Indiana 3rd grade reading list

Books with an Indiana citation for 3rd grade include Creepy Carrots!, Tuesday and Akiak. This list has 555 total books, 25 of them with an Indiana-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 380L to 1000L.

Top Indiana 3rd grade pick: Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds — on 1 Indiana list

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Total books555Lexile380L–1000LSourceIndiana Academic 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 Indiana 3rd grade

These are the 25 titles named in Indiana’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. Creepy Carrots!

    Aaron Reynolds

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 10.

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  2. Tuesday

    David Wiesner

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade K to 3.

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  3. Akiak

    Robert J. Blake

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers iditarod (race), sled dog racing and sled dogs.

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  4. Arrowhawk

    Lola M. Schaefer

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers wildlife rescue, poaching and hawks.

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  5. Bad Kitty

    Nick Bruel

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers food, alphabet and cats.

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  6. Cat Secrets

    Jef Czekaj

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers cats and cats, fiction.

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  7. Double Trouble in Walla Walla

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers humorous stories, schools in fiction and schools.

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  8. Enchanted Wood

    Ruth Sanderson

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers fairy tales, fathers and sons, princes.

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  9. Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm

    Jerdine Nolen

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers balloons, farm life and tall tales.

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  10. Heart of a Tiger

    Marsha Diane Arnold

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers tigers, cats and personal names.

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  11. Heckedy Peg

    Audrey Wood

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers bilingual, fairy tales and hmong language materials.

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  12. Hooway for Wodney Wat

    Helen Lester

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3.

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  13. Library Mouse

    Daniel Kirk

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers libraries, mice and dwellings.

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  14. Minnie's Diner: A Multiplying Menu

    Dayle Ann Dodds

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3.

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  15. Mr. Tanen's Ties

    Maryann Cocca-Leffler

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers neckties, schools and school principals.

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  16. My Little Sister Ate One Hare

    Bill Grossman

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers stories in rhyme, counting and poetry.

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  17. My Lucky Day

    Keiko Kasza

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers pigs, foxes and swine.

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  18. Shark vs. Train

    Chris Barton

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers new york times bestseller, nyt:picture_books=2010-07-04 and sharks.

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  19. Ted

    Tony DiTerlizzi

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3.

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  20. The Day the Crayons Quit

    Drew Daywalt

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers color, crayons and letters.

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  21. The Dog Who Had Kittens

    Polly M. Robertus

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers cats and dogs.

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  22. The Monster Who Ate My Peas

    Danny Schnitzlein

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers food habits, monsters and peas.

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  23. This is My Book

    Mark Pett

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers humorous stories, pandas and authorship.

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  24. Titanicat

    Marty Crisp

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers cats, titanic (steamship) and titanic (steamship), fiction.

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  25. Zomo the Rabbit

    Gerald McDermott

    Cited in 1 Indiana curriculum document, taught from grade K to 3. Covers trickster, spanish language materials and folktale.

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25 books cited for Indiana 3rd grade

Assignments tied directly to Indiana’s Indiana Academic Standards with a Indiana-specific citation.

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530 additional grade-appropriate books for 3rd grade readers

The 555-book total above includes 25 titles with direct Indiana citation; these 530 additional titles cover 3rd grade in the broader canon. They don't have an Indiana-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

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Other Indiana 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 Indiana 3rd grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Indiana Academic 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 555 titles for 3rd grade in Indiana, of which 25 carry a direct Indiana citation and 530 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.

Indiana’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Indiana Academic Standards (in.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 3rd grade list below blends Indiana-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 Indiana-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 Indiana?
Books with an Indiana-specific citation for 3rd grade include Creepy Carrots!, Tuesday, Akiak, Arrowhawk and Bad Kitty. 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 Indiana?
This list has 555 books for 3rd grade students in Indiana. 25 of them have an Indiana-specific citation; the other 530 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 3rd grade reading in Indiana?
Lexile measures across the 3rd grade Indiana 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?
Indiana-specific entries reference Indiana Academic Standards (published at www.in.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.

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

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