3rd grade Golden Kite Award reading list
Books referenced by Golden Kite Award at the 3rd grade level.
About the 3rd grade Golden Kite Award reading list
Golden Kite Award is the Golden Kite Award framework. ReadingList tracks 88 titles referenced by Golden Kite Award at the 3rd gradelevel, each tied to a primary-source citation on the book’s detail page. Across the list, Lexile measures span 660L–660L.
At the 3rd grade level — the 3-5grade band — students are transitional readers, with the curriculum focused on moving from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn across longer chapter books. Per Common Core’s Appendix A complexity bands, text difficulty at this stage typically falls around roughly 400L to 800L. Measured against that 420–820L range, of the 1 title here with a Lexile score 1 is grade-level, 0 are more accessible, and 0 are stretch texts. A single Golden Kite Award classroom can still span a wide range of reading levels.
Unlike a state reading list, a Golden Kite Award list is portable: the same framework is taught across districts and, in the case of AP and IB, across countries. That makes these titles a reliable backbone for 3rd grade planning whether you are a teacher mapping a unit, a homeschooler following a recognized sequence, or a parent checking what Golden Kite Award expects.
How to use this list: treat the Golden Kite Award titles as the core and layer in state-cited or thematically-related books to round out a 3rd gradeyear. Each book’s page shows its Lexile measure, grade range, themes, and any challenge history, so you can match a text to a specific reader rather than to the grade label alone.
Golden Kite Award at other grades
88 books
Reading the whole 3rd grade Golden Kite Award reading list? Open any title for its Amazon listing — or listen to many of them free with a 30-day Audible trial.
As an Amazon Associate, ReadingList earns from qualifying purchases and membership trials at no extra cost to you.
- A Band of AngelsDeborah Hopkinson
- A Dance Like StarlightKristy Dempsey
- A Green Place to beAshley Benham Yazdani
- A Visitor for BearBonny Becker
- Absolutely Positively NotDavid LaRochelle
- Al Capone Does My ShirtsGennifer Choldenko
- All Because You Matter (An All Because You Matter Book)Tami Charles
- AlphabaticsSuse MacDonald
- Apples to OregonDeborah Hopkinson
- As If Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President!Donna Gephart
- Balloons over BroadwayMelissa Sweet
- BigVashti Harrison
- Big Red LollipopRukhsana Khan
- Boats for PapaJessixa Bagley
- By the Light of the Halloween MoonCaroline Stutson
- ChanceUri Shulevitz
- Chicken SundayPatricia Polacco
- ClementineSara Pennypacker
- Clever Little WitchMuon Thi Van
- Doña FlorPat Mora
- Evil LibrarianMichelle Knudsen
- Eyes That Kiss in the CornersJoanna Ho
- Fairy WingsLauren Mills
- FlyBrittany J. Thurman
Show all 88 titles
- Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have · Allen Zadoff
- Freddie vs. the Family Curse · Tracy Badua
- Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs · Mo Willems
- Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter · Kenard Pak
- Home Place · Crescent Dragonwagon
- I Dream of Trains · Angela Johnson
- King of Ragtime · Stephen Costanza
- Kumo · Kyo Maclear
- Last Night · Hyewon Yum
- Lester’s Dreadful Sweaters · K. G. Campbell
- Lifeboat 12 · Susan Hood
- Little Red Riding Hood (40th Anniversary Edition) · Trina Schart Hyman
- Lupe Wong Won't Dance · Donna Barba Higuera
- Mama, Do You Love Me? & Papa, Do You Love Me? Bundle · Barbara M. Joosse
- Mario and the Hole in the Sky · Elizabeth Rusch
- Marvelous Cornelius · Phil Bildner
- Me and Momma and Big John · Mara Rockliff
- Millicent Min, Girl Genius (The Millicent Min Trilogy, Book 1) · Lisa Yee
- Milo · Alan Silberberg
- Mr Tiger Goes Wild · Peter Brown
- Mrs. Crump's Cat · Linda Smith
- Not Afraid of Dogs · Susanna Pitzer
- Old Elm Speaks · Kristine O'Connell George
- Openly, Honestly · Bill Konigsberg
- Otis and Will Discover the Deep · Barb Rosenstock
- Our Planet! There's No Place Like Earth · Stacy McAnulty
- Over and Under the Rainforest · Kate Messner
- Pie in the Sky · Remy Lai
- Pocketful of Posies · Salley Mavor
- Ralph S. Mouse · Beverly Cleary
- Red, White, and Whole · Rajani LaRocca
- River Friendly, River Wild · Jane Kurtz
- Samira Surfs · Rukhsanna Guidroz
- Sarah, Plain and Tall · Patricia MacLachlan
- Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library · Carole Boston Weatherford
- See You in the Cosmos · Jack Cheng
- Snow (Book & CD Set) · Uri Shulevitz
- Sophie's Squash · Pat Zietlow Miller
- Stella Díaz Has Something to Say · Angela Dominguez
- Teddy Mars Book #3: Almost an Outlaw · Molly B. Burnham
- The Adventures of Team Pom: Squid Happens · Isabel Roxas
- The Bear and the Moon · Matthew Burgess
- The Bridge Home · Padma Venkatraman
- The Christmas Boot · Lisa Wheeler
- The Civil War of Amos Abernathy · Michael Leali
- The Detective's Assistant - FREE PREVIEW EDITION (The First 8 Chapters) · Kate Hannigan
- The Dirty Cowboy · Amy Timberlake
- The Fourth Stall Part III · Chris Rylander
- The Full Moon at the Napping House · Audrey Wood
- The Great Stink · Colleen Paeff
- The Haunting of Falcon House · Eugene Yelchin
- The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) · Philemon Sturges
- The Longest Night · Marion Dane Bauer
- The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: The Wall of Fame Game · Crystal Allen
- The Mysterious Collection of Dr. David Harleyson · Jean Cassels
- The Rain Came Down · David Shannon
- The Remember Balloons · Jessie Oliveros
- The Shoe Tree of Chagrin · J. Patrick Lewis
- There Might Be Lobsters · Carolyn Crimi
- Time of the Month! · Valerie Scho Carey
- Ways to Make Sunshine · Renée Watson
- Welcome to Wonderland #1: Home Sweet Motel · Chris Grabenstein
- When Alexander Graced the Table · Alexander Smalls
- William Still and His Freedom Stories · Don Tate