Here’s a list of the books we’ll be reading this year in third grade, either as read-alouds, or readers for Turkey and Bunny to work on independently. Many of them are part of the Adventures in My Father’s World curriculum, or their book basket list, but a good deal of them are extra books I chose to complement our studies. Some of them have been read before, either in school, or for pleasure. This list doesn’t include any books I may add as we go along, or whatever books Turkey and Bunny will choose to read on their own–and I’m sure there will be many of those, as well, thanks to the library!

History/General Reading:

• The Courage of Sarah Noble
• Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims
• Sarah Whitcher’s Story
• On the Banks of Plum Creek
• Farmer Boy (We’ll probably read the rest of the Little House series, as well.)
• Mountain Born
• In Grandma’s Attic
• American Pioneers and Patriots
• North American Indians
• Native Homes
• Red, White, and Blue
• The Fourth of July Story
• The Discovery of the Americas: From Prehistory Through the Age of Columbus (This and the following six books are an excellent series about early American history by Betsy and Giulio Maestro. They’re a family favorite, and I’ve even heard a rumor that another installment is scheduled to be published in the next year or two!)
• Exploration and Conquest: The Americas After Columbus
• The New Americans: Colonial Times
• Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars
• Liberty or Death: The American Revolution
• A New Nation: The United States
• A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution
• Pedro’s Journal
• The Little Red Hen
• Paul Revere’s Ride
• The American Girl Felicity Series
• Toliver’s Secret
• The Star-Spangled Banner
• The American Girl Josefina Series
• Life on a Plantation
• The American Girl Kirsten Series
• The Lewis and Clark Expedition
• Ten Mile Day
• The Secret Soldier
• Johnny Tremain
• If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620
• If You Lived with the Iroquois
• O, Say Can You See?
• The American Revolution
• The Bravest Dog Ever–The True Story of Balto
• Riding the Pony Express
• The Long Way to a New Land
• The Long Way Westward
• Prairie School
• Who Comes With Cannons?
• The Sign of the Beaver
• Dolphin Treasure
• Dolphin Adventure
• The Year of Miss Agnes
• Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie
• The True Story of Pocahontas
• Viking Adventure
• Tornado
• Cora Frear
• Who Was George Washington?
• George Washington’s Socks
• Freedom Train
• Abraham Lincoln’s World
• Time for Kids–Benjamin Franklin
• If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution
• George Washington and the General’s Dog
• Abigail Adams–First Lady of the American Revolution
• Molly Pitcher–Young Patriot
• Mr. Revere and I
• Ben and Me
• You Wouldn’t Want to Sail on the Mayflower!
• You Wouldn’t Want to Be an American Colonist!
• Greetings from the 50 States
• The Usbourne Time Traveler (We used this book last year to learn about ancient Egypt and Rome–this year we’ll be focusing on the Viking section.)

Thanksgiving:

• Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving
• If You Were at the First Thanksgiving
• An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving
• Milly and the Macy’s Parade
• Thanksgiving–A Harvest Celebration
• On the Mayflower (This and the following four books are by Kate Waters, and are an excellent peek into the lives of colonial children!)
• Samuel Eaton’s Day
• Sarah Morton’s Day
• Tapenum’s Day
• Mary Geddy’s Day
• The Thanksgiving Story 

Christmas/Nutcracker: (This year, we’ll be learning about Christmas throughout American history, using the American Girl books as a guide to different decades.)

• Degas and the Little Dancer
• The Gift of the Magi
• Louisa May Alcott’s Christmas Treasury
• Felicity’s Surprise
• Josefina’s Surprise
• Kirsten’s Surprise
• Addy’s Surprise
• Samantha’s Surprise
• Kit’s Surprise
• Molly’s Surprise
• The Day Before Christmas

Science:

• Explorabook: A Kid’s Science Museum in a Book
• A Picture History of Great Inventors
• The New Way Things Work
• Along Came Galileo
• Archimedes and the Door of Science
• Augustus Caesar’s World
• The Story of Thomas Alva Edison
• Albert Einstein, Young Thinker
• Marie Curie’s Search for Radium
• Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia
• Pasteur’s Fight Against Microbes
• The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks

Horses:

• Album of Horses
• Black Beauty
• The Black Stallion
• Brighty of the Grand Canyon
• Handbook of Horses
• King of the Wind
• Justin Morgan Had a Horse
• Misty of Chincoteague
• Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West
• White Stallion of Lipizza (This beautiful story is out of print, but if you’re dedicated, you can still find it from places like Sonlight and Beautiful Feet.)

It’s interesting to note that the reading level of these books is all over the place. Some are early readers, which are obviously easy for Turkey and Bunny at this point, but are still useful for learning. Others are full-length novels, and will be challenging for them, both in reading level and content, but will also be good learning tools. One thing is for certain–our curriculum is definitely literature heavy!