

526 additional grade-appropriate books for 3rd grade readers

The 560-book total above includes 34 titles with direct Arizona citation; these 526 additional titles cover 3rd grade in the broader canon. They don't have an Arizona-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 526 titles

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Know a parent or teacher who needs this? Share it:FacebookPinterest

Teacher or librarian? Print this list as a checklist — free to photocopy for your class or library (details).

Other Arizona grades

2nd grade · 4th grade · 1st grade · 5th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

2nd grade · 4th grade · 1st grade · 5th grade

Same 3rd grade in other states

California · Texas · Florida · New York · Pennsylvania · Illinois

Browse 3rd grade reading by theme

About the Arizona 3rd grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Arizona ELA Standards with books from national sources that list titles for 3rd grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Newbery Medal, the Golden Kite Award and the Caldecott Medal. ReadingList currently tracks 560 titles for 3rd grade in Arizona, of which 34 carry a direct Arizona citation and 526 are grade-appropriate titles whose reading level overlaps 3rd grade. Across the list, Lexile measures span 380L–1000L.

3rd grade sits in the 3-5 grade band, where students are transitional readers. At this stage the emphasis is on shifting from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn and sustaining attention across longer chapter books. Assigned reading skews toward early novels, narrative non-fiction, and a student's first assigned full-length stories, with text complexity that, per Common Core’s Appendix A reading bands, typically falls around roughly 400L to 800L. Measured against that 420–820L range, of the 52 titles here with a Lexile score 36 are grade-level, 2 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 14 are stretch texts that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 3rd grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Arizona’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Arizona ELA Standards (azed.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 3rd grade list below blends Arizona-specific assignments with widely taught national titles. Every title links to its primary source on the book’s detail page, so you can confirm exactly where and why it is assigned.

How to use this list:match a title to your child’s most recent Lexile or guided-reading level rather than to the grade alone. Teachers building a 3rd grade unit can pair a Arizona-cited core text with a grade-appropriate companion novel; parents previewing summer or supplemental reading can check each book’s content notes and challenge history before assigning it.

Common questions

What books do 3rd grade students read in Arizona?
Books with an Arizona-specific citation for 3rd grade include Shiloh, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Superfudge and The Indian in the Cupboard. Individual schools and districts choose their own titles, so check with your child's teacher for the exact list.
How many books are assigned to 3rd grade students in Arizona?
This list has 560 books for 3rd grade students in Arizona. 34 of them have an Arizona-specific citation; the other 526 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 3rd grade reading in Arizona?
Lexile measures across the 3rd grade Arizona reading list range from 380L to 1000L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Arizona-specific entries reference Arizona ELA Standards (published at www.azed.gov). The other books come from national sources that list books for 3rd grade: the Common Core State Standards (ELA), plus awards such as the Newbery Medal, the Golden Kite Award and the Caldecott Medal. Each book's page links the primary source for every listing.

Reading guides for parents

▸Embed this list on your site

Copy + paste this snippet into any school newsletter, classroom blog, library site, or homeschool resource page. The embed shows the top 12 titles and links back to the full list. Updates automatically when ReadingList’s data changes.

<iframe src="https://readinglist.school/embed/grade/3" width="100%" height="540" style="border:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.1);border-radius:6px;max-width:640px" loading="lazy" title="3rd grade reading list — ReadingList.school"></iframe>

Preview: /embed/grade/3 · License: CC BY 4.0 (please credit “ReadingList.school”).

Was this page helpful?

Browse by another angle

State-specific entries sourced from www.azed.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

Find ReadingList in your Google results more often: