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A.R. Books & Recommendations

The Accelerated Reader program (also known as A.R.) may be used by schools to monitor reading practice and progress. It helps teachers guide kids to books that are on kids’ individual reading levels. 

At the library, we organize fiction books by the author’s last name and we organize nonfiction books by the Dewey Decimal number.  It can be overwhelming for families that are new to A.R. to find books for their child’s level.  At school, students take a star test which will tell them what their A.R. range is.  For example, 2.2 – 3.3 which means 2nd-grade 2nd month through 3rd grade 3rd month.  

Also, feel free to ask a librarian for book suggestions.  We love to help connect readers to the books that are right for them. 

Additionally, families can use the A.R. Bookfinder website to see if a book is A.R. as well as find the level of a book and how many points it is worth.  The website also lets users search by title or author or ISBN or topic.

Below are Some Recommendations by Grade Level:

1st Grade Level A.R. Books

For first-grade level A.R. books, check out the juvenile beginning readers section of the library and look for white or orange books like the Biscuit series or Pete the Cat series.  Don’t forget about picture books too like the Stanley series.

2nd Grade Level A.R. Books

For second-grade level A.R. books, check out the green and blue juvenile beginning reader books with series such as Amelia Bedelia, Henry and Mudge, Nate the Great, Young Cam Jansen, and picture books like the Froggy series.  There are also chapter books series like Junie B. Jones, Ready Freddy as well as comic style books like Dog Man, Lunch Lady, and Babymouse.

3rd Grade Level A.R. Books

For third-grade level A.R. books, check out some of these series A to Z Mysteries, Bad Kitty, The Boxcar Children, Cam Jansen, Critter Club, George Brown Class Clown, Horrible Harry, Puppy Place, Kitty Corner, Kylie Jean, Magic Tree House, Goosebumps, Judy Moody, My Weird School, Shelter Pet Squad, Purmaids, and Time Warp Trio.  There are also picture books like The Berenstain Bears series or books by Robert Munsch like Mortimer.

4th Grade Level A.R. Books

For fourth-grade level A.R. books, check out series like 39 Clues, Bunnicula, Dog Diaries, Dork Diaries, Encyclopedia Brown, Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures, I Survived, Magic Ponies, Mouse Scouts, Mr. Lemoncelle, Origami Yoda, Stick Cat, Swindle, Voyagers, and Victor Shmud.  There are also higher-level picture books by authors like Patricia Polacco and Bill Peet.

5th Grade Level A.R. Books

For fifth-grade level A.R. books, check out series like Funjungle, Spy School, All the Wrong Questions, Bravelands, Dear America, Grimtastic Girls, Horse Diaries, House of Robots, Killer Species, Land of Stories, Middle School, Percy Jackson, Shadow Children, Spirit Animals, Treasure Hunters, Wings of Fire, TombQuest, Sisters Grimm, and Tapper Twins.

Fall A.R. Books