I love putting together my book review posts where I share with you guys what I’ve read over the past month. Well, I thought you might enjoy seeing what my kids have been reading lately too! So here you go, my kids have named the best books for 3rd-5th graders.
Both of my younger kids got Kindles for Christmas and they have been well used! With the exception of colorful graphic novels (our kindles are the paperwhite…no color) they are reading everything on the Kindle instead of an actual, in your hand, book. Take a look at what peaked their interests over the past couple of months.
sofia’s picks:
5 Worlds by Mark and Alexis Siegel: The Five Worlds are on the brink of extinction unless five ancient and mysterious beacons are lit. When war erupts, three unlikely heroes will discover there’s more to themselves—and more to their worlds—than meets the eye. Sofia LOVES this book (and the second) and is anxiously awaiting the third. It’s in graphic novel format which means she not reading these on her Kindle but instead borrowing them from the library. 5 Worlds gets 5 stars!!!
Dork Diaries by Rachel Renee Russell: Nikki.J. Maxwell is a 14 year old Middle Schooler in 8th grade But she is still getting used to her new school, new friends, new enemies, new diary, and even a new crush! There are 11 books currently in this series and Sofia is reading them in order. So far she has read these in hardback format but I suspect that atleast one or two will wind up on her Kindle #notimeforthelibrary. #momislazy. Age range for these is 9 years old, but I know that when I looked at them a couple of years ago, I decided to hold off mostly because there was a fair amount of “boyfriend” talk. I know that kids play around with the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing, sometimes starting as young as 1st grade! But I figured there was no need to make it a huge part of her reading until she got closer to middle school. So my personal recommendation is 11ish. Sofia give this series 4 stars (so far!)–
joshua’s selections:
Diary of a Minecraft Zombie by: Zach Zombie (somehow I’m guessing this is a pen name, haha!) and Minecraft The Crash by Tracey Baptiste: Life is all about Minecraft these days. Joshua loves to create complicated worlds on the wiiU. I will admit I know very little about how all of that works, but I do know that it seems to engage his brain and that’s not something I can say about most video games. Both of these books (one is an official edition and one is an unofficial version) HAD to be included in Joshua’s list of Best Books for 3rd-5th Graders. They made him laugh AND given him ideas for his own worlds. He even started taking notes and then implementing those ideas and suggestions the next time he played. For Joshua, these books were daunting as there are no pictures and they are quite text heavy, BUT once I increased the font size on his kindle so there were far fewer words on the screen at one time, he found them quite an easy read. He’s on grade level for reading so I guess I’d say these would work for 3rd grade and up. He says these are 5 BIG stars for sure. 🙂
Big Nate by Lincoln Pierce: Joshua has totally loved the Big Nate series. I think he’s read them all now although he may have missed one or two. Big Nate follows the adventures and misadventures of Nate Wright, a spirited and rebellious sixth-grader, along with his classmates and teachers at Public School 38, and other people and animals in the fictional town of Rackleff, Maine. Joshua finds these books laugh out loud funny. They are in a comic book format with some being more like in-color graphic novels. He has read most of these on his Kindle with a couple coming from the schools media center (as an aside….why don’t they call them school libraries anymore??). Even though the character is in the 6th grade I haven’t found anything too objectionable about the behaviors or situations covered in the various plots, so I’d say they are fine for 3rd graders and up. Joshua told me that some of the stories were just 2 or 3 stars but others were 5, so he said just to make it an all around 4 star series.
both the kids loved….
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series by Jeff Kinney: This book series is about a boy named Greg Heffley and his attempts to become popular in middle school. Of course he goes through many crazy situations and has many ups and downs. When Joshua first started reading the series, Sofia was sure that she wouldn’t like it because the main character is a boy….BUT…in a moment of desperation (she had run out of reading material) she picked up one of her brothers books (the 3rd one I think) and she was hooked. Both Sofia and Joshua found plenty to love while reading all about poor Greg Heffley. They have read all the books currently available and are super excited that #14 is on the way, set to release November 5th. You can bet it will be on their Kindles that very day! Both give this series 5 big fat stars.
Thanks for checking out my kids list of best books for 3rd-5th graders…I’m always on the lookout for good reads for both kiddos, so if your kids (grades 2-6ish) have read anything good lately that you think we should try leave me a note in the comments. 🙂
While this is my first kid book review, if you are looking for adult book reviews check these out.
