Hawaii 3rd grade reading list

The 468 books most commonly assigned to Hawaii 3rd 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.

Books468Lexile380L–1000LSourceHawaii Common Core✓ 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 Hawaii 3rd grade

These are the 19 titles named in Hawaii’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. Ramona the Pest

    Beverly Cleary

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 2 to 4. Covers family, school and growing up. At 750L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  2. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers animal welfare, morality and family. At 890L it runs above the 420–820L band — a stretch text.

    Get it on Amazon

  3. Sounder

    William H. Armstrong

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

    Get it on Amazon

  4. The Invention of Hugo Cabret

    Brian Selznick

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

    Get it on Amazon

  5. The Mouse and the Motorcycle

    Beverly Cleary

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document and 1 national reference, taught from grade 2 to 4. Covers friendship, responsibility and coming of age. At 860L it runs above the 420–820L band — a stretch text.

    Get it on Amazon

  6. The Whipping Boy

    Sid Fleischman

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

    Get it on Amazon

  7. Because of Winn-Dixie

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5. Covers loss, friendship and mother absence. At 610L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  8. Bunnicula

    Deborah Howe

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

    Get it on Amazon

  9. Front Desk

    Kelly Yang

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers immigration, family and race. At 640L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

  10. Fudge-a-Mania

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

    Get it on Amazon

  11. How to Eat Fried Worms

    Thomas Rockwell

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers humor, friendship and school.

    Get it on Amazon

  12. My Teacher Is an Alien

    Bruce Coville

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers humor, school and friendship.

    Get it on Amazon

  13. Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade

    Barthe DeClements

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

    Get it on Amazon

  14. Odder

    Katherine Applegate

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

    Get it on Amazon

  15. Small Spaces

    Katherine Arden

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

    Get it on Amazon

  16. Superfudge

    Judy Blume

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6.

    Get it on Amazon

  17. The Best School Year Ever

    Barbara Robinson

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 6. Covers humor, family and school.

    Get it on Amazon

  18. The Terrible Two

    Mac Barnett

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 5.

    Get it on Amazon

  19. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Hawaii curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers facial difference, kindness and bullying. At 790L it falls inside the 420–820L band for this grade.

    Get it on Amazon

468 books cited for Hawaii 3rd grade

Assignments tied directly to Hawaii’s Hawaii Common Core or national curricula with a Hawaii-specific citation.

Show all 468 titles

Reading the whole Hawaii 3rd 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 Hawaii grades

2nd grade · 4th grade · 1st grade · 5th grade

Reading lists by grade (all states)

2nd grade · 4th grade · 1st grade · 5th grade

Same 3rd grade in other states

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

Browse 3rd grade reading by theme

About the Hawaii 3rd grade reading list

In Hawaii schools, 3rd grade students are most often assigned books drawn from Hawaii Common Corealongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 468 titles for 3rd grade in Hawaii, each tied to a Hawaii-specific curriculum citation. Across the list, Lexile measures span 380L–1000L.

3rd 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 420–820L range, of the 49 titles here with a Lexile score 37 are grade-level, 1 is more accessible (often assigned for theme over challenge), and 11 are stretch texts that may need scaffolding. Because readers in a single 3rd grade classroom can span several hundred Lexile points, this list is best read as a starting point rather than a fixed requirement.

Hawaii’s English Language Arts requirements are set by Hawaii Common Core (hawaiipublicschools.org). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework, so the 3rd grade list below blends Hawaii-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 3rd grade unit can pair a Hawaii-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 3rd grade students in Hawaii?
468 books appear on ReadingList for 3rd grade students in Hawaii, sourced from Hawaii Common Core and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
What's the Lexile range for 3rd grade reading in Hawaii?
Lexile measures across the 3rd grade Hawaii reading list range from 380L 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 Hawaii Common Core (published at www.hawaiipublicschools.org) plus national curricula that apply to Hawaii 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/3" width="100%" height="540" style="border:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.1);border-radius:6px;max-width:640px" loading="lazy" title="3rd grade reading list — ReadingList.school"></iframe>

Preview: /embed/grade/3 · License: CC BY 4.0 (please credit “ReadingList.school”).

Was this page helpful?

Browse by another angle