STAAR Report Card Recommended Book Lists

One of the greatest features of the STAAR Report Card is a recommended book list. All books recommended on these lists are within the reading levels recommended for the student's grade level. We recognize that every family has a unique set of preferences around what their children read, and we encourage parents to review any books before sharing them with their children. Below are the books recommended for each grade level.

3rd Grade 

• The Sun Girl and Moon Boy - Choi
• Carry On, Mr. Bowditch - Latham
• The Boxcar Children - Warner
• Armadillo Rodeo - Brett
• I Have A Dream: The Story of Martin Luther King - Davidson
• Susanna of the Alamo: A True Story - Jakes
• The Legend of the Bluebonnet - Depaola
• The Tale of Desperaux - DiCamillo
• Judy Moody Saves the World - McDonald

4th Grade

• The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid - Stilton
• Claude Monet - Connolly
• A Year Down Yonder - Peck
• Slim's Good-Bye - Erickson
• Sarah, Plain and Tall - Maclachlan
• Charlotte's Web - White
• On the Banks of Plum Creek - Wilder
• A Girl of the Limberlost - Straton-Porter
• The Little Prince - Saint-Exupery

5th Grade

• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes - Coerr
• Holes - Sachar
• Little House Farm Days - Wilder
• Don't Forget Winona - Peterson
• Walk Two Moons - Creech
• Maniac Magee - Spinelli
• The Secret Garden - Burnett
• Mary Poppins - Travers
• Charlie and The Chocolate Factory - Dahl
• Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia) - Lewis

6th Grade

• White Fang - London
• The Black Stallion - Farley
• Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure at the Copper Beeches - Doyle
• Stay: The True Story of Ten Dogs - Muntean
• City of Fire - Yep
• Jim Thorpe, Original All-American - Bruchac
• Winnie-the-Pooh - Milne
• The Case of the Coyote Invasion - Erickson
• The Wheel on the School - DeJong
• Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery

7th Grade

• Heidi - Spyri
• The Great Gilly Hopkins - Paterson
• Baseball in April and Other Stories - Soto
• The Phantom Tollbooth - Juster
• The Case of the Midnight Rustler - Erickson
• The Trumpet of The Swan - White
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Lin
• Animals Nobody Loves - Simon
• Talking with Artists - Cummings
• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice - Hoose

8th Grade 

• Treasure Island - Stevenson
• Around the World in Eighty Days - Verne
• Heat - Lupica
• Dovey Coe - Dowell
• The Hundred Dresses - Estes 
• Phineas Gage: A gruesome but True Story About Brain Science - Fleischman
• The Door In the Wall - De Angeli
• The Diary of Anne Frank - Frank
• Ben Franklin's Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman's Life - Fleming
• Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho - Katz

9th–12th Grade 

• A Tree Grows In Brooklyn - Smith
• Ceremony - Silko
• Obasan - Kogawa
• Journey to the Center of the Earth - Verne
• Pride and Prejudice - Austen
• The Count of Monte Cristo - Dumas
• Great Expectations - Dickens
• King Lear - Shakespeare