Wisconsin 4th grade reading list

The 585 books most commonly assigned to Wisconsin 4th grade students in US schools — each with its reading level and a cited source.

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Books585Lexile390L–1000LSourceWI Academic 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 Wisconsin 4th grade

These are the 19 titles named in Wisconsin’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. Holes

    Louis Sachar

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers fate vs choice, friendship and justice. At 660L it sits just under the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  2. Maniac Magee

    Jerry Spinelli

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document and 2 national references, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers race, homelessness and family. At 820L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  3. The Tale of Despereaux

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin 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.

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  4. Because of Winn-Dixie

    Kate DiCamillo

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin 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.

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  5. Number the Stars

    Lois Lowry

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin 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.

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  6. Shiloh

    Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin 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.

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  7. The Whipping Boy

    Sid Fleischman

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

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  8. Champ

    Marcia Thornton Jones

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

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  9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

    Jeff Kinney

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers school, friendship and family. At 950L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  10. Dog Man

    Dav Pilkey

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document, taught from grade 2 to 5. Covers humor, friendship and good vs evil. At 390L it reads well below the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  11. Guts

    Raina Telgemeier

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 8. Covers anxiety, growing up and courage.

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  12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

    J.K. Rowling

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers friendship, courage and good vs evil. At 880L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  13. Hoot

    Carl Hiaasen

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers environmentalism, friendship and activism. At 760L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  14. How to Eat Fried Worms

    Thomas Rockwell

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

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  15. Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade

    Barthe DeClements

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

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  16. Pax

    Sara Pennypacker

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers friendship, war and loyalty. At 760L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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  17. Summer of the Monkeys

    Wilson Rawls

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document, taught from grade 4 to 7. Covers family, perseverance and nature.

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  18. Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger

    Louis Sachar

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

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  19. Wonder

    R.J. Palacio

    Cited in 1 Wisconsin curriculum document, taught from grade 3 to 7. Covers facial difference, kindness and bullying. At 790L it falls inside the 740–1010L band for this grade.

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585 books cited for Wisconsin 4th grade

Assignments tied directly to Wisconsin’s WI Academic Standards or national curricula with a Wisconsin-specific citation.

Show all 585 titles

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Other Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 4th grade reading list

In Wisconsin schools, 4th grade students are most often assigned books drawn from WI Academic Standardsalongside the national curricula that apply nationwide — Common Core State Standards Appendix B, AP English, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. ReadingList currently tracks 585 titles for 4th grade in Wisconsin, each tied to a Wisconsin-specific curriculum citation. Across the list, Lexile measures span 390L–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 54 titles here with a Lexile score 31 are grade-level, 23 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.

Wisconsin’s English Language Arts requirements are set by WI Academic Standards (dpi.wi.gov). Most states pair their own standards with the Common Core text-complexity framework, so the 4th grade list below blends Wisconsin-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 Wisconsin-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 Wisconsin?
585 books appear on ReadingList for 4th grade students in Wisconsin, sourced from WI Academic Standards and national curricula (Common Core, AP, IB) with applicable grade citations.
What's the Lexile range for 4th grade reading in Wisconsin?
Lexile measures across the 4th grade Wisconsin reading list range from 390L 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 WI Academic Standards (published at dpi.wi.gov) plus national curricula that apply to Wisconsin 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

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State-specific entries sourced from dpi.wi.gov. National references cited on each book’s detail page.