Reading Beyond Grades 2-3

For children in grades 2-3 reading at a 5th grade level. Challenging books for advanced readers that are still age-appropriate.

Showing 1 - 20 of 32  There are a total of 140 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The chaos curse"
Star rating for The chaos curse
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Prince Lal has been spirited away to, of all places, Parsippany, so Kiranmala must leave the the Kingdom Beyond and return home to rescue him; but reality seems to be wavering around her because something is causing a dangerous disruption in the multiverse, and she must face the disturbing prophecy about her own role in the approaching conflict between good and evil--not to mention her own growing feelings for Prince Neel.
Book cover for "Code word courage"
Star rating for Code word courage
Description:
In September 1944, eleven-year-old Billie lives with her great aunt, Doff, eagerly waiting for her older brother Leo to return from boot camp, and desperate to find the father that left when she was little. But Leo brings a friend with him, a Navajo named Denny, and the injured dog they have rescued and named Bear--and when the two young men go off to war, Bear becomes the thread that ties them all together, and helps Billie to find a true friend....
Book cover for "The council of mirrors"
Star rating for The council of mirrors
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Hoping to save their family and the citizens of Ferryport Landing from the evil plans of Mirror, Sabrina and Daphne Grimm seek counsel from the other magic mirrors, who advise them to join forces with the Scarlet Hand.

4. Dash

Book cover for "Dash"
Star rating for Dash
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
When her family is forced into an internment camp, Mitsi Kashino is separated from her home, her classmates, and her beloved dog Dash; and as her family begins to come apart around her, Mitsi clings to her one connection to the outer world--the letters from the kindly neighbor who is caring for Dash.
Book cover for "The dreamer"
Star rating for The dreamer
Description:
A fictionalized biography of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who grew up a painfully shy child, ridiculed by his overbearing father, but who became one of the most widely-read poets in the world.

6. Duke

Book cover for "Duke"
Star rating for Duke
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
In 1944 Hobie Hanson's father is flying B-24s in Europe, so Hobie decides to donate his beloved German shepherd, Duke, to Dogs for Defense in the hope that it will help end the war sooner--but when he learns that Duke is being trained for combat he is shocked, frightened and determined to get his dog back.

7. Echo

Book cover for "Echo"
Star rating for Echo
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and finds himself entwined in a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica--and decades later three children, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California find themselves caught up in the same thread of destiny in the darkest days of the twentieth century, struggling to keep their families intact, and tied together by the music of the same harmonica.
Book cover for "The Everafter War"
Star rating for The Everafter War
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Fans of fractured fairy tales will be delighted to discover the fantasy, mystery, adventure, and humor in the beloved Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley, now with new cover art. The nine wildly popular books are favorites around the world. They were among the first books to bring a distinctly girl-power spin to fairy tales-a spin taken up by hit TV shows such as Grimm and Once Upon a Time, the bestselling book series The Land of Stories, and...
Book cover for "The fairy-tale detectives"
Star rating for The fairy-tale detectives
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Orphans Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with an eccentric grandmother that they have always believed to be dead.
Book cover for "Force of fire"
Star rating for Force of fire
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
A descendent from a long line of demons who build interspecies relationships to fight tyranny works competitively to control her dangerous fire-breathing skills, before a Serpentine Governor's charming son enlists her help to defeat a growing rebellion.
Book cover for "Game of stars"
Star rating for Game of stars
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Months after Kiranmala's adventure in the Kingdom Beyond, a vision of the Demon Queen starts showing up in her bedroom, trying to tell Kiran something, but getting cutoff before she can finish; then she starts seeing an advertisement for an archery contest on her family's interdimensional television and Kiran realizes that she must return to her place of birth--where society is falling apart, a reality show is taking over, her friends are in danger,...
Book cover for "The Hamilton-Burr duel"
Star rating for The Hamilton-Burr duel
Author:
Description:
The Flashback Four are coerced by a secret government organization, NOYB, to travel to July 1804 Weehawken, New Jersey, to witness the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
Book cover for "The hero two doors down"
Star rating for The hero two doors down
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Eight-year-old Steve Satlow is thrilled when Jackie Robinson moves into his Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn in 1948, although many of his neighbors are not, and when Steve actually meets his hero he is even more excited--and worried that a misunderstanding over a Christmas tree could damage his new friendship.
Book cover for "The inside story"
Star rating for The inside story
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
As the fairytale detectives race through the Book of Everafter searching for their baby brother, they encounter various characters including the Editor and his army of Revisers, who threaten the children with dire consequences if they continue to change the stories.

15. Liberty

Book cover for "Liberty"
Star rating for Liberty
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
In 1940s New Orleans, Fish Elliot is a polio-survivor with a knack for inventing and building things, and his African American neighbor Olympia is a girl with a talent for messing things up, but they are united in an effort to save a starving stray dog they call Liberty--and when Liberty is caged by a nasty farmer, they find an unlikely ally in a German prisoner of war, Erich, who is not much older than the two children.
Book cover for "The Lincoln Project"
Star rating for The Lincoln Project
Author:
Description:
In New York Times bestselling author Dan Gutman's all-new series, which blends fascinating real history with an action-packed and hilarious adventure, four very different kids are picked by a mysterious billionaire to travel through time and photograph some of history's most important events. This time, the four friends are headed to 1863 to catch Abraham Lincoln delivering his famous Gettysburg Address. They'll have to work together to ask the right...
Book cover for "Magic and Other Misdemeanors"
Star rating for Magic and Other Misdemeanors
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
The sister detectives set out to catch a magical thief in the fifth adventure in the New York Times-bestselling children's fantasy series. In this latest adventure, intrepid fairy-tale detectives Sabrina and Daphne Grimm investigate a sudden streak of magical thefts that might add up to a very grim future for their family. With Granny Relda desperately scrambling to pay Mayor Heart's outrageous taxes on humans, the Sisters Grimm tackle their first...
Book cover for "Once upon a crime"
Star rating for Once upon a crime
Description:
When the fairy-tale detectives rush to New York City hoping to find an Everafter who can cure Puck, they trigger a chain of events that includes a murder mystery, and learn many new things about their mother who, along with their father, is still in an enchanted sleep.
Book cover for "The one and only Bob"
Star rating for The one and only Bob
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Bob sets out on a dangerous journey in search of his long-lost sister with the help of his two best friends, Ivan and Ruby. As a hurricane approaches and time is running out, Bob finds courage he never knew he had and learns the true meaning of friendship and family.
Book cover for "The one and only Ivan"
Star rating for The one and only Ivan
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.