BOOKS FOR GRADES 3 AND 4
Adler, David. CAM JANSEN series. (many titles available) Cam Jansen is a girl detective who has a photographic memory.
Atwater, Richard & Florence. MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS. Little, 1938. When Mr. Popper acquires a penguin, all of the Poppers have to make major adjustments in their lives.
Avi. POPPY. Orchard, 1995. * Poppy the deer mouse urges her family to move next to a field of corn big enough to feed them all forever, but Mr. Ocax, a terrifying owl, has other ideas.
Blume, Judy. FRECKLE JUICE. Four Winds, 1971. Andrew wants freckles so badly that he buys Sharon's freckle recipe for fifty cents.
Brooks, Walter R. FREDDY THE PIG books. * Freddy the pig has tried it all -- detective, poet, politician, explorer, but he's always friendly and he's always funny.
Byars, Betsy. WANTED...MUD BLOSSOM. Delacorte, 1991. * Pap Blossom's loyal dog, Mud, is really in trouble this time and must be tried for his crime!
Cameron, Ann. THE STORIES JULIAN TELLS. Knopf, 1981. * A loving family is the center for six happy stories about catalogue cats, strange teeth, a garden, a birthday fig tree, and a new friend.
Cleary, Beverly. RAMONA QUIMBY, AGE 8. Morrow, 1981. * Comical and energetic Ramona tackles the challenges of a new school.
Coerr, Eleanor. SADAKO AND THE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES. Putnam, 1977. A child hospitalized with leukemia in Hiroshima races against time to fold 1000 paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.
Cole, Joanna. THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS series. Scholastic, 1986. * Go along with Ms. Frizzle and her class to outer space, the waterworks and other unusual destinations.
Conford, Ellen. JENNY ARCHER, AUTHOR. Little, 1989. * Stymied by an assignment to write her autobiography, Jenny decides to enhance her life story by using her considerable imagination.
Dahl, Roald. THE BFG. Farrar, 1982. Sophie and the BFG cook up an ingenious plan to rid the world of trogglehumping, bogthumping giants forever.
Danziger, Paula. AMBER BROWN IS NOT A CRAYON. Putnam, 1994. * She may not be a crayon, but Amber Brown is certainly blue because her best friend,Justin, is moving away.
Demarest, Chris L. LINDBERGH. Crown, 1993. Describes the early life of Charles Lindbergh, leading up to his history-making transatlantic flight in 1927.
Estes, Eleanor. THE HUNDRED DRESSES. Harcourt, 1944. Wanda wears the same faded blue dress day after day, but when the girls at school tease her about her clothes, she insists her closet holds 100 dresses.
Fleischman, Sid. MCBROOM stories. * Series of tall tales about farmer McBroom and his kids: Willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarry, and little Clarinda.
Gannett, Ruth Stiles. MY FATHER'S DRAGON. Knopf, 1987. * A young boy rescues a baby dragon from Wild Island and they have exciting and funny adventures in this fantasy trilogy.
Gardiner, John Reynolds. STONE FOX. Crowell, 1980. Unable to pay the taxes for his grandfather's place, young Willie must win the money at the upcoming dogsled race to save the farm.
Gibbons, Gail. KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOR. Little, 1995. Explains the feudal system, castle layout, weapons and tournaments that were all part of a knight's world.
Greenfield, Eloise. NATHANIEL TALKING. Writers and Readers, 1988. Nathaniel is a spunky nine-year-old poet, whose world of family, memories, friends and music comes alive in a series of poems.
Griffith, Helen, V. GEORGIA MUSIC. Greenwillow, 1986. * A little girl and her grandfather share two different kinds of music, that of his mouth organ and that of the birds and insects around his cabin.
Haviland, Virgina. FAVORITE FAIRY TALES TOLD IN FRANCE. Beech Tree, 1994. * Beautifully illustrated, this features five beloved tales. First in a series of fairy tales from around the world.
Hesse, Karen. SABLE. Holt, 1994. Sable, a stray dog which Tate Marshall befriends, is hesitantly accepted by Tate's family until trouble starts with the neighbors.
Howe, Deborah & James. BUNNICULA. Atheneum, 1979. * Is Bunnicula a vampire, or a regular rabbit?
Hurwitz, Johanna. CLASS CLOWN. Morrow, 1987. * Lucas Cott, the most obstreperous boy in the third grade, finds it very hard to turn over a new leaf when he decides to become the perfect student.
Kellogg, Steven. PAUL BUNYAN. Morrow, 1984. Recounts the life of the extraordinary lumberjack whose unusual size and strength led to many fantastic adventures.
Kesey, Ken. LITTLE TRICKER THE SQUIRREL MEETS BIG DOUBLE THE BEAR. Viking, 1990. Little Tricker the squirrel watches as Big Double the bear terrorizes the forest animals one by one, but then Little Tricker gets revenge.
King-Smith, Dick. THREE TERRIBLE TRINS. Crown, 1994. Three young mice-brothers make friends with a mouse from a different clan, and together they defy the menacing cat.
LeGuin, Ursula K. CATWINGS. Orchard, 1988. * Four kittens born with wings leave the city slums in search of a safe home.
Lord, Betty Bao. IN THE YEAR OF THE BOAR AND JACKIE ROBINSON. Harper, 1984. After she immigrates to America from China, Shirley Temple Wong discovers baseball.
Lowry, Lois. ATTABOY, SAM! Houghton, 1992. * Sam invents a perfume as a birthday gift for his mom.
Mahy, Margaret. THE GOOD FORTUNES GANG. Delacorte, 1993. Peter Fortune feels like an outsider when his family moves to New Zealand, and things get worse when his cousins demand that he pass a scary initiation test to become a member of their exclusive club.
Meddaugh, Susan. MARTHA BLAH BLAH. Houghton, 1996. * When the current owner of the soup company breaks the founder's promise to have every letter of the alphabet in every can of soup, Martha the talking dog takes action.
Park, Barbara. SKINNYBONES. Knopf, 1982. Having a big mouth earns Alex a lot of laughs, but it also gets him into a lot of trouble.
Paterson, Katherine. THE KING'S EQUAL. HarperCollins, 1992. The strong heroine of this fairy tale isn't waiting for the day her prince will come.
Peck, Robert Newton. SOUP. Knopf, 1974. * The adventures and misadventures of two boys growing up in a small Vermont town.
Peet, Bill. BILL PEET: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Houghton, 1989. With words and drawings, children's book author Bill Peet recalls his childhood and his years at the Disney Studios.
Pinkwater, Daniel Manus. FAT MEN FROM SPACE. Dodd, 1977. Through his radio tooth, William learns of an invasion by spacemen who are taking all of earth's supply of junk food.
Polacco, Patricia. MRS. KATZ AND TUSH. Bantam, 1992. A long-lasting friendship develops between Larnel, a young African-American, and Mrs. Katz, a lonely Jewish widow, when Larnel presents Mrs. Katz with a scrawny kitten without a tail.
Prelutsky, Jack. THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK. Greenwillow, 1984. Prelutsky's lively poetry paired with James Stevenson's illustrations makes for a fun, irresistible, and thought-provoking collection.
Sachar, Louis. SIDEWAYS STORIES FROM WAYSIDE SCHOOL. Knopf, 1978. * Wayside School was built with 30 classrooms, one on top of the other. Meet the teacher and students on the top floor where all kinds of funny things happen.
Sachs, Marilyn. THE BEARS' HOUSE. Doubleday, 1971. Although she sucks her thumb and loses herself in the make-believe world of the three bears' dollhouse, ten-year-old Fran knows best how to take care of her baby sister.
Scieszka, Jon. KNIGHTS OF THE KITCHEN TABLE. Viking, 1991. * Follow the zany adventures of the Time Warp Trio as they travel through time to the Middle Ages.
Sheldon, Dyan. HARRY AND CHICKEN. Candlewick, 1992. Sara Jane Thomas, known as "Chicken" to her family, adopts a talking cat who is an extraterrestrial stranded on Earth.
Silverstein, Shel. WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS. Harper, 1974. A boy who turns into a TV set and a girl who eats a whale are only two of the characters in a collection of humorous poetry illustrated with the author's own drawings.
Sobol, Donald J. ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN. Morrow, 1988. (series) * Each chapter gives clues to solve a mystery. Match your wits with the boy detective!
Spinelli, Jerry. FOURTH GRADE RATS. Scholastic, 1991. Suds learns that his best friend is wrong. You don't have to be a tough guy, a "rat," to be a grown-up fourth-grader.
Stanley, Fay. THE LAST PRINCESS. Four Winds, 1991. Recounts the story of Hawaii's last heir to the throne, who was denied her right to rule when the monarchy was abolished.
Steig, William. ABEL'S ISLAND. Farrar, 1976. Castaway on an uninhabited island, Abel, a very civilized mouse, finds his resourcefulness and endurance tested to the limit as he struggles to survive and return to his home.
Taylor, Mildred. THE WELL: DAVID'S STORY. Dial, 1995. In Mississippi in the early 1900's, ten-year-old David Logan's family generously shares their well water with both white and black neighbors in an atmosphere of potential racial violence.
Thurber, James. MANY MOONS. Harcourt, 1943. The little princess wants the moon, but the enraged king and the perplexed wise men don't know how to get it for her.
Van Allsburg, Chris. THE WIDOW'S BROOM. Houghton, 1992. A witch's worn-out broom serves a widow well, until her neighbors decide the thing is wicked and dangerous.
White, E. B. CHARLOTTE'S WEB. Harper, 1952. The classic story of friendship between a spider and a pig.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS. Harper, 1953. A year in the life of two young girls growing up on the Wisconsin frontier, as they help their mother with the daily chores, enjoy their father's stories and singing, and share special occasions when they get together with relatives or neighbors.
Williams, Vera B. SCOOTER. Greenwillow, 1993. Life in a Bronx apartment house is seen from the point of view of young, energetic, optimistic Elana Rose Rosen.
Yorinks, Arthur. COMPANY'S COMING. Crown, 1988. Chaos erupts when Moe and Shirley invite some visitors from outer space to stay for dinner with the relatives.
Zelinsky, Paul. RUMPELSTILTSKIN. Dutton, 1986. A strange little man helps the miller's daughter spin straw into gold for the King on the condition that she will give him her first-born child.
These are just a few of the many fine books that third and fourth graders enjoy. Ask your local public or school librarian for further suggestions.
Compiled in 1996 by Teri Austin, L. J. Kopf, Janis Minshull and Grace W. Greene for the Vermont Department of Libraries, Montpelier, VT 05609. Updated in 1998 by Grace Greene, Children's Services Consultant for the Vermont Department of Libraries and Leda Schubert, School Library Media Consultant for the Vermont Department of Education.
*Indicates a book which is part of a series.
Grace W. Greene Children's Services Consultant Vermont Dept. of Libraries 109 State St. Montpelier, VT 05609 802-828-3261 ggreene@dol.state.vt.us