With summer and summer reading fast approaching I thought it was time to do a what are your kids reading post. When I started writing this, I planned to include all reading levels in one post. Then I asked for reader recommendations and received so many great recommendations that the post was getting long. I decided to split the post by reading level.
Since my daughter is a third grader, I decided to start with her reading level – middle readers. While my daughter is constantly reading, it is a struggle sometimes to get her to broaden her horizons. She loves reading non-fiction “fact books” and re-reading her favorite series.
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5 Middle Reader Book Recommendations
I am going to start with the Middle Readers since this is my daughter’s current reading level.
I finally convinced her to start reading James Patterson’s House of Robots which I had picked out for her at Christmas. She is loving the book and is almost done. Next she wants to try his “I Funny” series.
My daughter just finished reading Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I suggested that she take a break and read a different style of book before starting his Heroes of Olympus series.
As with most kids, she loved the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series. Last spring when we flew to San Diego, she started a book on our way to the airport and finished it before we landed in Chicago for our layover. I had to buy her the next book at the airport.
There are a couple of Star Wars series that my daughter loves. She loves the Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger and was disappointed when it came to an end. She also loves the Jedi Academy series by Jeffrey Brown.
This weekend we were in my husband’s car when he received a phone call from an number that we didn’t recognize. I was commenting that I didn’t recognize the area code when my daughter pipes up that “321” is the area code for Cape Canaveral (The caller-id was displayed on the navigation screen). I did a Google search for the area code, and she was right. She said that she read it in one of the Junior Genius Guides by Ken Jennings – Outer Space. With how often she re-reads these books I’m not surprised that she remembered it. Other topics in the series include Maps & Geography, Greek Mythology, The Human Body, U.S. Presidents, and Ancient Egypt (available August 25, 2015).
Reader Recommendations for Middle Readers
I posted on Facebook that I was working on this post. Readers were very generous with what books their children, classmates, and students are enjoying.
- Alex Rider series
- I Survived series
- The Guardians of Ga’Hoole Series
- Roald Dahl Books
- True Meaning of Smek Day (the basis for the movie Home)
- Judy Blume Books
- Spirit Animals Series
- Wings of Fire Series




I didn’t know that Ken Jennings wrote books. That’s pretty cool!
Great list of books. My oldest is a little older than your daughter, but I’ll have to see if he would like any of these books.
Does he have any to add to the list?
Fun list! My second-grader will surely be there soon. I’ll have to remember the book that’s the basis for the Home movie – she’s been asking to see that 🙂
Check out the Young Royal Diaries series it’s great for that age range and a little higher!
My third grader loves Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She has been OBESESSED with reading Anne Frank and asks me really depressing questions. It breaks my heart but I know it’s good for her to read it.