# 3rd grade books about imagination

**10** books commonly assigned to 3rd grade students in US schools that explore imagination. Every title's grade range covers 3rd grade, so each is grade-appropriate by curriculum placement. Sourced from Common Core exemplars, AP, IB, Cambridge, and 50 state ELA curricula.

**Reading difficulty:** the typical 3rd grade band is 420–820L (Common Core Appendix A). Of the 10 titles here with a Lexile score, 6 are grade-level, 1 more accessible, and 3 a stretch.

**Grade:** 3rd grade  ·  **Theme:** imagination
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/grade/3/imagination
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.
**Primary source — Common Core ELA exemplars:** https://achievethecore.org/page/2699

## 3rd grade imagination reading list

- [Corduroy](https://readinglist.school/book/corduroy) by Don Freeman _(600L · Grades K–3 · pub 1968)_
- [Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1)](https://readinglist.school/book/magic-tree-house-dinosaurs-before-dark) by Mary Pope Osborne _(510L · Grades 1–4 · pub 1992)_
- [Frindle](https://readinglist.school/book/frindle) by Andrew Clements _(830L · Grades 3–7 · pub 1996)_
- [If You Give a Mouse a Cookie](https://readinglist.school/book/if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie) by Laura Numeroff _(410L · Grades K–3 · pub 1985)_
- [James and the Giant Peach](https://readinglist.school/book/james-and-the-giant-peach) by Roald Dahl _(870L · Grades 3–6 · pub 1961)_
- [Mr. Popper's Penguins](https://readinglist.school/book/mr-poppers-penguins) by Richard Atwater · Florence Atwater _(910L · Grades 3–5 · pub 1938)_
- [The 13-Story Treehouse](https://readinglist.school/book/the-13-story-treehouse) by Andy Griffiths _(560L · Grades 2–5 · pub 2011)_
- [The Adventures of Captain Underpants](https://readinglist.school/book/the-adventures-of-captain-underpants) by Dav Pilkey _(720L · Grades 2–5 · pub 1997)_
- [The BFG](https://readinglist.school/book/the-bfg) by Roald Dahl _(720L · Grades 3–6 · pub 1982)_
- [Where the Wild Things Are](https://readinglist.school/book/where-the-wild-things-are) by Maurice Sendak _(740L · Grades K–3 · pub 1963)_

---

_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. HTML view: https://readinglist.school/grade/3/imagination._