South Carolina 3rd grade reading list

Books with a South Carolina citation for 3rd grade include Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, 11 Birthdays and Because of Winn-Dixie. This list has 591 total books, 64 of them with a South Carolina-specific citation. Each book shows its reading level and a cited source. Lexile levels on the list run from 380L to 1000L.

Top South Carolina 3rd grade pick: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume — on 1 South Carolina list

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Total books591Lexile380L–1000LSourceSC College & Career Ready 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 South Carolina 3rd grade

These are the 30 titles named in South Carolina’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. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 South Carolina 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.

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  2. 11 Birthdays

    Wendy Mass

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 5.

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  3. Because of Winn-Dixie

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 South Carolina 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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  4. Blended

    Sharon M. Draper

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers family, race and identity. At 610L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

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  5. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 South Carolina 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.

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  6. A Royal Conundrum

    Lisa Yee

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers friendship, humor and adventure.

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  7. A Wolf Called Wander

    Rosanne Parry

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers new york times bestseller, wolves, fiction and animals, infancy, fiction.

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  8. All the Lovely Bad Ones

    Mary Downing Hahn

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 5 to 8. Covers ghosts, family and mystery.

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  9. Allergic

    Megan Wagner Lloyd

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers new york times reviewed and comic books, strips, etc..

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  10. Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job

    Willo Davis Roberts

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8. Covers babysitters, kidnapping and babysitters, fiction.

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  11. Buddy

    M. H. Herlong

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8.

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  12. Bunnicula

    Deborah Howe

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  13. Class Clown

    Johanna Hurwitz

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers schools, behavior and behavior, fiction.

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  14. Diary of a Worm

    Doreen Cronin

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

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  15. Dogtown

    Katherine Applegate & Gennifer Choldenko

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers friendship, perseverance and humor.

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  16. Duke

    Kirby Larson

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers german shepherd dog, war use and world war, 1939-1945.

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  17. El Deafo

    Cece Bell

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers disability, friendship and self-acceptance. At 420L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

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  18. Farther Than the Moon

    Lindsay Lackey

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 8.

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  19. Ferret in the Bedroom, Lizards in the Fridge

    Bill Wallace

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

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  20. Final Word (The Winterton Deception #1)

    Janet Sumner Johnson

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers mystery, family and words.

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  21. Four Eyes: A Graphic Novel

    Rex Ogle

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers self-image, middle school and family.

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  22. Fourth Grade Rats

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers conduct of life, schools and friendship.

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  23. Ghosts

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

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  24. Good Different

    Meg Eden Kuyatt

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 6 to 9. Covers neurodiversity, identity and acceptance.

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  25. Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust

    Elisa Boxer

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 2 to 5. Covers history, courage and Holocaust.

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  26. Hooway for Wodney Wat

    Helen Lester

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

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  27. How to Eat Fried Worms

    Thomas Rockwell

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

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  28. How to Steal a Dog

    Barbara O'Connor

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

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  29. Iceberg

    Jennifer A. Nielsen

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers history, survival and courage.

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  30. Is Anybody There?

    Eve Bunting

    Cited in 1 South Carolina curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers mothers and sons, latchkey children, latchkey children in fiction.

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64 books cited for South Carolina 3rd grade

Assignments tied directly to South Carolina’s SC College & Career Ready Standards with a South Carolina-specific citation.

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527 additional grade-appropriate books for 3rd grade readers

The 591-book total above includes 64 titles with direct South Carolina citation; these 527 additional titles cover 3rd grade in the broader canon. They don't have a South Carolina-specific citation yet but are commonly taught at this level.

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Other South Carolina 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 South Carolina 3rd grade reading list

This list combines books cited in SC College & Career Ready 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 591 titles for 3rd grade in South Carolina, of which 64 carry a direct South Carolina citation and 527 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 53 titles here with a Lexile score 37 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.

South Carolina’s English Language Arts requirements are set by SC College & Career Ready Standards (ed.sc.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework. The 3rd grade list below blends South Carolina-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 South Carolina-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 South Carolina?
Books with a South Carolina-specific citation for 3rd grade include Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, 11 Birthdays, Because of Winn-Dixie, Blended and Wonder. 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 South Carolina?
This list has 591 books for 3rd grade students in South Carolina. 64 of them have a South Carolina-specific citation; the other 527 are grade-appropriate titles from national reading lists and awards.
What's the Lexile range for 3rd grade reading in South Carolina?
Lexile measures across the 3rd grade South Carolina 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?
South Carolina-specific entries reference SC College & Career Ready Standards (published at ed.sc.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 ed.sc.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.

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