Keeping your young readers engaged and entertained is easy with this great list from the Sunshine State Young Readers Award books for grades 3 – 5.

Sunshine State Young Readers Award Books for Grades 3 – 5

It’s summer. The kids have been a little TOO well-behaved and quiet today. I last saw them two hours ago, actually two hours and 10 minutes, to be exact. They came down briefly to show me they were dressed, and then they disappeared back upstairs. Now I am starting to worry. This is not the norm for them. I can usually hear laughter, foot steps or the faint sound of a video game, confirming life on the second floor. But today it is SILENT.

I scale the stairs, 17 steps between our living quarters and the upstairs “boy cave”. Their doors are closed, so I KNOW they are up to no good. Without knocking, I burst through the door – giving them a big surprise. Well, not exactly. The person who got the surprise was ME! There they were, two long and lanky boys, 8 and 10 years old. One laying on his bed, the other one sprawled across cushions on the floor – reading! Our two oldest kids were READING – BOOKS!

Not comic books, no excessive use of pictures to convey a message. Nope – books with WORDS! I was SO happy, relieved too, but mostly happy.

So here I am – with two intense readers on my hands. They are devouring books as if their life depends on it. How do I keep them busy all summer? They are bound to run out of books at some point. Thankfully, I found a list in their “home for the summer” paperwork from their last day of school: The Sunshine State Young Readers Award Books for Grades 3 – 5.

Of course the library is out of all these books, because every parents in the State of Florida had the same idea. For your convenience (and mine), below find links to the books recommended by your child’s school and the State of Florida. These books are geared towards 3rd to 5th graders, giving them fun, educational and challenging books to read, to instill a life long love for reading.

Sunshine State Young Readers Award Books
2017-2018 List for Grades 3-5:

[easyazon_link identifier=”0545812682″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Allie, First at Last by Angela Cervantes:[/easyazon_link]

Born into a family of over-achievers, fifth-grader Allie Velasco has never finished first in anything, and lately things have been going badly: her science project is ruined by a well-meaning student, her for- mer best friend is hanging out with another girl, but now she is determined to win the Trailblazer con- test with a photographic presentation about her great grandfather, the first Congressional Medal of Honor winner from their town.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0147512735″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon[/easyazon_link]:
When Molly shows up on Castle Hangnail’s doorstep to fill the vacancy for a wicked witch, the castle’s min- ions are understandably dubious. After all, she is twelve years old, barely five feet tall, and quite polite. But the castle desperately needs a master or else the Board of Magic will decommission it, leaving all the min- ions without the home they love. So when Molly assures them she is quite wicked indeed (So wicked! RE- ALLY wicked!) and begins completing the tasks required by the Board of Magic for approval, everyone feels hopeful. Unfortunately, it turns out that Molly has quite a few secrets, including the biggest one of all: that she isn’t who she says she is.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0385392311″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans by Laurence Yep and Joanna Ryder[/easyazon_link]:

Miss Drake’s new pet human, precocious ten-year-old Winnie, not only thinks Miss Drake is her pet, she accidentally brings to life her “sketchlings” of mysterious and fantastic creatures hidden in San Francisco, causing mayhem among its residents.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”1481436317″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Framed! by James Ponti:[/easyazon_link]
Florian has just moved to Washington, D.C. He’s learning his way around using TOAST, which stands for the Theory of All Small Things, a technique he invented to solve life’s little mysteries. But when he teaches it to his new friend, Margaret, they uncover a mystery that isn’t little. Not little at all, but part of a much bigger picture!

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0545804515″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson:[/easyazon_link]
Eight year-old Stephen Satlow lives in Brooklyn, NY and loves the Brooklyn Dodgers. Stephen can’t believe his luck when his favorite baseball player Jackie Robinson moves in to his neighbor- hood. Written by Jackie Robinson’s daughter, this fictionalized story based on a true story tells a tale of an unlikely friendship between a boy and his hero.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0399545670″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Maxi’s Secrets: Or What You Can Learn From A Dog by Lynn Plourde:[/easyazon_link]
Timminy knows that moving to a new town just in time to start middle school when you are perfect bully bait is less than ideal. But he gets a great consolation prize in Maxi–a gentle giant of a dog who the family quickly discovers is deaf. Timminy is determined to do all he can to help Maxi–after all, his parents didn’t return him because he was a runt. But when the going gets rough for Timminy, who spends a little too much time getting shoved into lockers at school, Maxi ends up being the one to help him–along with their neighbor, Abby, who doesn’t let her blindness define her and bristles at Timminy’s “poor-me” attitude. It turns out there’s more to everyone than what’s on the surface, whether it comes to Abby, Maxi, or even Timminy himself.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0147516056″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]My Brother is a Superhero by David Solomons:[/easyazon_link]
Eleven-year-old Luke is a huge comic-book fan, so when an ill-timed bathroom break results in his 14- year-old brother, Zack, receiving superpowers from a visiting alien, Luke is really upset. But Zack-whose brand of nerdiness only extends to math, not comics-needs help navigating his new identity as Star Guy. When Luke’s classmate Lara decides to unmask Star Guy, Luke tries to stop her, but the real danger is the villainous Nemesis, a threat to not one but two universes.

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[bctt tweet=”Fun and exciting books for 3rd through 5th grade. #ReadingList #LifeLongReader” username=”MamaintheNow”]

[easyazon_link identifier=”1250090504″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Night of the Living Worms by Dave Coverly:[/easyazon_link]
What’s a bird to do when his sibling is a big-time celebrity? It’s a question Speed Bump has to deal with every single morning, because his brother happens to be the one and only Early Bird. Unfortunately, Speed Bump is a sleepy little bird with a big head and tiny wings who’s worried he’ll never live up to his brother. But he has a great buddy, the ever-hungry Slingshot, who knows how to lift his spirits. Together, they end up on an ad- venture deep in the nighttime forest, where they’re forced to confront something more terrifying―and slimi- er―than they’ve ever imagined.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0385387970″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Pugs of the Frozen North by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre:[/easyazon_link]:
The ship “Lucky Star” becomes trapped in the frozen ocean on the first day of True Winter. Ordered to save the cargo consisting of sixty-six pug dogs, Shen and the pugs travel over the frozen environment on their own. He meets Sika, who tells him of the magical “once-in-a-lifetime” winter and of a race to the North Pole where the Snowfather lives. Snowfather will grant a wish to the winner, and Sika would like to win in order to wish. Shen volunteers himself and the (66) pug dogs so Sika may enter the race and possibly win the race.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0545846609″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan:[/easyazon_link]
Two fifth grade boys discover friendship can come in unexpected ways. Ravi, an excellent student, moves from India to New Jersey, only to find out that his skills aren’t viewed in the same light at his new school, Al- bert Einstein Elementary School. Joe has always lived in New Jersey, and attended that same school. However, due to his Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) and how he handles situations, he doesn’t feel very good about school. Through several events, the boys find out that life isn’t always as it first appears.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0062278118″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Teddy Mars: Almost a World Record Breaker by Molly Burnham:[/easyazon_link]
Teddy Mars wants to stand out… in a house full of siblings. With the help of his best friends, Lonnie and Viva, Teddy attempts building the biggest snow mound, stuffing the most grapes in his mouth, and lifting a chair with his teeth. He’ll try anything, even if it means sleeping in a tent and cleaning up pigeon poop for the Grumpy Pigeon Man. Too bad his little brother, The Destructor, always gets in the way of Teddy’s record-breaking plans! His determination will have readers laughing out loud and try- ing to break records of their own!

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[easyazon_link identifier=”1250040434″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]The Vanishing Coin by Kate Egan with Mike Lane:[/easyazon_link]
Fourth-grader Mike Weiss can’t get the hang of math, forgets his homework, and has trouble sitting still in school. And as if getting sent to the principal’s office the first week of school wasn’t bad enough, classmate Jackson (“Mike’s enemy since birth”) won’t lay off him, and he’s spending his after-school hours with Nora, the gifted new girl next door. One afternoon with Nora, Mike discovers the town magic shop, The White Rab- bit, and something that he might actually be good at. The confidence boost helps Mike work harder in school

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[easyazon_link identifier=”1250079764″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]A Whole New Ballgame by Phil Bildner:[/easyazon_link]
Rip and Red are best friends whose fifth-grade year is nothing like what they expected. They have a crazy new tattooed teacher named Mr. Acevedo, who doesn’t believe in tests or homework. They also find them- selves with a new basketball coach: Mr. Acevedo! Easy-going Rip is knocked completely out of his comfort zone. And for Red, who really needs things to be exactly a certain way, the changes are even more of a struggle. But together these two make a great duo who know how to help each other—and find ways to make a difference—in the classroom and on the court.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0316381993″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]The Wild Robot by Peter Brown:[/easyazon_link]
When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild is- land. With no idea as to how she arrived there or her purpose, she only knows she has to survive. She realized that her only hope for survival is to adapt to her surroundings and learn from the island’s unwel- coming animals inhabitants. As Roz slowly befriends the animals and begins to feel at home, the robot’s mysterious past comes back to haunt her.

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[easyazon_link identifier=”0544668480″ locale=”US” tag=”maminthenow0e-20″]Willy Maykit in Space by Greg Trine:[/easyazon_link]
Earth-dwelling fourth-grader Willy Maykit couldn’t be more excited about his school field trip to Planet Ed. Willy’s class will blast off for the afternoon, learn about outer space, and be home in time for dinner. But when he wanders off on his own, Willy ends up being left behind on Ed! Can Willy, along with his classmate Cindy and an alien boy named Norp, outsmart the big hungry monsters on Ed until someone rescues them? With a little help from an android who likes knock-knock jokes and a seagull with terrific aim, they just might!

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