My son is just 9-years-old and in third grade and I’m trying to keep track of the books that he’s read as a third grader. This is his list so far, as of November 2013. I’ve included his rising 3rd-grade summer reading as well.
During my parent-teacher conference, his teacher told me that my son was reading well and had a good vocabulary. I had a confession for her. (This is a little embarrassing!.) Every night, my son insists on bedtime reading and it works like this: I read aloud to him while he plays on his DSi or a (noneducational) video game on the iPad.
I do find this irritating, so periodically I ask him what a word means as I come across it in the story or ask him what has just happened in the chapter book. If he can’t give me a reasonable answer, I shut down his game. If he answers my question reasonably well, he keeps on playing. Perhaps this is giving him multi-tasking skills? I’m not sure. We do take turns reading though I do the bulk of the reading at home. He gets reading time at school and takes his book back and forth each day which helps us move through the book.
We’ve made our way through every word that Rick Riordan has ever written in this manner. Now, we are working through Harry Potter and after that, we’ll finish the last four books of the Half Magic series. I hope we will read some Roald Dahl this year as well.
Here’s my son’s book list with his reviews. He highly recommends all of these books!
p.s. His sister’s favorite books in 3rd grade: Top 10: Best Books For 3rd Graders By Me (A 3rd Grade Girl Who Is Very Picky)
Graphic Novels and Graphic Novel Hybrids for 3rd Grade Boys
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis*
* Stephan Pastis has been accused of sexual misconduct.
I think it’s very funny and it’s a very good book because he kept failing at life and being a detective but he thought he was the greatest detective in the world.
Big Nate Flips Out by Lincoln Peirce
I think that it’s very funny also.
Otis Dooda: Strange But True by Ellen Potter
It is a very silly and funny book and I like all the characters in the book.
Action Adventure Chapter Books for Third Grade
Samurai Kids: White Crane by Sandy Fussell
It’s a very cool book about samurai kids in training.
Son of Sobek by Rick Riordan
I think it’s very cool how the Percy Jackson series and the Kane Chronicle series collide together.
House of Hades by Rick Riordan
By far, it’s the best book I’ve read this year. I love all the scenes of Tartarus and all the adventures they have.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
It is probably one of the coolest books I’ve read. It’s so good, me and mom read past two books in one and a half weeks.
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
It is a very good book and my favorite scene is the epic battle between Harry Potter and Tom Riddle/Voldemort.
Magic by the Lake by Edward Eager
Like all the other Half Magic series books, it is very good and cool how they can use magic with the magic turtle to go on adventures.
Knight’s Castle by Edward Eager
It’s a very cool book on how in the characters’ dreams, they go to a new world out of another book with knights and lots of other medieval features.
Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo Bacigalupi
It’s very good. My favorite part is when they were fighting the Zombie Apocalypse with baseball bats. Another good part was when Sammy the bully was desperate to get on the only place that was safe from the Zombie Apocalypse and promised that he would be nice to them.
3rd Grade Read Aloud Chapter Books
My son’s third-grade teacher is reading these books aloud to the class. So far, the kids have all raved about them. (I eavesdrop during the morning drop off at the lockers.)
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
It is a very funny book and my mom’s all-time favorite. I’m reading it in school as a read-aloud and I absolutely love it.
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
It is a very good story about a girl named Fern, her pig Wilbur and a spider named Charlotte who helped Wilbur to become famous.
Non-Fiction Books for 3rd Grade Boys
My son doesn’t seem to gravitate towards much non-fiction lately so I make a special note when one comes home from the school library.
The Big Book of How by Editors of Time for Kids Magazine
It is a really cool book that tells you how to do a lot of awesome stuff. Example: make blubber, find the sweet spot on a baseball bat, and how to grow a plant in a glass jar.
The Adventures of Thor the Thunder God by Lise Lunge-Larsen
It’s a very awesome book about Thor and what he did to protect his family/city.
p.s. Related posts:
10 Perfect Read Aloud Books for 3rd Grade
Best Beginning Chapter Books for 2nd and 3rd Grade
Massachusetts Book Award Books for 3rd through 7th Grade
Funny Books for 3rd Grade Boy: Reluctant Reader Challenge
Books for 3rd Grade & 4th Grade
My 7yOld Son’s Favorite Books for Beginning Readers
My Son’s 4th Grade Reading List
My Son’s 7th Grade Recommended Reading List
My 9th Grade Son’s Recommended Book List
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BEST #OWNVOICES CHILDREN’S BOOKS: My Favorite Diversity Books for Kids Ages 1-12 is a book that I created to highlight books written by authors who share the same marginalized identity as the characters in their books.
It’s interesting to see the difference between our 3rd graders’ reading. My 3rd grader doesn’t read so much action adventure, but he did really like Timmy Failure.
Hi Erica,
My new theory is that boys who are obsessed with gaming like action adventure. It’s very similar to gaming, in a way. I base it on my three kids. My oldest and youngest like action adventure. My son plays video games the most and loves this genre the most out of my three kids. My oldest, a girl, plays video games but not as much as my son. She likes action adventure as well. My middle daughter hates action adventure (she thinks Percy Jackson is boring!!! We are not sure why!). She also games the least. I asked her if she ever “beat a video game” today to check my theory. She says only once. Most games bore her before she gets past a mid-level.
As a former third grade teacher I love this list!
Thanks Lori! I will try to extract more of a review from my son the next go around!
Emma loves Chamber of Secrets! I could see Johnny loving this list in a couple years!
Hi MaryAnne,
We are working our way through Harry Potter quite happily! I’m glad I am finally reading it! My son prefers Percy Jackson but he’s into Harry Potter now that we’ve finished all the Rick Riordan books.
What else does Emma like? I wonder if she and my son like the same kinds of books?
What a great list! My daughter (ten) LOVES Percy Jackson and would take them over the Harry Potter books if she was forced to choose but she does love those as well – she\’s read all of the extra books, too. When she finished reading House of Hades she gave it 22 stars (out of 5) – I guess she liked it (?). 🙂 I just started reading it but I don\’t get as much time to catch up – too busy visiting awesome blogs like yours (wink). Thanks for sharing on the Kid Lit Blog Hop. Have a great rest of the week and weekend ahead!
Hi Cool Mom,
I love that your daughter gave House of Hades 22 stars out of 5!! She would get along with my son! I overhead his two friends comparing Dairy of a Wimpy Kid to Percy Jackson last night. They said, “Dairy of a Wimpy Kid is good, but when Percy Jackson books got into town, it squashed it like a bug.” (in terms of popularity). Boy, the loyalty of Percy Jackson young fans is impressive!
You also might like this post I wrote for my two Percy Jackson obsessed kids: More Books Like Percy Jackson http://www.pragmaticmom.com/2013/06/books-like-percy-jackson/
I know that void one feels when you’ve finished your last Rick Riordan book and realize that you have to wait years before the next one is published! It’s a sad depressing day!
And, yes, that is another great list. She’s read many of those – probably her favorites on there are the Benedict Society books. Also very entertaining. I will refer to this at her next lull between books. With school, I never know when that will be. 🙂 Thanks so much.
Hi Cool Mom,
Ho wonderful that your daughter has plenty of books she wants to read! Hope she gets a lull to read soon! Maybe over Thanksgiving break?
I love that you shared this list. My son is in second grade. We read together all the time and I am always looking for good book recommendations for him. We also listen to a lot of books on tape in the car. My son has really enjoyed the Brixton Brothers series by Mac Barnett, The Saturdays Quartet by Elizabeth Enright, the Humphrey the Hamster series by Betty G. Birney.
Hi Keitha,
Thank you so much for sharing the books your son loves! I’ll tell my son because peer recommendations are so wonderfully powerful! We will add his list to our pile!! I love The Saturdays quartet too but my son hasn’t read it yet. My oldest loved the Humphrey series. We will have to get our hands on The Brixton Brothers because that is new to us. THANK YOU!!!!
As a mom to two teenage boys, I remember many of the titles listed. We too have enjoyed every word written by Rick Riordan as well as the Big Nate books. Thanks for sharing your son’s favorites on the Kid Lit Blog Hop.
Thanks Stacie,
I’m glad your boys liked the same books as my son! I’ll let him know! It will make him happy!
Great list! The Thor one sounds good! I love Norse mythology! 😀
Hi Erik TKRB,
I think that movie trailer of Thor got my son interested in the advanced picture book about Thor. He really liked it. I have a Norse mythology book by D’Aulaires that I might try next. He loves mythology by way of Percy Jackson! I’d love to know what you think of the Thor book!