Summer is upon us and since I get a lot of asks on what my kids are reading I thought I would put together a summer reading list for rising third graders to compliment the one I created for rising first graders. This is a list of books for kids that are able to read chapter books on their own but need a bit more of a challenge than what the first chapter books offer. This list is by no means exhaustive so please, leave a comment with books that your rising third graders love to read as well!
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Choose Your Own Adventure: These classic books each take you on a different adventure. There are multiple choice pages where you choose which direction the story will take next. My kids like to try all of the different paths to see which ones work and which ones don’t for multiple readings per book.
Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue: I came across this series when looking for cat books for my 8yo to read and she loves them. They are about a girl whose mom is a super hero. My daughter loves the adventure and I love that they are low key and well written with an emphasis on family.
Unicorn Academy: My 8yo loves these books. She is a huge fan of unicorns and I found these better written than some of the other mass market series that are out there. The books go through adventures with girls learning how to care for their unicorns which are all unique with different needs.
The Secret Garden: This unabridged classic is a favorite in our house. My kids loved to listen to the descriptions of the places that Mary went and the mystery of the garden kept them enthralled.
Please note: There is some colorful language at the start of the book but I spent quite a bit of time talking about it when we first read it to make sure they understood it wasn’t ok to use the words in the book. We do this for a lot of books and I am a firm believer that talking about inappropriate language or content and how times were different when the books were written and how we have changed is much better in the long run than not exposing children to those discussions at all. We also talk in the same way about modern issues as a way to keep the dialog open.
I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912: These graphic novel series are a favorite in our house. They tell about history in a way that kids like and the pictures are not too graphic. Our favorite is the one on the Titanic since that seems to be a fascination in our house.
A Biography Series for New Readers: We also love these biography books and have read several. They are great because if your kid is into something, like Hamilton the musical or is covering a subject in school like the elections you can find a book in the series to supplement what they are interested in.
Magic Puppy Series: My daughter the animal lover really likes these books. They are about a magic wolf puppy that has to live with humans to survive. The are similar to other mass market paperback books but if your kid loves puppies, these are the books for you!
Of course, there are many other books out there that will fit the bill but this list is what my kids are into right now.
