Louisiana 3rd grade reading list

Books with a Louisiana citation for 3rd grade include 11 Birthdays, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Swim Team. This list has 550 total books, 22 of them with a Louisiana-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 380L to 1000L.

Top Louisiana 3rd grade pick: 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass — on 1 Louisiana 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 books550Lexile380L–1000LSourceLouisiana Student 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 Louisiana 3rd grade

These are the 22 titles named in Louisiana’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 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 5.

    Get it on Amazon

  2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

    Jeff Kinney

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers school, friendship and family. At 950L it runs above the 420–820L band — a stretch text.

    Get it on Amazon

  3. Swim Team

    Johnnie Christmas

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers perseverance, friendship and race.

    Get it on Amazon

  4. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Louisiana 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

  5. Alligator Sue

    Sharon Arms Doucet

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers tall tales, alligators and identity.

    Get it on Amazon

  6. Athlete vs. Mathlete

    W. C. Mack

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers basketball, twins and brothers.

    Get it on Amazon

  7. Awkward

    Svetlana Chmakova

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers basic reader, middle schools and comics & graphic novels.

    Get it on Amazon

  8. Clayton Byrd Goes Underground

    Rita Williams-Garcia

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers death, grandparent and child, bereavement.

    Get it on Amazon

  9. Coraline

    Neil Gaiman

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers fantasy, paranormal fiction and graphic novels.

    Get it on Amazon

  10. Dear Mrs. LaRue

    Mark Teague

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers training, humorous stories and letters.

    Get it on Amazon

  11. Dress Coded

    Carrie Firestone

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers new york times reviewed, schools, fiction and adolescence, fiction.

    Get it on Amazon

  12. My Dog, My Hero

    Betsy Cromer Byars

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers dogs and dogs, fiction.

    Get it on Amazon

  13. Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude

    O'Malley, Kevin

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers motorcyclists, giants and humorous stories.

    Get it on Amazon

  14. Secrets of My Hollywood Life

    Jen Calonita

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers actresses, actors and actresses, actors and actresses in fiction.

    Get it on Amazon

  15. Skeleton Key

    Anthony Horowitz

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers mystery, spies in fiction and terrorism in fiction.

    Get it on Amazon

  16. Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive the School Bus

    John Grandits

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers humorous stories, brothers and first day of school.

    Get it on Amazon

  17. The Bad Guys

    Aaron Blabey

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers animals, heroes and rescues.

    Get it on Amazon

  18. The Diary of a Killer Cat

    Anne Fine

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers cats, diaries and kinderbuch.

    Get it on Amazon

  19. The Dunderheads

    Paul Fleischman

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers schools, individuality and humorous stories.

    Get it on Amazon

  20. The Terrible Two

    Mac Barnett

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

    Get it on Amazon

  21. Verdi

    Janell Cannon

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers old age, pythons and snakes.

    Get it on Amazon

  22. Weslandia

    Paul Fleischman

    Cited in 1 Louisiana curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers civilization, gardening and individualism.

    Get it on Amazon

22 books cited for Louisiana 3rd grade

Assignments tied directly to Louisiana’s Louisiana Student Standards with a Louisiana-specific citation.

528 additional grade-appropriate books for 3rd grade readers

The 550-book total above includes 22 titles with direct Louisiana citation; these 528 additional titles cover 3rd grade in the broader canon. They don't have a Louisiana-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

Show all 528 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 Louisiana 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 Louisiana 3rd grade reading list

This list combines books cited in Louisiana Student 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 550 titles for 3rd grade in Louisiana, of which 22 carry a direct Louisiana citation and 528 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.

Louisiana’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Louisiana Student Standards (louisianabelieves.com). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 3rd grade list below blends Louisiana-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 Louisiana-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 Louisiana?
Books with a Louisiana-specific citation for 3rd grade include 11 Birthdays, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Swim Team, Wonder and Alligator Sue. 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 Louisiana?
This list has 550 books for 3rd grade students in Louisiana. 22 of them have a Louisiana-specific citation; the other 528 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 3rd grade reading in Louisiana?
Lexile measures across the 3rd grade Louisiana 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?
Louisiana-specific entries reference Louisiana Student Standards (published at www.louisianabelieves.com). 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

Find ReadingList in your Google results more often: