Kansas 3rd grade reading list

Books with a Kansas citation for 3rd grade include 11 Birthdays, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus and America is Under Attack September 11 2001. This list has 554 total books, 30 of them with a Kansas-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 380L to 1000L.

Top Kansas 3rd grade pick: 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass — on 2 Kansas lists

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Total books554Lexile380L–1000LSourceKansas 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 Kansas 3rd grade

These are the 30 titles named in Kansas’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. 11 Birthdays

    Wendy Mass

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  2. Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

    Dusti Bowling

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  3. America is Under Attack September 11 2001

    Don Brown

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  4. Eleven

    Patricia Reilly Giff

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  5. Guinea Dog

    Patrick Jennings

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  6. How to Steal a Dog

    Barbara O'Connor

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  7. Life on Mars

    Jennifer Brown

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  8. Malcolm at Midnight

    W. H. Beck

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  9. Odder

    Katherine Applegate

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  10. Scritch Scratch

    Lindsay Currie

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  11. Small Spaces

    Katherine Arden

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  12. Stella

    McCall Hoyle

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  13. The Boy on the Porch

    Sharon Creech

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  14. Wildfire

    Rodman Philbrick

    Cited in 2 Kansas curriculum documents, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  15. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Kansas 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.

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  16. The Mouse and the Motorcycle

    Beverly Cleary

    Cited in 1 Kansas curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 2 to 4. Covers friendship, responsibility and coming of age. At 860L it runs above the 420–820L band — a stretch text.

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  17. Amos Fortune, Free Man

    Elizabeth Yates

    Cited in 1 Kansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7.

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  18. Because of Winn-Dixie

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Kansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers loss, friendship and mother absence. At 610L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

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  19. Clementine

    Sara Pennypacker

    Cited in 1 Kansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 8.

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  20. Frindle

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Kansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers creativity, language and thought, intelligence. At 830L it runs above the 420–820L band — a stretch text.

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  21. Donuthead

    Sue Stauffacher

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

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  22. Fish in a Tree

    Lynda Mullaly Hunt

    Cited in 1 Kansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers disability, friendship and school. At 550L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

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  23. Landry News

    Andrew Clements

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

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  24. Pax

    Sara Pennypacker

    Cited in 1 Kansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers friendship, war and loyalty. At 760L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

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  25. The Author's Guide to Surviving Hitler

    Andrea Warren

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

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  26. The Ghost Sitter

    Peni R. Griffin

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

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  27. The Ghost of Fossil Glen

    Cynthia C. DeFelice

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

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  28. The Penguin of Ilha Grande: From Animal Rescue to Extraordinary Friendship

    Shannon Earle

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

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  29. The Report Card

    Andrew Clements

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

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  30. The Trumpet of the Swan

    E.B. White

    Cited in 1 Kansas curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers perseverance, family and courage.

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30 books cited for Kansas 3rd grade

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

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524 additional grade-appropriate books for 3rd grade readers

The 554-book total above includes 30 titles with direct Kansas citation; these 524 additional titles cover 3rd grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Kansas-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

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Other Kansas 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 Kansas 3rd grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Kansas 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 554 titles for 3rd grade in Kansas, of which 30 carry a direct Kansas citation and 524 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 54 titles here with a Lexile score 38 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.

Kansas’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Kansas Academic Standards (ksde.org). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 3rd grade list below blends Kansas-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 Kansas-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 Kansas?
Books with a Kansas-specific citation for 3rd grade include 11 Birthdays, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, America is Under Attack September 11 2001, Eleven and Guinea Dog. 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 Kansas?
This list has 554 books for 3rd grade students in Kansas. 30 of them have a Kansas-specific citation; the other 524 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 3rd grade reading in Kansas?
Lexile measures across the 3rd grade Kansas 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?
Kansas-specific entries reference Kansas Academic Standards (published at www.ksde.org). 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.ksde.org. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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