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Parents
These lists have been develop by the State to assist parents and students in selecting books written at a level of difficulty that corresponds with a student's reading ability as measured by state standardized test results.
The California Reading List Grades K-12 
This page lists books selected for students by Long Beach Unified School District teachers and librarians. The books are interesting, engaging and appropriate for students in each grade level.
Some titles may be familiar to you. Others may introduce you to new authors and illustrators. Either way, be sure that the books you and your youngster select to read are ones you both find enjoyable. Recreational reading should be a pleasant experience.
While we have only included one title by each author, you will find that many of these authors have written more than one book. English teachers and librarians at your school and at the public library will be happy to help you find more books by these authors.
Grade Level: First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth
| Author | Book Title |
|---|---|
| Aardema, Verna | Bimwili and the Zimwi |
| Ahlberg, Janet & Allan | The Jolly Postman |
| Aliki | Digging Up Dinosaurs |
| Anno, Mitsumasa | All in a Day |
| Balian, Lorna | The Aminal |
| Bate, Lucy | Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth |
| Brown, Marc | Arthur's Eyes |
| Carle, Eric | The Grouchy Ladybug |
| Carrick, Carol | Patrick's Dinosaurs |
| Cohen, Miriam | When Will I Read? |
| Cooney, Barbara | Chanticleer and the Fox |
| Crews, Donald | Harbor |
| De Brunhoff, Jean | The Story of Babar |
| DePaola,Tomie | Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs |
| Dooley, Nora | Everybody Cooks Rice |
| Duvoisin, Roger | Petunia |
| Ets, Marie Hall | Gilberto and the Wind |
| Feelings, Muriel | Moja Means One: Swahili Counting Book |
| Fox, Mem | Tough Boris |
| Freeman, Don | A Pocket For Corduroy |
| Gag,Wanda | Millions of Cats |
| Galdone, Paul | The Monkey and the Crocodile |
| Gelman, Rita Goldman | More Spaghetti, I Say |
| Gramatky, Hardie | Little Toot |
| Guilfoile, Eliubeth | Nobody Listens to Andrew |
| Heide, Florence Parry | The Day of Ahmed's Secret |
| Henkes, Kevin | Chrysanthemum |
| Hoban, Lillian | Arthur's Honey Bear |
| Hoban, Russell | Bread and Jam for Frances |
| Hutchins, Pat | Goodnight, Owl |
| Keats, Ezra Jack | Whistle for Willie |
| Kraus, Robert | Whose Mouse Are You? |
| Krauss, Ruth | The Carrot Seed |
| Leonni, Leo | Swimmy |
| Levinson, Riki | Our Home is the Sea |
| Lobel, Anita & Arnold | On Market Street |
| Lobel, Arnold | Frog and Toad Together |
| Mayer, Mercer | Just forYou |
| McDermott, Gerald | Zomo the Rabbit |
| Miles, Betty | Hey! I'm Reading! |
| Morris, Ann | Houses and Homes |
| Paulsen, Gary | The Tortilla Factory |
| Pfister, Marcus | The Rainbow Fish |
| Polacco, Patricia | Thunder Cake |
| Rockwell,Anne & Harlow | Machines |
| Say,Allan | Bicycle Man |
| Sendak, Maurice | Chicken Soup With Rice |
| Seuss, Dr. (Theodore Geisel) | Green Eggs and Ham |
| Shute, Linda | Momotaro:The Peach Boy |
| Slobodkina, Esphyr | Caps for Sale |
| Snyder, Dianne | Boy of the ThreeYear Nap |
| Steig, William | Amos and Boris |
| Telima, Kiizaburo | Fox's Dream |
| Thayer, Jane | The Popcorn Dragon |
| Tresselt, Alvin | The Mitten |
| Waber, Bernard | Loveable Lyle |
| Waddell, Martin | Owl Babies |
| Zion, Gene | No Roses for Harry |
| Author | Book Title |
|---|---|
| Ackerman, Karen | Song and Dance Man |
| Adler, David | A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr. |
| Aliki | Corn Is Maize |
| Allard, Harry | Miss Nelson Is Missing |
| Baker, Jeannie | Where the Forest Meets the Sea |
| Bemelmans, Ludwig | Madeline |
| Brandt, Keith | What Makes It Rain? |
| Burton, Virgina Lee | Katy and the Big Snow |
| Bunting, Eve | The Wednesday Surprise |
| Cohlene, Terri | Turquoise Boy:A Navajo Legend |
| De Paola, Tomie | Now One Foot, Now the Other |
| Dorros, Arthur | Abuela |
| Duke, Kate | Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One |
| Fox, Mem | Night Noises |
| Freeman, Don | Dandelion |
| Friedman, Ina R. | How My Parents Learned to Eat |
| Gackenback, Dick | Poppy the Panda |
| Galdone, Paul | The Teeny Tiny Woman |
| Grimm Brothers | The Elves and the Shoemaker |
| Gunning, Monica | Not a Copper Penny in Me House |
| Haley, Gail | A Story, a Story |
| Johnston,Tony | Yonder |
| Kraus, Robert | Leo the Late Bloomer |
| Kroll, Virginia | The Seasons and Someone |
| Leaf, Munro | The Story of Ferdinand |
| Lessac, Frane | My Little Island |
| Lewis, Thomas | Hill of Fire |
| Lobel, Arnold | Frog and Toad AllYear |
| Lomas Garza, Carmen | Family Pictures (Cuadros de Familia) |
| Marshall, James | George and Martha |
| McDonald, Golden | The Little Island |
| McKissack, Patricia | Mirandy and Brother Wind |
| Morris, Ann | Bread, Bread, Bread |
| Ness, Evaline | Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine |
| Noble, Trinka H. | The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate theWash |
| Parish, Peggy | Amelia Bedelia |
| Payne, Emmy | Katy No Pocket |
| Peet, Bill | Kermit the Hermit |
| Polacco, Patricia | Mrs. Katz and Tush |
| Politi, Leo | Three Stalks of Corn |
| Potter, Beatrix | The Tale of Peter Rabbit |
| Ringgold, Faith | Dinner at Aunt Connie's House |
| Rylant, Cynthia | Henry and Mudge |
| Seuss, Dr. (Theodore Geisel) | And ToThink I Saw It on Mulbery Street |
| Sharmat, Marjorie | Nate the Great |
| Sheeb, Elizabeth | The Bremen Town Musicians |
| Steig, William | Sylvester and the Magic Pebble |
| Thayer, Jane | The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy |
| Tompert, Ann | The Silver Whistle |
| Van Allsburg, Chris | Two Bad Ants |
| Viorst,Judith | Alexander: Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday |
| Williams, Karen Lynn | Galimoto |
| Wilson, Sarah | Garage Song |
| Wiseman, Bernard | Morris and Boris |
| Young, Ed | LonPoPo |
| Zolotow, Charlotte | Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present |
| Ziefert, Harriet | A New Coat for Anna |
| Author | Book Title |
|---|---|
| Aardema,Verna | Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears |
| Ada, Alma Flor | Dear Peter Rabbit |
| Andersen, Hans Christian | The Emperor's New Clothes |
| Baylor, Byrd | I'm in Charge of Celebrations |
| Blume, Judy | The Pain and the Great One |
| Brown, Marcia | Stone Soup |
| Cameron, Ann | The Most Beautiful Place in the World |
| Cherry, Lynne | A River Ran Wild |
| Cleary, Beverly | Ramona and Her Father |
| Cohlene, Terri | Little Firefly: An Algonquin Legend |
| Cole, Joanna | The Magic School Bus |
| De Paola, Tomie | The Legend of Bluebonnet |
| Dorros, Arthur | Tonight is Carnival |
| Goble, Paul | Dream Wolf |
| Grimes, Nikki | Meet Danitra Brown |
| Hall, Donald | Ox-Cart Man |
| Harvey, Brett | My PrairieYear: Based on the Diary of Eleanore Plaisted |
| Haywood, Carolyn | B is for Betsy |
| Kellogg, Steven | The Island of the Skog |
| Kuskin, Karla | The Philharmonic Gets Dressed |
| Levinson, Riki | Watch the Stars Come Out |
| Lobel, Arnold | Ming Lo Moves the Mountain |
| Lyon, George-Ella | Who Came Down That Road? |
| Macaulay, David | Black and White |
| MacDonald, Betty | Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle |
| Martin, Bill | White Dynamite and Curly Kid |
| Mayer, Mercer | Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp |
| McCloskey, Robert | Homer Price |
| McDermott, Gerald | Raven: A Trickster Tale From the Pacific Northwest |
| Mills, Lauren | The Rag Coat |
| Milne, A.A, | Winnie the Pooh |
| Musgrove, Margaret | Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions |
| Peet, Bill | The Wump World |
| Ringgold, Faith | Tar Beach |
| Rylant, Cynthia | The Relatives Came |
| San Souci, Robert | N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims |
| Seuss, Dr. (Theodore Geisel) | The 500 Hats of Barthlomew Cubbins |
| Siebert, Diane | Heartland |
| Shreve, Susan | The Flunking of Joshua T. Bates |
| Soto, Gary | The Skirt |
| Steptoe, John | Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters |
| Surat, Michele | Angel Child, Dragon Child |
| Turkle, Brinton | Thy Friend, Obadiah |
| Turner, Ann | Dakota Dugout |
| Warner, Gertrude Chandler | The Boxcar Children |
| Waters, Kate | The Story of the White House |
| White, E.B | Stuart Little |
| Wiesner, David | Tuesday |
| Yolen, Jane | Letting Swift River Go |
| Author | Book Title |
|---|---|
| Aardema,Verna | Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain |
| Altman, Linda | Amelia's Road |
| Baum, L. Frank | The Wizard of Oz |
| Blume,Judy | Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing |
| Bond, Michael | A Bear Called Paddington |
| Brooks,Walter R | Freddy the Detective |
| Butterworth, Nick | The Enormous Egg |
| Catling, Patrick | The Chocolate Touch |
| Cleary, Beverly | Runaway Ralph |
| Coerr, Eleanor | Sadako |
| Faber, Gail | Pasquala:The Story of a California Indian Girl |
| Fleishman, Sid | By the Great Horn Spoon |
| Gates, Doris | Blue Willow |
| Greenfleld, Eloise | Rosa Parks |
| Kidd, Diana | Onion Tears |
| Kipling, Rudyard | Just So Stories |
| Laurgaard, Rachel | Patty Reed's Doll |
| Lawson, Robert | Rabbit Hill |
| Lenski, Lois | Strawberry Girl |
| Lester, Julius | John Henry |
| Lord, Bette Bao | In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson |
| Luenn, Nancy | The Dragon Kite |
| Maestro, Betsy & Giulio | The Discovery of the Americas |
| Mochizuki, Ken | Baseball Saved Us |
| Mosel, Arlene | The Funny Little Woman |
| Norton, Mary | The Borrowers |
| Petersen, David | Ishi:The Last of His People |
| Politi, Leo | Song of the Swallows |
| Rylant, Cynthia | When I Was Young in the Mountains |
| Say, Allen | Grandfather's Journey |
| Scieszka, Jon | The Frog Prince Continued |
| Siebert, Diane | Mojave |
| Smith, Sarah Bixby | Adobe Days |
| Smith, Robert Kimmel | Chocolate Fever |
| Soto, Gary | Too Many Tamales |
| Spyri, Johanna | Heidi |
| Taylor, Sydney | All-of-a Kind Family |
| Travers, Mary | Mary Poppins |
| Uchida, Yoshiko | The Bracelet |
| Van Allsburg, Chris | The Z Was Zapped |
| Viorst, Judith | The Tenth Good Thing About Barney |
| White, E.B. | Trumpet of the Swan |
| Wilder, Laura Ingalls | Little House in the Big Woods |
| Author | Book Title |
|---|---|
| Baker, Olaf | Where the Buffaloes Begin |
| Banks, Lynn Reid | I, Houdini |
| Baylor, Byrd | Hawk, I'm Your Brother |
| Bellairs, John | The House With the Clock in Its Walls |
| Boyd, Candy | Circle of Gold |
| Bunting, Eve | Spying on Mrs. Muller |
| Bunting, Eve | The Wall |
| Byars, Betsy | The Midnight Fox |
| Cleary, Beverly | Strider |
| Coatsworth, Elizabeth | The Cat Who Went to Heaven |
| Dahl, Roald | Danny, the Champion of the Worid |
| Dalgliesh,Alice | The Courage of Sarah Noble |
| De Clements, Barthe | Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade |
| DePaola,Tomie | The Clown of God |
| Durrell, Gerald | Fantastic Flying Journey |
| Eager, Edward | Half Magic |
| Edmonds,Walter | The Matchlock Gun |
| Farley,Walter | The Black Stallion |
| Fitzhugh, Louise | Harriet the Spy |
| Freedman, Russell | Buffalo Hunt |
| Fritz, Jean | The Double Life of Pocahontas |
| Garland, Sherry | The Lotus Seed |
| George, Jean C. | My Side of the Mountain |
| Giblin,Judith Cross | George Washington: A Picture Book Biography |
| Goble, Paul | The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses |
| Grahame, Kenneth | The Reluctant Dragon |
| Griffin, Judith Berry | Phoebe the Spy |
| Henry, Marquerite | Misty of Chincoteague |
| Hooks, William | The Ballad of Belle Dorcas |
| Hurwitz, Johanna | Class President |
| Kellogg, Steven | Paul Bunyan |
| Konigsburg, E.L. | From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler |
| Lawson, Robert | Ben and Me |
| Lindgren, Astrid | Pippi Longstocking |
| Locker, Thomas | Sky Tree |
| MacLachlan, Patricia | Arthur: For the Very First Time |
| McGovern, Ann | The Secret Soldier |
| Morrow, Honore | On to Oregon! |
| Mowat, Farley | Owls in the Family |
| Nixon, Joan Lowry | lfYou Were aWriter |
| Polacco, Patricia | The Keeping Quilt |
| Porter, Connie | Meet Addy |
| Provensen, Alice | My Fellow Americans |
| San Souci, Robert | Cut From the Same Cloth |
| Say, Allen | El Chino |
| Scieszka, Jon | The Math Curse |
| Selden, George | Tucker's Countryside |
| Sidney, Margaret | The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew |
| Singer, Isaac B | Zlateh the Goat |
| Sobol, Donald | Encyclopedia Brown |
| Steptoe, John | The Story of Jumping Mouse |
| Taylor, Theodore | Maria |
| Turner, Ann | Nettie's Trip South |
| Van Allsburg, Chris | The Wreck of the Zephyr |
| Wright, Betty | The Dollhouse Murders |
| Author | Book Title |
|---|---|
| Babitt, Nataie | Tuck Everlasting |
| Balard, Robert | Lost Wreck of the Isis |
| Bauer, Marion | On My Honor |
| Bunting, Eve | Is Anybody There? |
| Burnett, Frances H | The Secret Garden |
| Buss, Fran L. | Journey of the Sparrows |
| D'Aulaire, Ingri & Edgar | D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths |
| Fox, Paula | The One-Eyed Cat |
| Garfield, James | Follow My Leader |
| George, Jean C. | On the Far Side of the Mountain |
| Gilbreth, Frank | Cheaper by the Dozen |
| Gogol, Sara | Vatsana's Lucky NewYear |
| Gregory, Kristiana | Jenny of the Tetons |
| Hamilton, Virginia | Arilla Sun Down |
| Hermes, Patricia | You Shouldn't Have to Say Goodbye |
| Johnson, Anabel | The Grizzly |
| Juster, Norton | The Phantom Tollbooth |
| Kidd, Diana | My Name is San Ho |
| Kipling, Rudyard | The Jungle Book |
| Knight, Eric | Lassie Come Home |
| Lattimore, Deborah | Dragon's Robe |
| Lowry, Lois | Number the Stars |
| Macaulay, David | Pyramid |
| Maines, Stephen | Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days |
| Montgomery, Lucy | Anne of Green Gables |
| Morey, Walt | Gentle Ben |
| North, Sterling | Rascal |
| Peet, Bill | Bill Peet: an Autobiography |
| Price, Leontyne | Aida |
| Rawls, Wilson | Summer of the Monkeys |
| Reeves, Nickola | Into the Mummy's Tomb |
| Robertson, Keith | Henry Reed's Babysitting Service |
| Ruckman, Ivy | Night of the Twisters |
| Rylant, Cynthia | Missing May |
| Sewell, Anna | Black Beauty |
| Slote, Alfred | Matt Gargon's Boy |
| Snyder, Zilpha | The Egypt Game |
| Speare, Elizabeth | The Bronze Bow |
| Sperry, Armstrong | Call It Courage |
| Spyri, Johanna | Heidi |
| Streatfield, Noel | Ballet Shoes |
| Uchida, Yoshiko | Journey Home |
| Van Allsburg, Chris | The Wretched Stone |
| Wrede, Patricia | Dealing With Dragons |
| Zeanan, Ludmila | Gilgamesh the King |
| Author | Book Title |
|---|---|
| Alexander, Lloyd | The Book of Three |
| Alexander, Sue | Nadia the Willful |
| Aliki | A Medieval Feast |
| Beatty, Patricia | Lupita Manana |
| Blumberg, Rhoda | The Truth About Dragons |
| Boyd, Candy Dawson | Chevrolet Saturdays |
| Bunting, Eve | Someone Is Hiding on Alcatraz Island |
| Burnford, Sheila | Incredible Journey |
| Byars, Betsy | The Pinballs |
| Christopher, John | The White Mountains |
| Courlander, Harold | The Cowtail Switch and Other West African Stories |
| De Angeli, Marguerite | The Door in the Wall |
| Dickens, Charles | A Christmas Carol |
| Dorris, Michael | Morning Girl |
| Dunnahoo, Terry | This Is Espie Sanchez |
| Fisher, Leonard Everett | Johann Gutenberg |
| Gipson, Fred | Old Yeller |
| Hamilton, Virginia | Cousins |
| Herriott, James | All Creatures Great and Small |
| Ho, Minfong | The Clay Marble |
| Holm, Anne | North to Freedom |
| Hunt, Jonathan | Illuminations |
| Huynh, Quang Nhuong | The Land I Lost |
| Kerr, Judith | When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit |
| Kjelgaard, Jim | Big Red |
| Kramer, S.S. | To the Top |
| Lister, Robin | The Legend of King Arthur |
| Lazo, Caroline | The Terra Cotta Army of Emperor Qin |
| Macaulay, David | Castle |
| Naidoo, Beverly | Journey to Jo'burg |
| O'Dell, Scott | The King's Fifth |
| Otsuka, Yuzo | Suho and the White Horse |
| Paterson, Katherine | Of Nightingales That Weep |
| Pitts, Paul | Racing the Sun |
| Provensen, Alice & Martin | Leonardo DaVinci |
| Rawlings, Marjorie | The Yearling |
| Roberts,Willo Davis | The View From the Cherry Tree |
| Soto, Gary | Crazy Weekend |
| Stevenson, Robert Louis | Treasure Island |
| Temple, Frances | Grab Hands and Run |
| Tolkein, J.R.R | The Hobbit |
| Winthrop, Elizabeth | The Castle in the Attic |
| Author | Book Title |
|---|---|
| Adams, Richard | Watership Down |
| Alcott, Louisa May | Little Women |
| Armstrong, William | Sounder |
| Avi | The Fighting Ground |
| Blos, Joan | A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal 1830-32 |
| Choi, Sook Nyul | Year of Impossible Goodbyes |
| Cleaver, Vera and Bill | Where the Lilies Bloom |
| Craven, Margaret | I Heard The Owl Call My Name |
| Cushman, Karen | Catherine, Called Birdy |
| Dana, Richard Henry | Two Years Before the Mast |
| Defoe, Daniel | Robinson Crusoe |
| Doyle, Arthur Conan | Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
| Duncan, Lois | Stranger With My Face |
| Filipovic, Zlata | ZIata's Diary |
| Forbes, Esther | Johnny Tremain |
| Fox, Paula | Slave Dancer |
| Freedman, Russell | Lincoln:A Photobiography |
| Fritz,Jean | Stonewall |
| Hahn, Mary | Time for Andrew |
| Hamilton, Virginia | Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom |
| Keith, Harold | Rifles for Watie |
| Latham, Jean Lee | Carry on Mr. Bowditch |
| Lester, Julius | Long Journey Home |
| London, Jack | Call of the Wild |
| Macaulay, David | Mill |
| McKissack, Patricia & Fredrick | Sojourner Truth: Ain't I AWoman? |
| Meigs, Cornelia | Invincible Louisa |
| Naylor, Phyllis | Alice the Brave |
| O'Dell, Scott | Sing Down the Moon |
| Paterson, Katherine | Lyddie |
| Reiss, Johanna | The Upstairs Room |
| Ruby, Lois | Steal Away Home |
| Serrallier, Ian | Silver Sword |
| Soto, Gary | Local News |
| Speare, Elizabeth | The Witch of Blackbird Pond |
| Spinelli, Jerry | Maniac Magee |
| Stanley, Jerry | Children of the Dust Bowl |
| Sterling, Dorothy | Freedom Train:The Story of Harriet Tubman |
| Stowe, Harriet B. | Uncle Tom's Cabin |
| Taylor, Mildred | Let the Circle Be Unbroken |
| Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens) | The Prince and the Pauper |
| Verne, Jules | TwentyThousand Leagues UnderThe Sea |
| Voight, Cynthia | Homecoming |
| Wells, H.G | The Time Machine |
| Winter, Jeanette | Follow the Drinking Gourd |
| Wyss, Johann | Swiss Family Robinson |
| Yarbrough, Camille | The Shimmershine Queens |
| Yep, Lawrence | Rainbow People |
