Arkansas 4th grade reading list

The 611 books most commonly assigned to Arkansas 4th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.

Try it on audio — free. Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.

Listen free on Audiblestarts instantly

New members only · many assigned titles are included with the membership. As an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases and membership trials at no extra cost to you.

Books611Lexile410L–1000LSourceArkansas ELA Standards✓ sources cited per book

Most-assigned nationally: 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).

Start here — most-cited for Arkansas 4th grade

These are the 30 titles named in Arkansas’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. Sarah, Plain and Tall

    Patricia MacLachlan

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 4 national references, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers family, loss and new beginnings. At 660L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  2. New Kid

    Jerry Craft

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers race and identity, code-switching, middle school adjustment.

    Get it on Amazon

  3. The Tale of Despereaux

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers courage, forgiveness and light vs dark. At 670L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  4. The War That Saved My Life

    Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers war, resilience and disability. At 580L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  5. Because of Winn-Dixie

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers loss, friendship and mother absence. At 610L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  6. Lifeboat 12

    Susan Hood

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7.

    Get it on Amazon

  7. Number the Stars

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers courage, friendship and Holocaust. At 670L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  8. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers animal welfare, morality and family. At 890L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  9. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 2 to 5. Covers siblings, family and everyday life. At 470L it reads well below the 740–1010L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  10. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers love, loss and journey.

    Get it on Amazon

  11. The Whipping Boy

    Sid Fleischman

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers friendship, adventure and courage.

    Get it on Amazon

  12. All About Sam

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers brothers and sisters, family, family life.

    Get it on Amazon

  13. All the Money in the World

    Bill Brittain

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers motion pictures, leprechauns and television.

    Get it on Amazon

  14. Allergic

    Megan Wagner Lloyd

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

    Get it on Amazon

  15. Alvin's Swap Shop

    Clifford B. Hicks

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers mystery and detective stories, swap shops.

    Get it on Amazon

  16. Attaboy, Sam!

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers gifts, birthdays and family life.

    Get it on Amazon

  17. Banana Twist

    Florence Parry Heide

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers humorous stories.

    Get it on Amazon

  18. Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days

    Stephen Manes

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers humorous stories, behavior and boys, fiction.

    Get it on Amazon

  19. Big Ben

    David Harry Walker

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers saint bernard dog and dogs, fiction.

    Get it on Amazon

  20. City Spies

    James Ponti

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6.

    Get it on Amazon

  21. Do Bananas Chew Gum?

    Jamie Gilson

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers bananas.

    Get it on Amazon

  22. Eight Keys

    Suzanne M. LaFleur

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers middle schools, schools and orphans.

    Get it on Amazon

  23. Flying Solo

    Ralph J. Fletcher

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers death, elective mutism and schools.

    Get it on Amazon

  24. Four Eyes

    Rex Ogle

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6.

    Get it on Amazon

  25. Four Eyes: A Graphic Novel

    Rex Ogle

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

    Get it on Amazon

  26. Frindle

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers creativity, language and thought, intelligence. At 830L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  27. Loser

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers families, family and elementary schools.

    Get it on Amazon

  28. My Horrible Secret

    Stephen Roos

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 6. Covers humorous stories, brothers and baseball stories.

    Get it on Amazon

  29. No Talking

    Andrew Clements

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 8.

    Get it on Amazon

  30. Ramona Quimby, Age 8

    Beverly Cleary

    Cited in 1 Arkansas curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers family, school and growing up. At 860L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

611 books cited for Arkansas 4th grade

Assignments tied directly to Arkansas’s Arkansas ELA Standards or national curricula with a Arkansas-specific citation.

Show all 611 titles

Reading the whole Arkansas 4th grade reading list? Kids who struggle with the print versions often finish the assigned books by listening.

Listen free on Audiblestarts instantly

New members only · many assigned titles are included with the membership. As an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases and membership trials at no extra cost to you.

Know a parent or teacher who needs this? Share it:FacebookPinterest

Teacher or librarian? Print this list as a checklist — free to photocopy for your class or library (details).

Other Arkansas grades

3rd grade · 5th grade · 2nd grade · 6th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

3rd grade · 5th grade · 2nd grade · 6th grade

Same 4th grade in other states

California · Texas · Florida · New York · Pennsylvania · Illinois

Browse 4th grade reading by theme

About the Arkansas 4th grade reading list

In Arkansas schools, 4th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from Arkansas ELA Standardsalongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 611 titles for 4th grade in Arkansas, each tied to a Arkansas-specific curriculum citation. Across the list, Lexile measures span 410L–1000L.

4th 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 740–1010L range, of the 51 titles here with a Lexile score 29 are grade-level, 22 are more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 0 are stretch texts that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 4th grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Arkansas’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Arkansas ELA Standards (dese.ade.arkansas.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework, so the 4th grade list below blends Arkansas-specific assignments with the widely-taught national canon. 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 4th grade unit can pair a Arkansas-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

How many books are assigned to 4th grade students in Arkansas?
611 books appear on ReadingList for 4th grade students in Arkansas, sourced from Arkansas ELA Standards and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
What's the Lexile range for 4th grade reading in Arkansas?
Lexile measures across the 4th grade Arkansas reading list range from 410L to 1000L. Books without a published Lexile (poetry, drama, picture books) are not included in this range.
Where does this reading list come from?
Entries reference Arkansas ELA Standards (published at dese.ade.arkansas.gov) plus national curricula that apply to Arkansas schools: Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English Literature and Language, IB Diploma Programme, and Cambridge Assessment International. Every assignment row on each book's detail page links its primary source.

Reading guides for parents

▸Embed this list on your site

Copy + paste this snippet into any school newsletter, classroom blog, library site, or homeschool resource page. The embed shows the top 12 titles and links back to the full list. Updates automatically when ReadingList’s data changes.

<iframe src="https://readinglist.school/embed/grade/4" width="100%" height="540" style="border:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.1);border-radius:6px;max-width:640px" loading="lazy" title="4th grade reading list — ReadingList.school"></iframe>

Preview: /embed/grade/4 · License: CC BY 4.0 (please credit “ReadingList.school”).

Was this page helpful?

Browse by another angle

State-specific entries sourced from dese.ade.arkansas.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.